“I’m having the usual crowd, probably close to a dozen of us, and you’re by far the loudest. This time you’ve got to tone it down.”
“Why’s that?”
“I’ve got a pit bull living next door and she doesn’t like noise. She’s likely to fly over the hedge and rip your face off if you get her riled up.”
Trevor laughed. “Speaking from personal experience?”
Ransom gave a grunt. “You could say that.”
“Well, boss, all I can say is, bring her on. I doubt she’d have the guts to stand up to a three hundred pound former linebacker like myself. I’ll have her shaking in her boots.”
Ransom could only grimace. He had a feeling his feisty neighbor would prove Trevor dead wrong.
CHAPTER TWO
“Soledad, it’s for you.”
At the sound of her name Solie deposited the tray of syringes on the desk and turned to see Kyra, her old friend and long-time co-worker, holding out the phone to her. “Dr. Gupta?” she asked as she hurried over to take the receiver from Kyra’s hand. At her friend’s nod she put the phone to her ear. “Yes, doctor? Did the results come in?”
“Yes, and I’m afraid it’s not good. You'll need to monitor Mr. Gerritsen very carefully. He's getting close.” The doctor’s heavily accented voice was grim.
Solie felt her heart tighten in her chest. “You mean there’s nothing we can do for him?”
“Nothing except make him as comfortable as possible.”
Her heart, already tense and choked, now dissolved into silent tears for her beloved patient but outside of an involuntary sigh and the sag of her shoulders she gave no outward show of emotion. How could she? The reality of illness, the loss of a patient - this was her life every day that she worked in the palliative care unit. She’d known that with all his health issues Mr. Gerritsen’s time was limited but she’d hoped…prayed…that he would live to see Christmas. The man was only fifty-five and had a brand new grandchild. Couldn’t he be spared long enough to make it to the little one’s ‘Baby’s First Christmas’ party?
She’d hoped against hope that the test results would have shown that the new medication was slowing the progress of his disease but he was moving as rapidly toward death’s door as he’d been before their desperate experiment. It was not meant to be.
But now there was no time to stand there dwelling on her patient’s plight. The buzzer on her desk was going off and she knew what that meant. Another emergency to deal with. Dr. Gupta would be meeting with Mr. Gerritsen soon so for now all she could do was leave things in his hands while she ran to attend to another cry for help.
By the time Solie finished her shift and left the hospital eleven hours later she felt like she’d been wrung and put out to dry. No matter that it was only seven o’clock in the evening, all she wanted to do right then was dive into bed. If she never heard another buzzer or call for ‘code blue’ it would be too soon.
When she got home she didn’t even bother with dinner but went straight to the bathroom where she had a warm shower, threw her window open to get some air then climbed into her soft, sweet-smelling bed. Heaven.
Her head had just touched the pillow when the space outside her window erupted in a burst of laughter and cheers that had her springing up. What the heck?
She dashed over to the window and stuck her head out. The sun had already set but she peered through the red-tinged shadows and what she saw made her exhaustion fly out the window on the next breeze. Her neighbor, that beast of a man, was at it again. She was staring right at his newly built gazebo and it looked like he had a hundred people, all men, hanging out in his backyard. Didn’t he know that in this residential neighborhood a crowd like that was against the law?
Immediately, she swung away from the window and grabbed her robe from the back of the chair. It didn’t matter that she was wearing oversized pajamas that flapped around her legs. She didn’t care what she looked like. She just wanted the party over.
Muttering under her breath she marched out of the bedroom and down the hallway. When she got to the back door she flung it open and stomped across the grass toward the oh, so familiar hedge, the place where she’d been having so many heated conversations lately. Climbing on top of the rock by the shrubbery she peered over the hedge. From that vantage point she had a perfect view of the men milling around in her neighbor’s backyard.
Okay, so it wasn’t a hundred of them back there, more like a dozen, but still…with the noise they were making it was just too much. And on top of all that there was that dog again. As soon as her head popped over the fence he bounded toward her, barking like he’d gone mad and bouncing around like he thought it would make her jump over and have a romp with him. Yeah, right.
And there, following right behind the dog was its owner, loping toward the border between their homes, his mouth set in a grim line like he was ready for a fight. Well, he could bring it on because she was ready and she’d be the first to get the ball rolling.
“Excuse me, but you and your rowdy crowd are creating a major noise disturbance. I’m trying to get some sleep over here.” Her voice carried across the space loud and clear, making the men turn to regard her with curious eyes. Some of them grinned up at her, some stared then turned back to whatever they were doing, but a couple of them looked surprised by her outburst. She didn’t give a damn. She wasn’t the one at fault here. Their host was to blame. “Either you tell your people to be quiet or I’m calling the police.”
The man had bent over to pat his dog’s head but at her words he straightened to his full height which couldn’t have been less than six foot one or two. His brows fell and he was opening his mouth to respond when one of his party walked over and slapped him on the back.
“So this is the feisty little neighbor I’ve been hearing about. She’s pretty.” Nodding, the big man gave her an indulgent smile like she was a cute little school kid and not a grown woman, and the fact that she was sensitive about what her friends called her ‘baby face’ did not make his comment any more palatable. “So what gives, little lady? Has my friend here been bothering you? Just say they word and I’ll tackle him for you.”