Landon stood next to a hospital bed, his arms folded across his chest. He was staring down the length of beds, trying to decide where he was needed most. There really weren't enough doctors to deal with the patient load, which meant nurses and poorly trained volunteers were all stumbling over each other to try and make up the deficit.

One volunteer in particular had his attention. Tori was about halfway down the room, chewing out another volunteer. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he didn't doubt the guy had earned her wrath. He almost felt bad for him. Tori was in full-on work mode and the same skills that had gotten her an assistant manager promotion were coming in handy. She was a natural leader when she had to be, and people also just gravitated towards her.

She had come up with the ingenious idea to wrap plastic bags around her shoes, which kept them vomit free, but also made her look insane. Her hair was a ratty knot on top of her head, her special conditioner long since forgotten. She was sweaty and she was dirty and she was so fucking amazing, she actually took his breath away a little.

“Hey, you!”

He turned and found Amie standing close behind him. She always seemed to be hovering around him. He wasn't surprised – he was one of the few people in the camp relatively close to her age and not hideous looking. She'd been there a long time, he must have looked like fresh meat to her.

And normally a redhead with double Ds would be allowed to take as many bites out of him as she wanted, and she'd made it very clear she wanted to, but he hadn't gone for it. Not this time.

“Hey, any luck with the budget?” he asked. She groaned and shook her head.

“No, can you believe it? I mean, I know Cholera doesn't sound bad on paper, but I wish they could just see this,” she said, gesturing to all the sick people. “And then understand that it even goes beyond all this. So many sick people not being able to do their jobs makes it easier for gangs to come in and take over. It's only a matter of time before we're run out of here.”

“How much could a new well fucking cost?” he asked, patting down his pockets and finding his cigarettes.

“Usually not much, it's getting the equipment here that will cost a pretty penny,” she sighed, then she clucked her tongue at him as he lit up. “You're bad, Dr. Edenhoff, no smoking in a hospital.”

But her voice was teasing and she made no move to stop him as he took a deep drag.

“I think second hand smoke is the least of their problems,” he replied, glancing back over all the beds. Glancing back at Tori, he saw she was now squatting next to a child who was heaving his guts out into a bucket.

“Excellent point. You know, I actually had an idea,” Amie started slowly, so he turned back to face her. “I think if maybe a doctor could really fully explain just how bad this strain of Cholera is, it would really help.”

“It probably would. Want me to write a letter?” he guessed. She shook her head.

“No, I have to go into Bangkok today for a face-to-face meeting with some potential donors. I think it would be great if you came with me. You'd be the perfect face for what we're doing out here.”

“Me?” he barked out a laugh, then he tapped his ashes onto the floor in front of them. “Honey, you don't know me very well. I'm not a good face for anything.”

“Oh, c'mon. Handsome doctor risking his life in the jungle to save poor people, you're perfect,” she insisted. “It'll take a couple hours, we'll probably get the money we need for the well, and then we can go to a real restaurant to celebrate.”

Landon gave zero shits about eating in a “real restaurant” but he did care about that well. She was right, if something didn't happen soon, most of the village's working force would be out of commission. That was bad news on so many different levels, he didn't even want to think about it.

“Just a day?” he checked. “We'll be back tonight, right?”

“Oh for sure. I was just about to head out, we can be back by like eight.”

“Sounds good. Let me change and I'll meet you out front?”

“It's a date,” she laughed, then she skipped away.

He went to stride down to Tori, but she'd disappeared. The child was back in bed and the blonde-ish bombshell was nowhere to be seen. He walked the whole length of the hospital and still didn't see her, so he finally grabbed the guy she'd been yelling at earlier and asked if he knew where she'd gone.

“I think she's at breakfast, doctor.”

He groaned and made some quick decisions. He jogged back to their tent and got changed into some relatively clean clothing. Then he scribbled out a quick note, just in case he couldn't find her. Finally, he made his way down to the mess hall. It was basically a covered area full of banquet tables and people shouting. He scanned everyone's heads, but still didn't see her.

A note would just have to do, he guessed. With any luck, she would get caught up in an emergency and never know he was even gone. Nodding to himself, he started heading back towards the field hospital, but then he found her.

She was behind the trailer where they prepped the meals, leaning against its back wall. She was laughing and talking to a man. One of the senior nurses, a guy named Max. Landon had a loose acquaintance with him just from working together so much over the past couple days. He hadn't realized, though, that Tori also would've worked with the guy. With the tall, smart, charming, young guy.

It was stupid. She was just talking to the guy, it didn't mean anything. Landon didn't think she was about to go off and blow the guy behind the compost pile. But still ... it upset him. Seeing her with a guy who was a lot better suited for her. A man who hadn't lost his temper once under pressure, and who'd certainly never threatened her with speculum-abuse. A guy who didn't do any kinds of drugs just to get through the day, and most likely didn't also try to subconsciously ruin good things when they happened for him.

Tori turned at that moment and saw him staring at her. Scowling at her. She smiled big and waved at him, then turned back to Max. When it was obvious she was making her goodbyes, Landon frowned deeper and hurried away from the area. He could see Amie waiting in her Jeep, so he strode up to the passenger side and climbed in.

“Ready to go?” she asked. He glanced in the side view and could see Tori standing a ways back, looking in his direction. Then Max stepped into the reflection, saying something to her.

“Ready. Let's get this over with.”

*

TEN O'CLOCK AT NIGHT and still no Landon. Tori was starting to feel frantic. The generator had long since been locked down, so she had several fat candles burning around the tent. They helped to light up the path she wearing into the floor as she paced back and forth.

She'd seen him getting into Amie's Jeep around nine in the morning. Not terribly unusual, she often drove different people all over the camp or down into the village. When they weren't back by lunch, though, Tori had started getting curious. She knew Max and Amie had slept together, so she went right to him, figuring he'd know where they'd went.

“Bangkok. Meeting some donors. Won't be back till around seven or so.”

The news had made her feel sick to her stomach. Amie wanted Landon, it was obvious to anyone with eyeballs. And while Tori trusted they hadn't done anything together, she was still nervous. He was a coke head who was on an all-day trek to the original City of Sin with a busty redhead who wanted his johnson.

Not good.

Seven o'clock came and went. Tori went back to their tent and found some shitty note from Landon which only said he was going to Bangkok, not why, and that she shouldn't wait up for him.

By ten o'clock she wasn't even jealous anymore, she was just worried. He wasn't answering text messages, didn't even seem to be checking them. What if something had happened? Bangkok was also a dangerous city, and the drive back could be treacherous.

God, if anything happened to him, she didn't know what she'd do. She'd gotten used to sleeping next to him at night. Dishing back the bullshit he served her. Making him laugh, just to prove to him he could still smile. Touching him, just to let him know someone cared. If anything happened to him ...

Oh my god. Have I seriously fallen for Landon fucking Edenhoff!?

When she heard a familiar engine rattling through the calm over half an hour later, relief made her so weak, she actually sat down. Pressed her hand to her chest and closed her eyes for a moment. Then she jumped out of the chair and stormed towards the entrance of the tent, ready to give him a piece of her mind.

What she saw when she held back the canvas flap, though, stopped her in her tracks. Amie's Jeep was parked maybe fifty or so feet away. A large, orange flood flight was almost directly in front of it, illuminating the car.

It was hard to tell exactly what was going on, but one thing was clear – the driver was no longer sitting upright behind the wheel. No, the seductive redhead was now leaning over the seat next to her, blocking her passenger from view. And though it was shadowy inside the all terrain vehicle, Tori was pretty positive the passenger had his arm around the driver's shoulders.

She stepped back inside the tent, letting the flap fall from her numb fingers. Then she kept walking backwards, clear till she bumped into the cot. Then she sat down. Stared across the room for a moment. Then she laid down, curling into the fetal position, facing away from the entrance.

He never asked me to come here. I shouldn't have come here. He never promised me anything. This isn't his fault. Don't get mad at him.

Unfortunately for Tori's conscience, she was already very, very mad.