After the W4HAV social worker on staff at that time at night arrived to take over the next steps for the patient, Jillian filled out the necessary forms on her tablet and waited. Ari had arrived with the social worker. She was hanging around until Lacy and Jillian were off the clock.

The plans were to grab some popcorn and a movie and stop off to buy the underlayment for Lacy’s floor. Jillian and Ari were determined to help her get her ranch in better shape. It wasn’t exactly unlivable, but Lacy had plywood floors in two-thirds of the house. Lacy was still paying on med school loans and she’d nearly bankrupted herself to buy her former family home in the first place.

Tonight they’d work on Lacy’s place then veg out in front of a movie until they forgot that girl’s pain.

That had been the plan; until Holden-Deane demanded her attention.

She meekly followed him into the trauma bay when he finished with Lacy. She couldn’t deal with more Rage Old-&-Mean tonight.

He spoke first. “I wanted to apologize.”

Jillian wasn’t certain she’d heard him right. He wasn’t the type to apologize to anyone for anything. She knew that.

But the last two hours had been hard ones. For all of them.

She’d watched him hold the girl’s brother for a few moments, talking the entire time.

There might just be a good doctor somewhere in that reptilian giant exterior. One with a heart. Well, with everyone except her, Ari, and Lacy, that was.

“For?”

“Making the comments about your reading ability last week. It was way out of line.”

“Think you’re the first? Nope. I don’t read all that well. Yes, I do have both dyslexia and dysgraphia. It’s why I don’t handle the board in the nurse’s station. No one would be able to read what I wrote up there. I doubt I even would. It’s why I have to use the tablet exclusively. I don’t even sign my name on hospital documents—my handwriting is worse than any doctor’s I’ve ever seen. I enter everything on my tablet, it spell checks itself, and I send to the printer. And a physician and the charge nurse both sign off. Presto. FCGH is in the clear. It covers all our asses. I know the risks my conditions pose in this field. I’m very aware of my limitations. I’m not stupid, Holden-Deane. I’m a damned fine nurse.”

College and nursing school had been a struggle, as had high school and all before that. Even with the private tutors first her parents and then she herself had scrimped to pay for. She’d been lucky in that her parents had identified the two learning disabilities early on. And had been aggressive in finding ways to help her.

The dyslexia and its impact on her ability to read had been bad enough, add in the second, more severe diagnosis of dysgraphia and its impact on her handwriting, and she’d been facing a double struggle.

But her family had helped her through.

It had also helped to have Brynna in the same grade level. Her parents had delayed Brynna’s entry into kindergarten a year, putting her and Brynna in the same level. Brynna, an early reader, had read to Jillian for years to make sure she knew the material.

Brynna had gotten her through those early years, and Jillian knew it. Just like she’d guided her sister socially.

“I never meant to imply you were. Hot-headed, impulsive, a pain in my ass, but not stupid. Far from it. You’re not the first dyslexic I’ve seen, Jillian. Or dysgraphic. Far from it. I’m just sorry I said those idiotic things.”

She studied his dark eyes for a moment, trying to determine if he was patronizing her.

He was as clever as a rattlesnake, and would do things just to disconcert her, she had no doubt. But he seemed sincere this time. “Apology accepted. Anything else? I kind of have plans for tonight. Forgetting this place is number one on the agenda.”

“Nothing else. And Jillian? I’ll see you when you return.” There was a wealth of meaning, and threat, in his words. She fought a small shiver when he looked at her and smiled a cold smile.

A gorgeous smile, but cold. Calculating. Plotting.

Damn him. He really churned her up sometimes. The guy had to do it on purpose.

“Great. I’m looking forward to it.” Like she looked forward to a root canal. He stood, and not for the first time, her attention was caught by how perfectly built the big jerk was.

His shoulders looked ridiculous in his dark blue suit. It wasn’t fair that he’d look like that and have all the charm of a cranky rabid donkey.

Jillian took the opportunity to book it out of there before she got seriously distracted by the pretty man with a horribly rotten attitude.

Time to forget all about Rafael Holden-Deane, most recent Chief of Medicine at Finley Creek General.

Tomorrow was soon enough to deal with him again.