“He’s good at enforcing the dog-doo laws, too.” Noelle shoved her glasses up her nose as she looked at the newcomer. “I’m his daughter, Noelle LaVigne. I have an appointment tomorrow.”
Oh, he might have found a way out of Lila Daley’s trap. If she turned that tart mouth on his daughter, he could ignore his attraction to her for all of time. He kind of wanted it to happen. It was obvious Lila was a difficult woman, to say the least. If she was mean, too, he could shove her out of his brain and go on about his life.
Lila dropped to one knee, obviously not giving a damn about her probably designer clothes. She put that manicured hand on the desk next to Noelle’s wheelchair and her whole attitude had softened. “I’m glad to meet you, Noelle. How is that bump healing up? I read in your file that you took a fall a week ago.”
“Banged up my knee pretty bad, but then, it wasn’t like I could feel it,” Noelle said. “It’s okay. You can look at it if you like, but I would still prefer to keep my appointment. I have lady things to ask about. If my dad gives you trouble, you should talk about your period. It freaks him out.”
“Noelle.” He didn’t need his own daughter giving him hell in front of the smart, sexy doctor. Almost doctor.
His daughter gave him an impish grin. “You told me I should be nice to the new people in town. After all, we were all new once.”
She could be a whole lot of trouble.
Lila wasn’t at all cold now. She smiled at Noelle, an expression that transformed her face from pretty but remote to gorgeous. There was a warm, caring woman under her frosty demeanor. “This looks good. I saw the X-rays. Your patella was bruised, but there weren’t any fractures. You’ve taken good care of this wound.”
“My dad did it,” Noelle admitted. “I forget about my legs since they’re useless. I don’t think about it. Dad made me change the bandages twice a day. He’s obnoxious.”
Lila looked back at him and for once she didn’t look annoyed. “You did a good job. Often wounds like this can get bad if you don’t stay on top of them. This is healing nicely. And I’ll look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Noelle. You’ll probably be my only patient.”
She managed to get to her feet with the grace of a woman who was used to standing in those heels all day. She looked like she had far more to say to him, but she merely nodded Noelle’s way and strode out the front doors of the station house.
Noelle whistled. “Damn, Dad. She was pissed and not at me. Did she find out how much that ticket cost?”
“Language.” He stared out the glass doors as Lila walked down Main Street. She strode right past Dixie’s, not even turning to look inside. It was probably a good thing since everyone in the diner had been looking at her. “She wasn’t mad at me about the ticket. She was upset about something else. Hey, have you heard anything about Carrie Petrie?”
Noelle was plugged into the town’s gossip center. She ate most of her meals at Dixie’s, which ran on grease and gossip. “Besides the fact that Gene is fairly certain they’re actually running drugs out of that shack they live in, no. Why?”
He didn’t want to spark more gossip. “Just let me know if you hear anything. I need to go talk to some folks.”
“You’re not going to tell me what she’s mad about?”
It appeared that Lila didn’t want everyone in Papillon to know about what had happened to her. He was going to have to have a discussion with Zep about talking about Lila’s past to anyone who asked. If she didn’t want people to know, then that should be her right. “It’s between me and her.”
“It’s going to be the only thing between you and her if you’re not careful.” Noelle wheeled around to the desk she used.
Wasn’t that the truth. Contrary to what Gene thought, it wasn’t the town or Doc in danger from Lila Daley, but he was starting to worry the town might be a danger to her.
She might have some big-city ways, but it was obvious she cared about her patients. If the tender way she’d dealt with Noelle was any indication, she could be good for Papillon.
She could be good for him.
He wanted a shot at figuring out if he might be good for her, too. “So how do we save our nurse from the town?”
Noelle’s face lit up. “I was thinking about that very thing.”
He leaned against the desk and let Noelle talk.chapter four“What’s the least spicy thing?” Lila stared down at the laminated menu at Guidry’s. The front was a complete listing of everything the restaurant served, but the back contained the story of how the family restaurant had come into being. It talked about the love between Remy’s grandparents and their adoration for their town. While waiting for her sister, she’d sat and stared at the two photos, one of a large family standing in front of the restaurant as it had been back in the early eighties. There was a newer photo where Remy had his arm around Lisa. They were surrounded by his family and the men and women who worked at Guidry’s. Her sister was a Guidry. Not a Daley. Lisa had a new family and they adored her. Her sister practically glowed in that photo.