“They were already there. Not far behind us on the road. The reporter came up to me. They had already been filming you. I just told them your name and where you worked.”
His eyes bored into hers. “And you knew good and well how I’d feel about that.”
“I had an idea, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up, Rex. You were a hero last night. If you hadn’t helped those people, they could have died.”
“You’re just like my parents. Trying to dress things up to look a certain way when they’re not. I’m a doctor, I care for people. That’s my job. My calling. I don’t do it so I can be a hero on the morning news. Don’t make me into something I’m not.”
She put her hands out, palms up as if pleading with him. “But the coverage was important—”
“Why? So you can get a promotion and run away from a jerk who was never good enough for you to begin with?” he spat.
“Run away?” She made a step toward him. “You’re one to be talking. You run every day from who you were. You did a complete role reversal so you don’t have to remember how much it hurt to be rejected from your old life. And you’re blaming everyone else for feeling that way. I bet you don’t even see your parents but maybe once a year! Yet, from all I can tell, outside of them trying to live the good life, they loved you. They cared for you.”
“Don’t put your issues on me just because you act like this strong, assertive woman, but when you get around your father you become a child who’ll do anything to make him happy. The problem is you can’t. He uses his disability to control you. You can’t see he’s eaten up with bitterness and that if you don’t get away soon, one day you will be too.”
Her shoulders reared back as if he had slapped her. “How dare you!”
“I dare because it’s the truth. Have you ever thought that he might have learned to walk on artificial legs if you hadn’t waited on him hand and foot? He demanded attention. You gave it to him. You’re still giving it. Granted, you were a child, but he should’ve been man enough to know better than to put that guilt trip on you. All that stuff about doctors is to cover up his fault in the accident. You ask him. I bet he was driving too fast. Had been drinking. Not paying attention to the road. You and I both know his doctors saved his life.”
“If you’re done psychoanalyzing me and my father, you need to go.” Tiffani circled around him and got as far from him as the space would allow. She held the door wide.
He gave her a pointed look. “I’m going, but I won’t be anyone’s pawn. I am through with your crusade. I’ll let Nelson know. You do your thing without me. Goodbye, Ms. Romano.”
CHAPTER TEN
REX’S FINAL WORDS had rerun over and over in her mind like a bad film for days. He’d called her by her last name. When he’d said goodbye that was what he’d meant. Not only to the campaign but to her. She’d thought she’d been hurt before by a breakup but that pain came nowhere near the searing agony she was feeling now. Just getting out of bed was torture. The only relief she found was sleep but there was precious little of that. The dreams were too intense. She woke aching for Rex. It was both a pleasure and a pain to see his smiling face on the billboards around town.
Dr. Nelson had called the next day to inform her Rex would no longer be required to participate in the campaign. She had no idea how Rex had explained the situation and she hadn’t asked. Despite Dr. Nelson’s announcement, he seemed genuinely pleased with her progress. That news coverage of the accident scene had boosted the hospital’s image in the public’s eyes—and destroyed any chance she had at happiness.
She had fallen in love with Rex.
But she had hurt him. Worse, disappointed him. She couldn’t take it back. Didn’t know how to fix it. All she knew to do was accept the promotion she had been offered for her successful campaign, move away and hope to start anew. There would never be another Rex. Just a hole in her heart where the piece he held belonged. Had he been right to accuse her of running away by chasing the promotion to the other office? She’d never thought of herself as a coward. If she could endure losing Rex, then she shouldn’t have any difficulty facing Lou every day at work. After all, she did deserve better than him. She’d let Lou treat her like her father did. That wasn’t a healthy relationship. For a boyfriend or a father. It was time to make changes in her life.
* * *
That Sunday when she visited her father she entered his room with her head held high. It was time for him to start taking responsibility for his actions and his life.
“Baby girl. There you are.”
She didn’t pull up a chair. Instead she chose to stand. “Hi, Daddy. How’s your hand?”
He waved it at her. He no longer wore a bandage. “Much better. Even though that quack looked at it.”
“You’re not going to talk about Rex that way around me. If you do I won’t be coming to see you anymore,” she said tightly, holding her father’s shocked gaze.
“But you know how those doctors are.”
She did. The one she loved was giving, caring and dedicated. “Daddy, you never really told me what caused your accident.”
Her father looked uncomfortable and turned his gaze away from her. “Why do you want to know now? That was a long time ago.”
“It was but I’d still like to know.” She used her most encouraging tone.
“I was on the way home from work. I came through a curve and the bike came out from under me.” He repeated the words as if it was a rehearsed statement.
“You didn’t stop on the way home? You used to tell me you stopped by Charlie’s for a drink sometimes.” She watched him closely. His eyes shadowed.
“I might have. I don’t really remember.”
Tiffani could tell he did. “It had been raining that day.”
“How do you know that?” he said with uncharacteristic quietness.
“Because I couldn’t go out to play. I ran to the door when the policeman rang the bell.”
“Ah.” He nodded, still not meeting her look.
Rex had been right. There was more to the story than what her father wanted to admit to.
“Dad, I think it’s time you think about getting some help. Use your wheelchair more. Get outside some. Talk to other people.”
There was moisture in his eyes. “What’s going on?”
“It’s time for you to take responsibility for yourself. I’m not going to enable you anymore. I’m not coming to see you for a while. I think we both need a little time to think.”
“That’s fine with me. I don’t need you,” he spat.
“Bye, Dad.” She sighed. “I’ll see you in a few weeks.”
Tiffani walked down the hall with her shoulders straight but that had been one of the hardest things she had ever done. She’d hated to do it but it had needed to be done. She and her father needed space from one another.
Tiffani stopped by the attendants’ desk and told the woman there, “I just wanted to let you know I won’t be coming in for a while. My dad needs to learn to deal with things on his own.”
The woman gave her a wry smi
le. “I couldn’t agree more.”
“Thanks for taking care of his hand. It looks much better,” Tiffani said.
“It does. I told Dr. Maxwell that as well just yesterday.”
Rex had been checking in on her father? Even after the way her father had treated him?
“Bye,” she told the woman, and hurried out of the building before she broke down in sobs.
* * *
Rex had worked himself to the point of exhaustion for over a week now. That was the only way he could get any sleep. Still, those hours weren’t restful ones. He missed Tiffani. The worst thing he could have ever done was invite her up to his place. Now, wherever he looked he thought of her, even when washing his clothes.
As soon as he had made it home that morning after seeing Tiffani, he had phoned Nelson. He was excited about the TV report but his joy vanished when Rex told him in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t be continuing as part of the PR campaign. If the hospital didn’t want him for his skills he would go elsewhere. Nelson assured him the hospital didn’t want to lose him. When he asked what the problem was, Rex just told him that he and Ms. Romano could no longer agree on how much of his time could be diverted from surgery for the sake of the campaign.
He felt betrayed. She’d chosen her career over him. Once again, someone he cared about had placed their own wants and needs ahead of anything else.
His job was to help people, not create material for great PR. He’d done his best by Mr. Royster and it had come back to bite him. He was trying to do the right thing for the people in the High Water neighborhood, but what if somehow that turned into a negative too? He hoped not. Surely Tiffani wouldn’t use the clinic like that.
But now, after calming down, he couldn’t help but wonder if she had been right. Was he doing the same thing as she was? Running? He wouldn’t have ever believed he was doing that, but now...
Were his hair, clothes and motorcycle all a show? How was his determination to present a specific image to the world any different from what his parents had done? They’d worn clothes for who they wanted to be, had lived the lifestyle they’d wanted. Where they had messed up had been failing to create a plan to prevent it all from one day crashing down on them. Was his blind determination to be an individual with no pretensions causing him to push away the one person he wanted in his life?