The Ideal Man

ELEVEN

Ellie drove directly to the hospital and was finished with her surgery by five thirty. She was walking out the door when she was called back in. A bus filled with teenagers returning to St. Louis from a football camp had been broadsided by a semi, and there were four life-threatening injuries. Ellie did two more surgeries and didn’t get home until after three in the morning. She crawled into bed and slept twelve straight hours.

When she awoke, she felt restless and didn’t want to be alone, which was a rare feeling for her. She decided to go to her home away from home. She called Uncle Oliver and Aunt Millie Wheatley, the dear people who had taken her in when she was twelve years old. They loved her, nurtured and protected her, and she suddenly missed them horribly.

It wasn’t as though she hadn’t seen them in a while. She talked to them at least twice a week, sometimes more, and ate dinner at their house every other Sunday, depending on her schedule. But she had the sudden urge to spend some time with them before she left town.

Aunt Millie answered the phone when she called.

“May I spend the night?” Ellie asked. What was wrong with her? She sounded so pathetic.

“Of course,” Millie answered. “Your room is always ready for you.”

“I’ll be there in twenty.”

Ellie immediately felt better. Just hearing the voice of someone who loved her made a difference.

An hour later she was sitting in the Wheatley kitchen, drinking hot tea. Uncle Oliver wanted to know about her latest surgeries and, of course, wanted the details about the incident outside the hospital. She talked about the surgery but didn’t tell him she had seen the shooting. If he knew that she had been so close to the gunshots, he would have been very upset.

When her uncle had gone to bed, she and Millie discussed the upcoming wedding in Winston Falls.

“You’re nervous about going home, aren’t you?” Millie asked.

“Yes. I’m afraid,” she admitted.

“Your father would know if that monster is back in town,” she said, referring to Patterson.

“That’s not it. I’m nervous about… them. I want to fit in the family…” She shook her head. “I don’t think I will.”

“It will be all right. Just don’t push it,” she suggested. She reached across the table and patted Ellie’s hand.

Anxious to change the subject, Ellie blurted, “I met someone.”

“Oh?” Millie began to smile. “It’s about time.”

Ellie told her about Max and what a bizarre reaction she’d had when she met him.

“He’s all wrong for me,” she said. “He’s abrupt and gruff, and at times he can be downright rude. For a living, he carries a gun and chases bad guys. His life is the antithesis of mine. Definitely not the ideal man… and yet, there was instant attraction… almost animalistic,” she admitted. “I couldn’t control it.”

“That’s how it was with your uncle and me. Instant attraction. Want to know a secret? We’re old now. He’s balding. I’ve gained twenty pounds and have more wrinkles than a weary bloodhound, but the attraction is still there, and it’s just as strong. If you think you might have feelings for this man, don’t fight them.”

“There’s a problem.”

“What is it?”

“He lives in Honolulu.”

Millie drummed her fingers on the table. “Honolulu, huh?”

Ellie nodded. “A world away.”