Unshakeable Pursuit (Christian Romantic Suspense)

Chapter 1b

Maylin Kinley glared at the harmless green sticky note stuck to the chart of a six-year-old girl who had come into the Free Children’s Clinic with a bad cough. The scrawling handwriting on the note was just barely legible: “See G. Whelan if ?s about ABX.”

Her coworker, Thea, sighed. “I’d have guessed it was Dr. Whelan just from the sticky note.” She pointed to the logo of the Oliver Medical Supply company at the top. “These are new, though. Last week he was using orange sticky notes from Diggle Surgical Tools.”

It was a running joke among the nurses that Dr. Whelan preferred leaving notes because he was too snooty to converse with the lowly nurses. Maylin might have believed it of the arrogant Geoffrey Whelan she’d known when she first met him at Merlyn Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles years ago. He’d only paid attention to nurses if they were pretty—everyone else were people he ordered around. A pathetic part of her had been flattered he’d seemed so attracted to her, but even in his flirting, he had that air of condescension that set her teeth on edge. He had seemed to flirt with her even more because she rebuffed him, which made it harder for her to get over her attraction to him.

But since he started volunteering at the Free Children’s Clinic a few months ago—helping out until the full-time doctor position was filled—she’d noticed that he was different than he had been before. He was still too handsome for his own good, but the past several years had drastically changed something inside him. He still clipped out orders in that low, confident voice, but he no longer flirted and he’d lost that condescending tone. 

Perversely, now that he wasn’t paying any attention to her—or any other woman—Maylin found him more fascinating. It seemed as if something haunted him—she could see the shadow of it in his green-streaked brown eyes. It puzzled her. She would have assumed that he’d spent the past few years partying with his doctor friends down in Los Angeles or some other big city.

“I think he leaves these sticky notes to keep us in line,” Maylin muttered. Dr. Whelan had been the same way with sticky notes when she worked with him before. Not everything about him had changed.

Thea tilted her head to the side. “Hmm, that’s a thought. He’s a bit of a control freak.”

“Hey, Thea!” An X-ray technician, Laurel, hurried down the hallway toward them. “Felicity and Moira are coming with us tonight, too. I can’t wait to try out the new menu at Rock Love …” Laurel broke off as she suddenly realized Maylin was standing with Thea. Her cheeks went pink.

Thea gave Maylin an uncomfortable glance. Maylin wanted to tell her not to be embarrassed, because she already knew her coworkers thought she was odd. She was used to being the outsider, being alone. It had always been that way with her family, in school, at work. Besides, she had only started working here four months ago, and the women staff in the clinic had already been very good friends long before that.

But Maylin’s mouth never seemed to catch up to her brain, and before she could say anything to ease the situation, Thea said in an uncomfortable voice, “You’re welcome to come tonight, too, Maylin. The Rock Love is really trendy.”

Was it a music bar? She tried to think of something to say, but the only thing that came out was, “Rock Love?”

“You’ve never heard of it?” Laurel’s surprise was incredulous. “In Napa? Food and wine critics have been raving about it for the last six months.”

Yet more proof for these women that she was odd. She didn’t keep up with trends—she’d rather bike through the vineyards after work, or spend a weekend up north hiking in the redwood forests.

“No, thanks,” she finally managed to say. She wanted to say something about how she appreciated them asking her, but before she could formulate the words, Laurel had left to head back to the X-ray lab and Thea said she had to check on a patient.