Sweet Southern Nights Read online

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “Don’t think too long, because Reggie was hinting that he wanted to do something this coming weekend.”

  “Don’t forget my mom is having a little something at the house on Sunday.”

  “I won’t. Now back to Levi. So, you’ve decided to have a relationship that excludes sex?”

  “It’s called friendship, Traci.”

  “Friendship my behind, Angela. I saw the two of you together, and if you think you’re going to have a platonic relationship with Dr. Levi Eaton, then you need to be committed like yesterday.”

  “That’s because you think with your hormones and your heart and not your head. Don’t forget, I’ve dated more than a dozen guys and never slept with any of them. What makes Levi any different?”

  Traci rolled her eyes upward. “You may have dated more men than me, but I have a lot more experience with men. After all, I was married to two of them. I’ve seen the way Levi looks at you, and it’s the same way Reggie and I look at each other.”

  “I’d believe that if you weren’t divorced.”

  “You know very well why we divorced. I was working in Europe eight months of the year, and when I returned Reggie was playing ball. We were like two ships passing in the night. But, it’s different now.”

  “You’re really reconciling?” Angela asked, as she emptied the tea into a hand-painted porcelain teapot.

  Biting on her lip, Traci nodded. “We’ve been talking about it.” She got quiet. “I know this can’t be easy for you, Ang—me talking about getting married again.”

  Angela patted Traci’s arm. “Don’t worry. It doesn’t bother me.”

  “Like me asking you to get up to catch the bouquet didn’t upset you?”

  “Your dragging me on the ballroom floor was like waving a red flag in front of me. Especially since Robert told everyone I was frigid.” Reaching into an overhead cabinet, Angela removed two cups with matching saucers. “Do you want butter or preserves on your toast?”

  “Preserves? You didn’t answer my question, Ang. Who told you Robert said you were frigid?”

  “No one told me. I was in a stall in the ladies’ room when I overheard two women whispering about it.” Angela pushed down the handle on the toaster. “My nerdy ex-fiancé just happens to have a kinky side. He was into threesomes. He wanted me to make out with another woman and make a video to replay later.”

  “I don’t believe it. That’s not kinky. That’s perverted! He probably couldn’t get it up unless he fantasized about two women. Do you think Savannah does that?”

  “I really don’t care if they do or not. Enough about Robert, Levi and Reggie. Who’s coming into the shop today?”

  “Olivia Knowles.”

  “Better you than me,” Angela said, wincing. “Do you mind eating on the back porch?”

  “Of course not,” Traci replied. “Let me help you carry something.”

  Balancing the tea on a tray, Angela made her way out of the kitchen to the enclosed back porch. A white wicker sofa and love seat with olive-green paisley cushions, a glass-covered coffee table, four rocking chairs, beautiful plants and a hammock suspended between two massive columns provided an inviting space year round.

  Over green tea, toast and sliced fruit the two cousins talked about the prospective bride who wanted to add antique Baccarat crystal to her wedding registry.

  “I’ve tried to talk Olivia out of only having Baccarat, but she claims she doesn’t like Lenox or Waterford.”

  Angela took a sip of tea, while staring at Traci over the rim of her cup. “There’s nothing wrong with Waterford.”

  “You’re preaching to the choir, cuz,” Traci countered. Setting down her teacup, she patted the seat cushion when she spied Angela’s cat. “Come here, Miss Divine.” The cat sprang from the floor, landing on Traci’s lap. “I’d get a cat if Reggie wasn’t allergic to them.”

  “You could always get a dog that’s hypoallergenic.”

  Traci ran her fingers over the cat’s back. “Don’t even go there, Ang. Reggie’s idea of a dog is something that resembles a pony. He’s partial to Rottweilers and Dobermans.”

  “I don’t think…” Her words trailed off when the phone rang. Angela excused herself as she reached over and picked up the cordless phone on a side table. “Hello.”

  She listened as a woman from a cleaning service introduced herself. “Miss Chase, your fiancé called and made arrangements to have someone come and see your house before we set up a cleaning schedule with you. All of our employees are bonded,” she explained, “and when we assign someone to clean your house we ask for your feedback. If you like her, then she’ll become your permanent housekeeper. I’d like to send someone over to look at your place.”

  Angela closed her eyes. Levi had followed through with his promise to provide her with a cleaning service so Miss Divine could have the run of the house. But why, she wondered had he referred to her as his fiancé? “I’m usually home on Mondays, so if you’re going to send someone it would have to be today.”

  “Will you be available in an hour?”

  “Yes.” Angela gave the woman her address, directions and then hung up. Cleaning her own house had never been a chore because she dusted and vacuumed the entire house on Wednesdays and cleaned the half bath, kitchen and en-suite bathrooms early Saturday mornings before going into the Garden Gate. That would change once she had a cleaning service.

  Traci set Miss Divine on the floor, touched a cloth napkin to her mouth and then stood up. “Thanks for breakfast. It sounds as if you’re going to have company and I need to psych myself up for Olivia. Call me later and let me know if you’re down for Tubbs.”

  Angela knew Traci would haunt her day and night until she gave her an answer. “I have to talk to Levi first, and then I’ll let you know.”

  Traci combed her fingers through her short hair, fluffing up the damp curls. “You know we can’t tell our mothers we’re going because they’d both have a stroke.”

  The Hitchcock sisters were notorious snobs. Traci’s mother had taken to her bed, refusing to leave when Traci had announced she was marrying a pro-football player, referring to them as “dumb jocks.” Reginald Goddard may have been a jock but dumb he wasn’t. He’d earned an undergraduate degree in biology, and gone on to earn a graduate degree in physiotherapy. He was now a licensed physiotherapist.

  Angela pantomimed zipping her lips. “They definitely won’t hear it from me.”

  Levi reclined on the back porch, legs crossed at the ankles, a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead and arms crossed over his chest. He’d gotten up at dawn to jog two miles, returned home to the two-bedroom guesthouse he rented from an eccentric widow, and settled down to enjoy his day off. He’d promised Angela he would pay for cleaning her house, and had followed through with a telephone call that put everything into motion.

  When the woman who’d taken the information asked him what his relationship to the client was, he’d told her that Angela was his fiancée. Once the lie was out, he couldn’t retract it, knowing it was easier to call her his fiancée rather than a friend. And because they also cleaned his house, Levi knew they would take special care with Angela’s because of their relationship.

  With his pager and cell on vibrate, attached to the waistband of his jeans, Levi reached for his iPod’s earbuds. He inserted them in his ears, and listened to the eclectic playlist he’d downloaded from his extensive music collection. One day he would be in the mood for jazz and on another it could be hip-hop, R&B, pop or occasionally country. His musical tastes were as varied as his moods.

  He closed his eyes and lost track of time as the sun rose higher in the sky. It was the perfect spring day in the Bluegrass State. The morning temperature had reached the mid-sixties with an expected h
igh of seventy-two. After living in the Northeast for more than a decade he’d come to appreciate the milder temperatures. If he’d been in New York Levi knew he still would’ve been wearing a jacket.

  His cell phone vibrated, and he sat up and looked at the caller ID. It was Duncan. Pulling the earbuds out of his ears, Levi answered the call, hoping there wasn’t an emergency.

  “What’s up, Duncan?”

  “I just got a call from the chief of staff down at Clarke County General and they need a doctor to head their pediatric unit.”

  A slight frown furrowed Levi’s smooth forehead as he thought about Duncan’s statement. “How did they get my name? Have you forgotten that I work for you and I still have a practice in New York?”

  Duncan’s laugh came through the earpiece. “There’s no way I can forget. First of all, the patients who come here have been singing your praises whenever they go to Clarke General. Secondly it’s a temporary position. The doctor who heads the department went hiking at Mammoth Cave, fell and broke his leg. The prognosis is that he’ll be out for at least three months.”

  Levi had been caught off guard. It had been a while since he’d worked in a hospital, and he wondered if he’d be able to adjust to the frenetic energy. “What about the clinic, Duncan?”

  “Not to worry. I’ll look for a physician’s assistant to fill in for you, or a retired pediatrician willing to put in a few hours. Look man, this is an opportunity of a lifetime for you. How many thirty-six-year-old doctors do you know become head of a hospital department, even if it is only temporary? Not many,” Duncan said.

  Levi knew Duncan was right. Even before he’d joined the medical group in New York, it had taken him a while before he resigned his position with the large New York City hospital. There was something about the challenges, the nonstop pace of the hospital emergency room that had always energized him and reminded him why he became a doctor. Treating patients in a hospital wasn’t as personal as in private practice, but for Levi all of his young patients were special.

  “When do they need to know?” he asked Duncan.

  “It has to be today. McGill is the chief of staff, and he’ll be available to see you any time after two this afternoon. I hate to lose you, Levi. But if you don’t accept the position then I’m going to fire you.”

  It was Levi’s turn to laugh. “What if I quit first?”

  “You can’t. Don’t forget your commitment is for six months. You will also be paid for the position which is slightly higher than the stipend you’re getting now. Another perk is there’s free staff housing.”

  Clarke General, or CG, as most of the locals referred to it, was halfway between Maywood Junction and Louisville, and that meant he could drive to downtown Louisville in less than ten minutes. Levi knew Duncan could hire a physician assistant to fill in for him, but even before accepting the hospital position he was already experiencing anxiety about leaving.

  “Give me McGill’s number and I’ll call him.” Picking up a pen off the table, he wrote down the number on a pad.

  “I hope when you call him you’re going to tell him you’ll accept the position,” Duncan said.

  “Don’t worry, Chase. I’m not a fool.”

  Duncan laughed again. “I was beginning to think you were when you agreed to take my sister to the wedding.”

  “Don’t worry about me and your sister. We’re doing just fine.”

  “Are you telling me you guys are getting together?”

  “That’s none of your business, Dr. Chase. What goes on between Angela and me stays between us.”

  “Point taken, Dr. Eaton. I wouldn’t have asked you to go out with her if I didn’t have the utmost respect for you—as a man and a colleague.”

  “Enough with the sucking up, Duncan,” he teased. “I’ll call you after I talk to McGill.”

  Levi met with Dr. Neil McGill and afterward took a tour of the renovated facility. The renovation project had increased the capacity from sixty to a hundred twenty-five beds. His responsibility would be to supervise three med school interns and two residents. As a department head he was provided with free housing—a furnished two-bedroom apartment with amenities like twenty-four-hour security on the premises, concierge service and private parking. He’d been assigned a second-floor apartment with a living room, dining area, kitchen, two baths and a balcony that spanned the entire apartment and overlooked the parking lot. Dr. McGill had given him one week to see his clinic patients before joining the hospital staff.

  Reaching for his BlackBerry, he punched the speed-dial feature. “Hey, sweetie,” he crooned upon hearing Angela’s voice.

  “Hey, yourself,” she said, laughing softly. “Or should I call you fiancé?”

  Levi sobered. “Sorry about that, but it was the first thing that came to mind when the woman asked me my relationship to you.”

  “No harm, Levi, as long as we know where we stand with each other. Someone came out to see the house and because I live alone they don’t see a need to come in more than once a week.”

  “One person is going to clean the entire house?”

  “No. They say it’ll be quicker with a two-man team.”

  “I’m calling because I need your help.”

  “What do you need?”

  Levi told her about Duncan’s call and his new position at the hospital. “I’m moving in this weekend.”

  “Congratulations. I know Duncan isn’t happy about losing you, but it’s an opportunity you can’t afford to turn down.”

  He smiled. “That’s what your brother said. I won’t know what my schedule will be, but as soon as I find out I’ll let you know.”

  “We’re going to have to go out and celebrate.”

  Unlocking the sliding glass door in the master bedroom, Levi stepped out onto the balcony. “Okay, but I want to wait until after your mother’s get-together and the Derby.”

  “Are you doing anything Saturday night?” Angela asked, catching him by surprise.

  “No. Why?”

  “Traci and Reggie Goddard and me are going to a club and I’d like you to join us.”

  “What time do you want me to pick you up?”

  “Let me check with Traci, and I’ll call you back.”

  “Levi.”

  “Yes, Angela.”

  “Congratulations again on your new position.”

  This time it was Levi’s turn to pause. He hadn’t wanted to leave the clinic. He’d grown close to his patients, something he wouldn’t be able to do at a hospital—even one as small as CG. He preferred the one-on-one contact with his patients to that of a hospital.

  “Thank you, Ang.”

  “You’re welcome. By the way, plan to sleep over Saturday. It’ll save you the hassle of driving back to Maywood, just to come back on Sunday for my mother’s get-together.”

  Levi’s smile was dazzling. “So, I rate a sleepover?”

  “Don’t get too excited, sport. Traci and Reggie are also staying over.”

  “Good. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a coed sleepover. How’s my girl?”

  “Who are you talking about?”

  “Miss Divine.”

  “She’s good.”

  “Tell her I said hello.”

  Angela laughed. “You’re sick.”

  “Tell her, Angela.”

  “Okay. I’ll tell her. Please hang up, Levi. I have to finish some paperwork.”

  Levi smiled. “Later.” He ended the call, left the balcony, closing and locking the door behind him.

  Standing in the middle of the empty bedroom he stared down at the wood floor. He had to tell his landlady he was moving out, contact the concierge and have them make arrangements to clean the apartment, and he had to remi
nd himself that Angela Chase was looking for a friend and fun, even though his thoughts were not so friendly. He’d dreamt about Angela and woke up with a painful hard-on that refused to go down until he took a cold shower.

  He knew he had to be careful—very, very careful or he’d want more from her than friendship.

  Chapter 9

  “Your total is eighteen hundred, thirty-one dollars and fifty-seven cents.” Angela smiled at the middle-aged woman who’d become one of the Garden Gate’s best customers. It also helped that she was the mayor’s wife.

  Priscilla Turner put her credit card on the counter. “I don’t want you to send it out until the middle of next week. That way it’ll arrive exactly on her birthday.”

  “I’ll ship it Wednesday for a Thursday delivery.” Mrs. Turner had ordered a Waterford heritage collection claret decanter for her daughter’s thirtieth birthday. The exquisite piece was made with intricate detailing and craftsmanship, making it a crystal piece to be treasured for generations.

  “Your daughter will love it,” Angela continued, processing the credit card. She smiled as Priscilla patted her short, coiffed silver hair. The woman came from old money. Her family had made a fortune in tobacco, coal and oil. As a leading philanthropist, Priscilla sat on at least half a dozen boards of Louisville’s charitable organizations.

  Priscilla smiled, her eyes shimmering like polished topaz. “I’m certain she will. You carry the most exquisite pieces in the city.”

  Angela returned her smile. “Why, thank you.”

  “Well, it’s true, Angela. If you speak to your mother before the Derby, please let her know that my secretary will be sending her an invitation for our post-race party.”

  Angela glanced up when she heard the distinctive chime signaling someone had walked into the Garden Gate. A slight gasp escaped her lips when she saw Levi. It’d been almost a week since their last encounter, and as he approached she felt slightly lightheaded.

  She tried unsuccessfully to stop her hands from shaking as she handed Mrs. Turner her credit card. Angela had to get the woman out of the shop before she started up a conversation with Levi. Louisvillians had said for years that Priscilla should have run for mayor instead of her husband, because there wasn’t anyone she couldn’t engage in conversation. The running joke was she could get a rock to talk.