“I am. Rubber chicken and a lot of schmoozing. I’ll be lucky to get a couple of bites. Believe me, this is a lot more appetizing, and the company is a thousand percent better.”
Beth tried not to feel flattered by the compliment, but it warmed her just the same. No wonder Mack had women falling at his feet. His charm was instinctive and natural, not the phony kind of lines she would have expected him to utter. He was slipping right past her natural wariness.
When he’d added apple pie and two cups of coffee to the tray as well, he brushed off her offer to buy and paid the cashier himself, then led the way to a table in a far corner of the room where there were fewer people around.
Once they were seated, Beth regarded him with curiosity. “Do you always get your own way?”
He seemed genuinely surprised by the question. “No, why?”
“You just steamrolled right over me back there,” she said.
“I figured you were trying to be a lady.”
She studied him with a narrowed gaze. “Meaning?” she asked, expecting some totally chauvinistic remark that would permit her to dislike him again.
“When it comes to food, my experience is that most women would rather starve than admit to a man that they’re hungry. They seem to think we’ll worry that they’re about to start putting on weight. Personally I like a woman with a healthy appetite and a little meat on her bones.”
Beth bit back her impulse to point out that she had neither. She should have known Mack wouldn’t be so reticent.
He gave her a thorough once-over, then added, “You could use a few more pounds, Doc. People might take you more seriously if you didn’t look as if a strong wind could blow you away.”
“The people who count seem to take me fairly seriously already,” she said.
“But it’s important to get lots of vitamins and minerals from food, right?” he said, placing her food in front of her. “Munching on a couple of vitamin caplets and drinking an energy shake does not constitute a healthy diet.”
Beth almost choked on her first spoonful of soup. How the heck did he know what she usually ate? “What have you been doing? Lurking outside my office door at mealtime?”
“Nope. No need to. The industrial-size vitamin bottle’s in plain view on your desk and the trash is littered with empty shake cans. If you ask me, that’s a sure way to end up sick.”
“What made you an expert on nutrition?” she asked irritably, because he was right and she didn’t want to admit it.
“Destiny pretty much drilled the basics into us, but anything she missed, I got from the team doctors when I was playing football,” he explained. “Food is fuel. Without the right fuel, the body isn’t going to run properly, not for long, anyway.”
She gave him a wry look. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You should,” Mack said, his expression serious. “Tony and a lot of other kids are counting on you, Doc. You won’t be able to help them if you get sick yourself.”
“Point accepted,” Beth said, deliberately taking a bite of salad to prove she’d gotten the message.
They ate in silence for several minutes, then Mack asked, “How’s Tony doing? Any change?”
“You’ve probably seen for yourself that he’s getting weaker every day. We’re doing everything we can to build him back up so we can try another round of chemo, but nothing’s working,” she admitted, her frustration evident in her voice. “Maybe you could work some of your nutritional magic with him. He’s not eating.”
“I’m on it,” he said at once. “Anything he can’t have?”
“No.”
“And I won’t be breaking any rules by carting in takeout?”
“I’ll save you from the food police around here, if you can just get him to eat,” Beth promised.
“Consider it done. I think I have a pretty good idea what might tempt a twelve-year-old kid to eat. And I can always give him the same spiel I gave you about the body needing fuel.”
“Thanks,” Beth said sincerely. “These days he’s much more likely to listen to you than me.”
“It’s a guy thing.” Mack grinned. “Of course, I might have to insist that you stop by to split a pizza with us or maybe some tacos. Kids learn best by example.”
Beth chuckled despite herself. “Still trying to fatten me up?”
“Just a little.”
“It seems to me the women I usually see on your arm are all model thin.”
Mack’s expression darkened a bit. “Don’t believe everything you see in the paper, Doc.”
“Are you saying the pictures lie? How can that be?”
“Put an ambitious female and a sleazy photographer in the same room and all it takes is the click of a shutter to create a false impression,” he said with an unmistakable touch of bitterness.
Before Beth could comment, he waved off the topic. “Let’s not talk about that. Anything on the search for a bone marrow donor?”
Beth wasn’t sure what to make of the quick change in subject, but she accepted that Mack didn’t intend to say another word about the women in his life. Instead, she tried to answer his question about Tony honestly. “He’s on the list, but we haven’t been pushing because he’s not a good candidate right now.”
“Anything I can do?” Mack asked.
“Just keep coming to see him. It’s the only time I ever hear him laugh,” she said quietly.
Mack studied her intently. “What about you, Doc? How are you doing? This is getting to you, isn’t it? I mean even more than it was before. You’re scared, aren’t you?”
Beth struggled with the emotions she tried to keep tamped down so they wouldn’t overwhelm her. Mack had a way of bringing them right back to the surface, of forcing her to confront them.
“Terrified,” she admitted finally.
Mack reached for her hand. “You know, even doctors are allowed to have feelings.”
“No, we’re not,” she said, jerking her hand away from the comfort it would be far too easy to accept. “We have to stay focused and objective.”
“Why?”
“It’s the only way we can do our jobs.”
“Without falling apart, you mean?”
She nodded, her throat tight. Now she was the one who was uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. “Can we talk about something else, please? I can’t do this, not tonight.”
Mack sat back in his chair. “Sure. We can talk about whatever you like.” He grinned. “Want to talk about football?”
She relaxed at the teasing note in his voice. “It would have to be a brief conversation, unless you intend to do all the talking.”
“You know us jocks. We can go on and on about sports at the drop of a hat,” he taunted. “But I’ll spare you. How about politics? Any opinions?”
“I saw in the paper that your brother finally announced he’s running for city council in Alexandria.”
Mack’s expression darkened a bit. “Yep, Richard’s fulfilling the legacy our father left for him.”
Beth heard the edgy note in his voice and studied him curiously. “You don’t seem pleased by that.”
“If it were what my brother really wanted, I’d be all for it,