He tugged his shirt over his head and ditched the rest of his clothes. He kept thinking about how much she needed him, but it was all a cover. He needed her. He thought about her all the time, his life utterly revolving around her moods and desires. If she smiled at him, he was happy. If she was sad, he had to try to fix it. There was no fixing what was bothering her now, but he could help her forget for a while.

He stepped into the shower. “You know you did good today.”

Her eyes came open and she glanced his way. “I hope so. I don’t know. The truth is she could be right back in his home in a couple of weeks. I’ve seen it before. I’ve seen it all, the same women coming through time and time again and having the very men who put them in the ER pick them up. It was different in the ER. I didn’t get to know anyone. I wasn’t completely responsible, if you know what I mean.”

He stepped in behind her and picked up the soap, building up a rich lather in his hands. “I know exactly what you mean. I used to be responsible for any number of cases. But it was easy to distance in the city. I know every one of these people. Maybe not as well as I should, as today proved, but I know them. They’re not names on a file I can’t quite recall. They’re the people I grew up around. Carrie’s mom was friends with mine. They used to bring by a tray of Christmas cookies every year. She was younger than I was, but I can remember her standing next to her momma and delivering treats. How did I not see she was hurting?”

He put his hands on her shoulders and started to wash her skin. She sighed and let her head drop forward. “That’s not your job. It’s mine. You can’t do a thing if she won’t talk to you. You can’t force her to tell you the truth. From what I can tell they purposefully isolated her.”

“Well, I’m going to check on the people who live on those islands more often,” he promised. “I’ll try to make it so it’s a friendly thing, but I need to make sure nothing’s going on out there.”

“When you do, can you tell them Doc retired? I’m so tired of explaining I’m not his new nurse.” Her muscles started to relax. “I kind of hate that man. He was lazy. That feels so good.”