A Doctor Enemy for the Cowboy

Chapter 2-1

CHAPTER 2

SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO

Rose Tara Ellis hurriedly stuffed her most precious belongings in her backpack and glanced around the room she shared with her roommate Catherine to see if she’d missed anything. She had to leave now if she wanted to escape.

Rose had been ecstatic when she’d gained admission into one of the most prestigious high school academies in upstate New York. She might have been poor—which wasn’t helped by the fact that her father drank away his wages more than half the time—but Rose had always known her book smarts were the ticket out of the hellhole she’d grown up in, so she’d put in the work.

And it had paid off.

She’d received a full scholarship to the academy. And even though she was the known charity case in her class, Rose had managed to remain inconspicuous, and her freshman year as well as the fall semester of her sophomore year at the boarding school had been relatively uneventful. She’d ignored everything else and focused on her studies. She’d even become close friends with her roommate Catherine. Catherine came from a modest family, but she’d never looked down on Rose.

But then Rose had caught the eye of William Carriford, the number one playboy at the academy.

She’d been aware of his reputation and had done her best to avoid him and his group of hangers-on. His parents were said to be the richest in the school, and his mother was on the board of directors. William believed he was entitled to whatever he wanted.

And he wanted Rose.

But Rose wasn’t for the taking, and thankfully she’d managed to dodge him for most of the spring term. Because of the term paper she’d submitted for her World History class instead of a written exam, Rose had completed her schoolwork for the semester and could leave the campus ahead of everyone else. She’d had no plans to stay back for the week-long activities that typically followed the end of exams before the school closed for the summer break, but she’d miss saying goodbye to Catherine before leaving. Rose resolved to make it up to her another time.

She stuffed her coin purse in her jeans pocket, her wallet in the front zipper of her backpack, and strapped the bag on. Then she flung the door open to leave.

“Hello, beautiful,” a voice drawled.

Rose’s eyes widened, but she managed to tamp down her trepidation. William’s sidekicks—she thought of them as Dumb One and Dumb Two—were standing outside her door as if waiting for her. How had they known she’d be leaving now? Rose hadn’t told anyone her plan. And how did they get in? The girls’ dorm was off-limits to the boys except for the general reception room.

She straightened her shoulders. She would not show any fear to these bullies. “What do you want?” Rose asked in a tight voice.

“William wants to see you,” Dumb Two replied, tweaking his patrician nose, which was a bit too large for his face. Both guys played high school football and were built like linebackers. Rose had a feeling they might have used some “juice” to bulk up.

“Why?” she asked flatly.

“I don’t know. I’m only the messenger.”

“I’ll come by and see him later,” Rose said.

Dumb One shook his head, his perfectly tousled brown hair hardly moving. “That won’t work. You know he hates waiting.”

“I’ll hold this for you like a gentleman,” Dumb Two said. He grabbed her backpack before she could resist and tossed it over his shoulder.

Rose scoffed. Gentleman indeed. More like he didn’t want to give her a chance to run away. As her mind scrambled to figure a way out, Dumb One grabbed her arm and dragged her after him with Dumb Two attached on her other side.

They led her down the dorm’s hallway. Fortunately, most students were still taking their final exams, otherwise the news about her personal escort service would be all over the school already. Did it mean these two dumbos hadn’t bothered with the exams?

Soon they were outside, and the guys led her in the direction of a red-bricked edifice set apart from other nearby buildings that had been arranged in an oval pattern around a central courtyard. It was rumored only a very select group of students got to live in the red building, which consisted of apartments instead of dorm rooms, perfect for all the weekly parties the privileged students held. Rose had also heard the horror stories of what happened there, but somehow nothing ever happened to the perpetrators. Most students were willing to give an arm or a leg for an invite to one such event, yet Rose had never been interested—licking people’s boots was not her thing, and she’d never fit in anyway. She was only at the school to get the education needed to guarantee her a spot to her Ivy League school of choice, nothing more.

Rose’s mind spun as they passed through the courtyard and neared the building. She had to escape. It was now or never.

She stumbled and crashed to the ground, Dumb One’s grip on her falling off. “Ouch!” she said as she rubbed her knee, her face scrunched up in pain.

“What is it?” Dumb One said with a look of impatience.

“I just tripped on my shoelace,” Rose said. “Give me a minute to fix it.”

“Alright, but hurry up,” Dumb Two said in annoyance.

Rose pretended to retie the laces of her sneakers. But then she suddenly sprang up and sprinted away. It meant leaving her backpack behind, but what could she do? Entering that building was tantamount to signing her death warrant.

“Stop!” Dumb One screamed as both boys realized what had happened and ran after her.

But Rose didn’t halt. Instead she increased her speed and soon exited the courtyard, zigzagging between the buildings before dropping out of view behind one of them.

She poked out her head to scan the area. Dumb One and Dumb Two stood at one end of the courtyard, their eyes searching for her. Rose ducked her head as their eyes flicked in her direction. Hopefully, they hadn’t seen her. She let out an exhale when she was sure there were no footsteps headed her way. But Rose had to leave this spot soon if she wanted to stay safe. She needed to come up with a plan.

Buying a train ticket to leave town was not an option—Dumb Two still had her bag, which held her wallet. She had no close friends she could run to and ask for money except Catherine, but going back to the dorm to find her was out of the question. It was the first place the guys would look for her.

Then she remembered the coin purse and patted her jean pocket. Thank goodness it was still intact. The coins in it were enough to call her father. Rose usually returned home on her own for school breaks, but this was an emergency. Her father had been doing better these days instead of drowning himself in an alcoholic stupor with whatever little earnings he had, and he’d even gotten his job back at the plant. He’d managed to send some money to her during the semester for the first time, which had supplemented the cash she’d saved from the odd jobs she worked during her school breaks.

Rose’s father had lost interest in everything around him, including Rose, after her mom died. He’d stopped caring, and Rose had only managed to keep food on the table with the part-time work she’d done for their neighbor, Miss Whitaker. She’d cooked meals, done the dishes, washed the laundry, and cleaned the house for the elderly lady all through middle school until she’d gotten her admission at the academy. Miss Whitaker had been a life saver, but sometimes she was so out of it. She’d often mistake Rose for her dead daughter, and one time she’d even told Rose she thought she’d died. But Rose had enjoyed working for her, and the times she spent in the woman’s home gave her some much-needed breathing room from her father.

But she needed him now. Rose had to call him and then find a place to hide until he arrived, and she knew where she could achieve both goals.

Casting one more look in the direction of the courtyard to make sure Dumb One and Dumb Two were still there, Rose snuck behind the school buildings until she managed to reach the southern side of the campus. Then she arrived at her destination.

The old barn on the school property had been abandoned for a while before it had been converted into a space for storing cleaning supplies. Rose had become good friends with the old school janitor, Mr. Rushfield, after she’d helped him right his cart when one of the students had flipped it over as a prank. So when she’d bemoaned her need for a quiet place to study when all the spots in the library were taken, he’d shown her the barn—which was empty most of the time—and had even given her a spare key to the place. Rose had spent many quiet evenings studying there. Mr. Rushfield had also permitted her to use the lone phone in the place in case of an emergency.

Like now.

Luckily, her ring of keys was in her back pocket. Rose pulled them out and unlocked the barn before slipping in and shutting it behind her, obliterating the evening light that had illuminated the space.

Her shoulders relaxed. She was safe for now. Though it was somewhat dark, Rose was familiar enough with the large, cavernous space and soon hurried through, leaving dust in her wake. She reached the office in the back and entered. Various cleaning items were stored in one corner of the room, while a cushioned chair and a desk occupied another. A coin-operated pay phone hung on the wall above the desk. The school maintained a couple of these phones around the premises but usually in locations under supervision. Rose was fortunate this one wasn’t one of them.

She fished out her coin purse, extracted the coins she needed, and dialed her home phone number. The phone rang a couple times, and then the line connected.

“Hello?” a rough voice said.

Rose froze when she recognized the voice. Matt, her father’s so-called friend—the heavyset man who’d always stared at her with a lewd smile. Matt had grabbed her backside once when her father wasn’t looking, and when Rose had told her father about it, he’d insisted it was just her imagination. Still, he’d agreed to never bring Matt over to the house.

But it seemed her father had broken his promise.

Rose felt disappointment wash over her. Why couldn’t her father keep his word to her for once? It was almost like she had no place in his life. Yet she swallowed the bitterness that threatened to rise in her, since she still needed him.

“Can I speak to my father?” she asked in an emotionless voice.

“Ah, sweet, sweet Rose.” She hated the way Matt called her name. “You want to talk to your father? Then you have to be nice to me.”

“Who is it?” Rose heard a drunken voice call out in the background before letting out a loud belch.

Her heart sank. Her father had fallen off the wagon and started drinking again, even though he’d promised her he’d stay sober.

“Just some salesperson,” Matt replied.

“Oh, screw those guys,” her father said. Glass crashed on the floor as he tried to move. “I need more beer.”

“Coming right up,” Matt said. “Rose, you sweet thing, when are you coming back?”

Rose slammed the receiver into its cradle and leaned against the wall for support as tears filled her eyes. How could her father fail her yet again? Even if he’d picked up the phone, he was no help to her in his drunken state, and going home now would mean trouble with Matt there. This sucked big time.

She took a deep breath. Rose still had to save herself, even if her father couldn’t. But who could she call? She was an only child and had no other relatives. She also had no friends back home—her father’s alcoholism had isolated her in the town she grew up in. And there was no way Miss Whitaker could help. So who could she reach out to?

Then she remembered him.

I’ll always protect you, his words echoed.

He’d said the words the first time he’d met her, but soon the phrase had become their fond way of signing off each note to each other. Rose had found the corner store’s address and phone number in the business directory her father liked to pick up as a souvenir in any town he’d visited—it was a strange habit he’d had for years, but Rose had never been more grateful for it than at the time.

The name Oliver Twist had stuck, and it made everything between them seem like a fairytale. They’d started off sharing the books they’d read and loved, but soon their letters became more personal, and eventually they were telling each other things they’d told no one else.

Oliver wanted to become a horse breeder, but raising horses was prohibitively expensive, so he’d been working a lot after school and saving for it. He’d even gotten a part-time job at the corner store, which made it easier for them to write to each other. Rose, on the other hand, wanted to become a pediatrician—she’d liked children since she was young, and Mama had always said she was good with them. But they never talked about their families. It was like they wanted no intrusion of their real life on what they had. And then their letter exchange had slowed as Rose started at the academy.

But now her real life had come knocking, and Rose needed Oliver.

With the words I’ll always protect you echoing in her ears, Rose took a deep breath, dropped in another set of coins, and dialed the number from memory.

The line rang once and then connected. “Good evening. Thank you for calling Grandma Dee’s retail store,” a young male’s warm voice drawled. “How may I help you?”

“May I speak with Oliver?”

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. “Rose?”

It was as if she’d been desperate for air and suddenly got a lungful of it. “Oliver.”

He chuckled as if he couldn’t believe it. “It’s really you.” Then as if he’d sensed something over the line, “Is everything alright?”

“Can you come pick me up?”

“Where do I need to go?” he asked simply.

Rose choked back a sob. He hadn’t questioned. She was sure he’d have plans for the evening. But Oliver was coming, just because she’d asked. “I’m at school.” Rose had shared the good news with him when she’d gotten her admission, and she repeated the address to him.

“I’m leaving right now and should be there in a few hours,” he said. “I’ll ask for you at the school gate once I get there, and I’ll be wearing a red checkered shirt over jeans. Are you in a safe place?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Stay there. Everything is going to be alright, Rose.”

“Thank you.”

“That’s what friends are for. I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye.” She placed the receiver back in its cradle and slumped into the chair, resting her head on the desk.

Rose felt the fear in her heart unfurl and slither away.

She was going to be alright.

Because her Oliver was on his way to protect her like he’d promised.