Chapter 2

 

 

 

 

Gia

 

Pulling the door open to the yoga studio, I let Chloe go in first. But only because she needs the prompting. “Explain to me why I need to get out of bed on a Sunday morning to stretch and breathe?”

“It’s good for you.”

She rolls her eyes at me. “But why do we have to do hot yoga? It’s freaking ninety degrees and humid outside already and you’re taking me into a room that is freaking 104 degrees and humid?”

I shrug, walking us into the back room and pushing her a little as we go. I get her point. It is hot as hell outside. Bikram yoga isn’t my favorite either, but it’s the only class they had available at this time on a Sunday. But now that I’m entering the room, I’m sort of regretting this.

“Oh, hell no,” Chloe says, wrapping her arms around her waist and turning on me. “It’s not even up to temperature yet and I’m already sweating. We’re just standing here, Gia, and I’m sweating. It’s freaking gross. I’m going to turn into a raisin and when I’m good and dehydrated, instead of getting breakfast and coffee, you’ll need to start an IV.”

I laugh, nudging past her and spreading my mat out on the floor. But to be honest, I don’t really want to do this either. It is gross in here. “Come on, Chlo. Just stretch out with me. If you want to leave after that, we can.”

Chloe growls something under her breath which sounds like a slew of curse words and then she’s joining me on the floor. “Five minutes, Gia Bianchi. I’m giving you five minutes.”

“Fine. Five minutes.” Sitting on my mat, I stretch my legs out straight in front of me and then lower my body, wrapping my hands around feet and bring chin to my knees. “Did I tell you that I was almost killed on Friday night?”

“No. You forgot to mention that when you woke me up this morning and yanked me out of bed,” she deadpans. “Were you mugged at gunpoint? Forced into an underground world of sex slavery? I know it’s wrong, but that shit sort of turns me on. I mean, not in real life, obviously. That would be terrifying and fucked up. But in a book I read recently, it totally sounded hot.”

Twisting my head, I look over at her with furrowed eyebrows. She’s sitting on her mat and picking at her nail polish. “I don’t have words for you Chloe Daniels.” She shrugs and I sit up, watching the instructor talk to a few girls at the front of the room. “I was nearly hit by a car. There were no guns or people forcing me into a life of sexual servitude.”

“For real?”

She looks a little startled as I move into a downward-facing dog. “Yeah, it was close. Like really freaking close.”

“Damn. What happened? But before you answer that, you need to get a new sports bra, because the one you’re wearing clearly isn’t doing the job. You’re about to suffocate in your cleavage.”

I snicker.

“Shhhh,” someone snaps at us from behind.

“Oh come on,” Chloe says in an exasperated cadence. “The class hasn’t even started yet.”

“I’m trying to find my center and I can’t do that with you two talking like that,” the girl snaps, and now I’m trying really hard to stifle my laughter.

“Aaaand, I’m done here.” Chloe stands up, popping a hip and waiting on me to right my body and join her. I do, because even from my upside-down position, I can see this girl means business and clearly, Chloe and I don’t. I have no idea what a center is, let alone how to find it.

“Okay, let’s go.” I’m trying to appear putout, but I doubt I accomplish it.

Less than five minutes later, we’re stepping back out into the hot Sunday morning.

“Good workout,” I say, dropping my shades over my eyes. “I think we deserve a breakfast sandwich and a coffee.”

“Now you’re speaking my language.” Chloe points across the street at the coffee place we like to go to. It’s annoyingly close to the hospital, but the food and coffee are good so we ignore that small fact. “Tell me what happened with the car.”

“Actually, I’m blaming you.”

“Me?” she squeals.

“Yeah. You. Because you sent me that picture of Dr. Fernandez with that nurse and I was looking at it when I twisted my ankle on the sidewalk.”

“I’m not taking the blame for your klutziness. This is not a new phenomenon. You topple over all the time. Especially in those fucking clogs you’re so fond of wearing.”

“Fine,” I concede. “I’ll give you the falling-a-lot-in-my-clogs thing. But, I was falling into the street this time and a car was literally bearing down on me.”

“Ha,” she laughs, opening the door to our coffee shop and walking inside. “Is that midwife humor? Bearing down?” I roll my eyes. “God, I love that smell.” She breathes in a deep breath. “So you were falling in the street and a car was bearing down on you and then what happened? Obviously, you didn’t die as you’re standing next to me.”

“Obviously,” I say dryly. “But honestly, I don’t think that would be the situation if I hadn’t been pulled back at the last minute.”

“Whoa.” She stops, spinning around on me. “You’re serious? You actually almost died?” I nod. “I thought you were just being dramatic.”

“No. It was really close.”

“Damn. Sorry, I was being a sarcastic bitch.” Chloe gives me a hug. “I’m glad you’re okay. Who saved you?”

“I’ll have a large coffee and an egg and cheese on a bagel, please.”

“Same for me, please,” Chloe says and then she waits on me to answer. I was stalling. I won’t even lie and say I wasn’t. I don’t know what to say about Dr. Banner. Not just to her, but to myself. I spent a lot of time thinking about him after he left me on my doorstep. Wondering if I misinterpreted the signs I thought I was reading clearly.

I came up empty.

I have no idea who Finn Banner is or what he’s really like.

I only know how he makes me feel.

I can’t even claim temporary insanity or PTSD following the near miss, because I felt all of that the first time I met him. Only now it’s stronger. I wouldn’t call it a crush yet, but we’re certainly creeping up on that territory.

But I have no intention of telling Chloe that. Her big mouth will not be able to hold back.

“An ED doc.”

“Was he cute?” she asks absentmindedly as we accept our coffees and go over to add cream and sweetener.

“Who said he was a he? Women can be doctors too.”

Chloe gives me a look and I wish I had kept my mouth shut. “He was cute. Wasn’t he?”

“Stop,” I laugh, doing my best to play it off as I over-stir the cream into my coffee.

“Gia, you’re a shit liar and you might in fact be blushing, so I’m going with gorgeous.” I am blushing. I can feel it. I’ve never blushed so much in my life since I met this man.

And here’s the thing about Dr. Banner. He was my father’s doctor. So if by some miracle, he does ever ask me out and Chloe finds out he was not only the doctor who saved me, but also my father’s doctor, she’ll know I held out on her and get pissed. Women react like that. Chloe reacts like that.

“He was my dad’s doctor, Chlo,” I say and then leave her to digest that for a moment as I snag our sandwiches off the counter and find us a table.

“Explain,” she says with a somber expression.

Taking a bite of my food, I chew slowly as I ruminate on how I want to tell her. Swallowing, I take a sip of my coffee and then shift in my seat so I’m facing her better. “The day my dad had his MI?” She nods. “The doctor who saved me last night was his admitting doctor.”

Her eyes bulge. “Holy meatballs and spaghetti. That’s just…wow. That must have been rough.”

I shrug, because it actually wasn’t. That was the weird part. You’d think the sight of Dr. Banner would make me sad or angry or something. You’d think he’d be the last person I’d want to see. But he wasn’t. In fact, I don’t think I thought about my father once the entire time I was with him.

“So what? He just saved your life and the two of said holy shit this is a crazy coincidence and that was it?”

Another shrug. “Sort of.”

“But you think he’s hot.” She says this like it’s a statement. Like she knows it for a fact and that’s one of the annoying things about trying to hide something from your best friend. It never works. They know everything anyway. “You should totally find him. Seek his gorgeous ass out and offer him something like a date or a blowjob as a thank you. Something memorable.”

“Right,” I deadpan with an eye roll so she believes I’m all attitude and not the least bit interested in doing either of those things with him. “I’ll get right on that.”