MOM HAD A date with Henry Cooper. She also had her monthly checkup at the hospital.
Making the date took little effort as Henry flipped his lid when my mother called to invite him over for dinner. The checkup, however, was another story. Getting Mom up and ready for her progress appointment was worse than when she had to drag me out of bed for school.
“Your color is back and you’re practically glowing. I’m sure your hormones are bouncing off the walls because of your dinner with Henry tonight, but I think it’s safe to say the dialysis is working. Why are you dreading this appointment so much?”
“Because I am. I’m allowed to be tired of this shit, London. I’m sick of the hospital, the doctors. I know it’s working, and I’m grateful. I only wish I could go back to being normal. Can’t you understand that?”
Of course I understood. She was nervous about Henry and putting herself back out there. She saw her illness as a weakness; it made her feel unpretty. “I get it, but don’t let it get to you. Does that make sense?”
“Yes, baby.” She sighed, staring out the window of the passenger seat.
With an inherent longing, I glanced over to catch a drive-by view of the beach. A mass of scattered vacationers littered the sand and even in the distance I could make out the swimmers that freckled the ocean. I hadn’t been since summer started. Partly because I wasn’t a fan of the crowds, but also because that ocean contained so many memories.
The waves once carried my secrets out into the abyss. Straight after the breakup, I believed Horseneck was my solace. Not that I found much on that lonely night when the pain of losing Hunter was still so raw, but there was something about walking along the shore and anchoring myself in the sand that brought a sense of peace I could only find there.
We drove most of the way to the hospital in silence. It was nice to know we didn’t have to fill the space with meaningless chatter, that we respected each other’s thought-space. By the time we reached the parking lot, Mom was less agitated and more ready to get it over with.
We signed in and took seats in a small vestibule. Minutes ticked by while I sorted through the calendar on my phone. My game of Words with Friends was cut short when a familiar voice called my mother’s name.
I looked up to confirm what I already knew. At the sight of him an unexpected swarm of butterflies took flight in my belly. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”
“What, baby?” Mom hooked her purse over her shoulder and stood from her seat.
“Oh, nothing.” I cleared my throat and smoothed my hair into place, all before Doctor Bryce Owen had a chance to make eye contact with me.
I had no idea how this was even possible. Bryce wasn’t the doctor on her case. Someone was playing the joke of all jokes on me.
Unless . . .
“Is this a set up?” I whispered through gritted teeth.
“Huh? What are you talking about?” My mother was notorious for the little white lie here and there, but the blank expression on her face told me she was innocent.
“London?” Bryce’s deep timbre stole my attention—and my balance. He was so good-looking he put the entire cast of Grey’s Anatomy to shame.
“Um . . . hi! What are you doing here?” I didn’t mean to sound rude, but I was so off-kilter.
Bryce chuckled through his nose, looking down. When his eyes were back on me again, his smolder, his confidence, his mischief-ridden smirk made me want to run for the nearest exit. “You never called.”
What was I supposed to say? I’m not ready? I’m not over my ex? I have to wash my hair?
“I told her she should, but London’s as stubborn as they come. Takes after her father’s side of the family.” Mom swooped in with that embarrassing bit, causing my mouth to fall open and Bryce to crack up.
If we weren’t in a waiting room full of people, I’d probably have some choice words for my meddling mother. Instead, I smiled gracefully and introduced her to him. “Mom, this is Bryce. Bryce this is my mother, Ella Monroe.”
“Pleasure, Ms. Monroe.”
During the entire exchange, Bryce’s attention did not leave me. His syrupy eyes inspected me from head to toe, his plump, scruff-shadowed lips curling with a grin. If he kept looking at me like that I’d . . . Who was I kidding? I was already blushing. Heat radiated off my cheeks and the tips of my ears. There was no helping it. If lust had an expression, the one on Bryce’s face would be it.
While the intensity of his gaze should have been uncomfortable, it was anything but. He was a doctor—apparently my mother’s doctor—and a sinfully beautiful one at that. His looks may have been dangerous to any woman’s self control, but his demeanor was not. He was simply smitten. That made me smile. No one had given me the time of day—or I hadn’t noticed if they did—in a long time.
“Are we going to stand here drooling over each other all day or are you going to tell me how I’m doing? I have places to be and people to see. I’d like to leave this hospital sometime today.”
“Mom!” I whisper-shouted. “What’s gotten into you?”
Bryce’s laughter filled the room, garnering a few side-glances and curious stares. “Come on, ladies. There’s an empty examining room where we can finish this.”
Thirty minutes later, we were satisfied with Mom’s progress report. She was in the bathroom getting dressed when Bryce sidled up next to me and finally addressed the elephant in the room. “At the risk of being rejected—again—can I take you for dinner or a drink sometime? I never got your number and it’s clear if I leave it up to you, I’ll be waiting forever. What do you say?”
We didn’t have much time. Mom would be out any second now. I had no desire to do this in front of her. I’d been embarrassed enough for one day, thank you very much. But something wasn’t sitting right with me and before I could accept any kind of offer from Bryce, I needed to set this straight.
Bringing my fingers to my mouth, I tugged on my bottom lip and narrowed my eyes. “I think the better question is how did this . . . coincidence occur, doctor?”
“Coincidence?”
“Yeah. This. You. Here. My mom’s been coming for dialysis for months. I’ve been to most of her appointments. You’re new to the case. How?”
Bryce’s confident swagger did not waver. Deadpan, he explained, “Her regular nephrologist, Doctor Romanoff, is unfortunately ill. My team and I have taken on a good portion of his patients, your mother being one of them. If you’re insinuating that this meeting was deliberate—which is awfully presumptuous of you—I can assure you that’s not the case. On top of the obvious HIPAA laws, I never caught your last name when we met. How could I have possibly finagled this situation?”
“My last name isn’t the same as . . . Never mind.” Suddenly, I felt awfully stupid. I had some nerve to presume he’d gone out of his way for a chance to see me again, didn’t I? The more I pondered it, the more I wanted to crawl into a deep, dark hole and disappear for another year.
“I’m sorry.” I could barely choke it out. My face was hot with humiliation but Bryce was quick to soothe my worries away with the brush of firm fingertips against my scorching cheek.
One could say the intimacy of his gesture was presumptuous as well, but who was I to judge? If you asked me, this whole situation reeked of recklessness. “Don’t be embarrassed. You’re a beautiful woman, London. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a long list of men vying for your attention.”
Wasn’t that a concept? But boy, was he off the mark. My failed marriage was a testament to just how wrong he was. “That’s very sweet of you, Bryce, but it’s certainly not true.”
“Well, then.” He leaned closer, his hand still fixed on my cheek. “Maybe I can be first in line?”
I was momentarily stunned by his adorable pick-up line. “What’s so special about me?” I didn’t mean to sound needy. It was a genuine curiosity. Why me? He could probably have any woman in this hospital—outside of it, too. What made me the object of Doctor Dreamy’s affection?
Closing the very small, very unbreathable space between us even further, Bryce dragged the soft pad of his thumb across my lips. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you.”
My breath hitched and my stomach flip-flopped. I relished in the human contact, the touch of a man’s hands. Trying to find the proper words, I batted my eyes with the gooeyness of an adolescent, but my thoughts were suddenly cut short.
“All set. Oh, shit! Sorry.” My mother emerged from the bathroom and then disappeared inside again.
I exhaled the air that was trapped in my lungs and Bryce dropped his hand from my face, the moment between us lost. Straightening himself, he backed away and chuckled. “I really like her.”
“Yeah, she’s a real pip.”
“Pip?”
“Oh, never mind. Ma, the coast is clear,” I called out to her, unwillingly.
The bathroom doorknob turned slowly and I looked to Bryce with apologetic eyes. “Thank you for today, but I think it’s best we get out of here before I mortify myself any further.”
Mom pretended to mind her business by whistling—yes, whistling—her way out of the examination room.
I shook my head and took out my phone. “Should I make another appointment with reception?”
“Yes.” He nodded.
I nodded in return, abandoning so many unspoken emotions, and then spun around to follow after my mother. My sheepish stride came to an abrupt halt when Bryce grabbed hold of my arm.
Playful eyes danced as they pierced through me. “I can lose my license if I search her chart for your number.”
While that was partly true, I didn’t want to follow the rules anymore. A confidence that should have never been dwarfed in the first place, encouraged me to let go of my fears. I tilted my head, jutted my chin, and said, “But you’re her doctor now. I’m next of kin. If you wanted to call me about—let’s say, her latest lab results, that’d be okay, no?”
Bryce’s coy smirk spoke volumes. “So, then. Maybe tomorrow you’ll be around to discuss those lab results over dinner?”
“Smooth, Doctor Owen. Real smooth.”
A deep rumble of laughter filled my ears and traversed down my spine with an exhilarating tingle. I knew in that moment that I wanted to hear more of it.