He’d thought for years he’d failed Colin. It took talking to Meredith for him to realize that wasn’t the case.
That he put guilt on his shoulders without knowing all the facts.
For a man who prided himself on gathering all the information, he hadn’t there.
He was more worried about failing in life. In anything.
Letting his father down. His mother. His siblings.
Then the brothers on his squad.
When what he’d feared might happen did, he just had to leave.
Now he wondered if the fear of letting a woman into his life added to his list.
When the exam ended, he got dressed, made his appointment for next year, then went to get his blood drawn.
Once he was done, he shot the text off to Meredith that he’d be there in ten minutes.
“What happened to you?” she asked the minute she climbed in his truck. She hadn’t even let him get out, but was waiting on the porch and came running toward him.
He saw her there, his phone having gone off with an alert to movement on the front porch.
Maybe his heart knocked a bit in his chest over the thought she was so excited to see him.
“Nothing, why?”
She pointed to his arm where the bandage was from the needle. “Oh. I had blood work.”
He ripped it off and put it in the side of the door to grab on his way out later.
“Everything okay? Are you sick or hurt?”
He turned to see the concern in her eyes matching that in her voice. “No. Just my annual checkup.”
“Got it,” she said. “Guys have it easy. Women need more than one annual checkup. You never have to put your feet up in the air and spread yourself wide naked.”
He laughed. Truly laughed. Her jaw was open. Jeez, was he that much of a dick that she rarely saw that reaction from him?
“You like doing that for me.”
She shoved at his arm. “Very funny.”
“I thought so,” he said. “That is why I laughed.”
“I’m glad you asked to go to dinner. I can tell you my funny stories now. I need it after my bad day.”
He growled. “What happened?”
“Whoa,” she said. “Nothing. I mean nothing to me. It’s about one of my students.”
“Oh. What’s going on?”
“That’s sweet that you want to know.”
“I can tell it’s bothering you,” he said.
Just by the tone of her voice. She was reactive to everything and he found it easy to gauge her moods.
