“Lesson number one, don’t take dating advice from Ron. Of all people.” Ron was a notorious serial monogamist. The man would meet a woman one night, by the following week she was living with him, they were in love and getting married, and a month later it was all over. In the last year I’d been singing at Rocket, I counted at least five supposedly serious relationships Ron had been in.
“Noted. So about the da—”
“No.” I shook my head.
Jackson’s shoulder’s instantly deflated, and I ignored the little voice telling me I was being too harsh.
“Listen, it’s not you. It’s me. And I totally know that’s a thing people say when really it’s not them, it’s the other person. But in this case … it totally is me.”
Jackson’s forehead wrinkled as he gave me a confused look. “That doesn’t make any sense. How do you—”
“Look, do you want kids? A home? A woman to build a family with?”
“Sure, of course. Doesn’t everyone?”
“Not me. I mean not in the practical sense. I spent much of my life raising and caring for my little sister and my m— uh, others from a young age.” I shook my head, refusing to divulge more information. “It’s not going to work,” I stated firmly.
I watched as the hope drained from Jackson’s eyes. The twinge of guilt I felt was ignored as I raised my chin. “We can still be friends.”
With that, a grin opened up on Jackson’s face until his lips spread wider, allowing a deep chuckle to emerge. “Nowthatline is the kiss of death if ever I’ve heard one.”
Lowering my face, I laughed to myself. He was right.
“It’s cool,” he finally stated, shrugging.
I refrained from telling him another one of those cheesy lines you hear to let someone down gently.There’re other fish in the seaor whatever. Truth was, Jackson had other options. He was good looking with an appealing career. He’d be fine.
“I’m heading out for the night. You have a good one,” I said, grabbing my purse off the back of the chair and turning to head out, not even waiting for his response. I wasn’t a particularly cold woman, nor was I immune to a man’s charm. At the moment, I didn’t feel the need for romantic entanglements in my life. I just started my job at Memorial, and though I wasn’t new to nursing, taking on a new position anywhere came with its own amount of stress. Add to that I was considering going back to school at some point, and the timing simply wasn’t right for romance.
Chapter Three
Grace
“You’re assisting Reynolds again,” Stephanie, the scheduling nurse for my morning shift, informed me as soon as I placed my bag under the desk of the nurses’ station.
I stood up to my full five-foot-five height with a raised eyebrow.
Stephanie shrugged. “You work well with him. And Janice is afraid of him.” She whispered the last part.
I glanced over Stephanie’s shoulder to Janice, whose back was to us as she typed something into the computer. I knew what Stephanie said was true. Janice was afraid of Dr. Reynolds. She would turn a corner and go the opposite direction whenever he walked in her direction. I’d seen it happen.
I shook my head. The day I let a man, or anyone for that matter, make me cower in fear like that was the day I’d take my last breath on this Earth. I’d been through and seen too much to let any one person put that kind of fear into me.Even if that person is a six-foot-two, broadly built, chiseled jaw man with grey irises, and an impressively skilled surgeon to boot. So what that he—
“Did you hear me, Grace?”
Shaking my mind free of run away thoughts, I looked down at Stephanie. “Huh?”
“I said, you two have a scheduled boob job this morning.”
I blinked. “Boob job?”
Why the question came out as me not knowing what in the world she was talking about, I couldn’t explain.
“Yeah, it was scheduled for last week but the patient had to put it off. Family drama or something. Seems her kids don’t think a woman in her mid-fifties needs her boobs done, but …” Stephanie trailed off, shrugging.
“Okay,” I said slowly, gathering my thoughts. “I’m going to go check in with the patient, run her vitals, and make sure everything’s on the up and up.”
Stephanie nodded and then her gaze dipped back to the computer screen as she began moving on to her next task of the day.
