I didn’t understand. I didn’t know where this was coming from—aside from her useless father and her emotionally stabby sister—or how to handle any of it. All this time, I’d put so much energy into worrying about screwing this up and never once did I consider what happened when I finally did it.
The only thing that made sense was trying to talk to her again. Trying to explain that—that I needed her. And I was pretty sure she needed me too. Even if she didn’t admit it often.
I shook some snow off my jacket as I climbed the front steps to my building. “You’re fine. You’d know if you’d twisted the spermatic cord or torn the appendix testicle.”
“Yeah, but Iknowsomething feels weird so?—”
“The fact you can walk and talk tells me you’re good. Now, please, shut the fuck up.”
We made it up the stairs and into my apartment without further discussion of his balls. But then Mason strolled straight into the bedroom, stripped off his jeans, and propped a foot on the edge of the bed to examine himself in the closet mirror. “Everything looks okay,” he murmured.
“Because it is,” I said, glaring up at the ceiling. “Listen, I have to go. I need to head back to the hospital.”
“You said you were off for the rest of the night.”
I heard the closet shut and then the rustle of clothes. “Something came up.”
Mason emerged from the bedroom in joggers, his hands perched on his hips. “I’ve never seen you so wound up about anything. When did you turn into the kind of person who gets bent out of shape so hard?”
“This city is filled with women. Have you noticed that? The women are fantastic and they’re everywhere. If you stood on the sidewalk for half an hour, even now, at eleven-the-fuck-thirty at night, in a goddamn snowstorm, and asked every woman who passed if she wanted to get some hot fucking chocolate with you, you’d be booked up through the end of the month.” I fisted my fingers in my hair. “Did you really have to pick my girlfriend’s little sister for your rebound?”
“Number one,” he said, holding up a finger, “I happen to like this girl. Not that anyone’s bothered to ask, but I do. And second, why the hell does it matter if she’s your girlfriend’s sister?”
“It matters because you were with Florrie for years and you are still married to her. You haven’t even started untangling your life from hers.” I pressed my fists to my head when he only shrugged as if this fact was irrelevant. “You, right now, are not the person anyone would want for their little sister.”
Mason was quiet for a moment. Then, “I still like her. I would’ve done things differently if I’d known everyone was going to walk in, but I care about her.”
“Great. I don’t even know how it’s possible for you to bounce from one woman who you planned on being with for the rest of your life to another you met like two weeks ago, but that’s awesome. Cheers.”
“Things change real fast when you walk in on your wife in bed with someone else.”
“And don’t you think you need a minute to deal with all the shitty things that come with having your trust in someoneshattered? Or are you expecting Brie to hang around while you do that?”
He shot me an impatient glare. “It sounds like you’re the one having a hard time dealing.”
“Yeah, I am,” I shouted, slapping a hand to my chest. “All I wanted was to take Whit home and help her forget about her asshole father. Instead, I had to deal with you forgetting what bedrooms were made for, another Whit and Brie blowup, and then whatever the fuck I did wrong in the hall.”
Mason dropped down on the sofa, careful to mind his balls, and blew out a ragged huff. “We should’ve gone to her room. I’ll give you that. But the rest? I’m not the one you need to blame there, brother.”
He scrolled through sports news channels while I scowled at the possibility that he was right.
I spentthe night waiting outside Whit’s OR, and when she stepped into the hall, she gave me one look and said, “No. Not now.”
I’d expected that, which was why I said, “Then tell me when.”
She glanced over as I fell in step with her and I knew she was trying hard to kill me with those hazel eyes, but it wasn’t working. “I’m tired and starving and?—”
“Coffee and muffins are waiting in your office.”
I knew she wanted to argue, but she took a breath and said, “Thank you. I appreciate it and I also need you to accept that I want some space right now. That probably sounds really selfish considering you brought me breakfast and you’ve been here all night, if my circulator can be trusted, but that’s what I need.Too damn many things happened yesterday and I don’t”—she brought her fingers to her temples as she shook her head—“I can’t even distinguish one explosion from another.”
We stopped in front of the elevators. I stared down at her clogs. Emerald green. I didn’t imagine she’d want me to ask about her socks. “I understand.”
“I need some time to breathe before I can go through it all again.” She glanced away from me. “And it would really help if you figure things out on your side too.”
The elevator opened and she stepped into the car. I didn’t know what it was I needed to figure out. This was the part I didn’t get. “But, Whit, I’m?—”
“No.” She held up a hand, cutting me off. “Give me a chance to breathe.”
