He’d spent the past month buried in work. He’d extended his hours, taken on extra patients, and expanded his at-home checkup service, meaning he’d spent a lot of time driving from house to house to change dressings, weigh newborns, and confirm colds in children who didn’t want to go back to school. He’d started a fundraising page for the clinic and done a few further-education courses to get better at diagnosing certain rare conditions. He’d gone to family dinners and spent time with his cousins. He’d even come very close to adopting an adorable husky from the shelter in the town over, until he remembered that he was a doctor and had no time to take care of a dog. Instead, he’d found the husky a home with the family of one of his patients.
He’d done everything,everything,he could not to think about Zoe — and mostly, he’d been successful. It was difficult, since everyone asked about her and when she’d be back and if there had ever been something between them, butstill, he’dbeen mostly successful. He’d banished her from his mind. He’d focused on work.
But now, Zoe was here. She was standing right in front of him, her arms folded, her hair down. Had she done that on purpose to make this harder for him? Seeing her here brought everything he’d tried to forget flooding back. He remembered how it had felt to kiss her and hold her in his arms. He remembered her laugh and her enthusiasm as they’d toured the Seven Wonders of Islingburn. He remembered her no-nonsense approach to business and her charming personality. He remembered how his heart had sunk when he’d realized that she’d lied to him.
He'd been falling for her, and she’d been using him.
Nathan wanted to tell Zoe that he’d missed her. He wanted to say that “normal” didn’t sound all that great anymore, because normal didn’t have her in it. He wanted to ask her for an explanation and tell her he forgave her.
But Nathan couldn’t say any of those things, because his relationship with Zoe was over. Or, more accurately, it had never existed.
“Normal sounds great,” he said. He tried to keep his tone neutral, but it came out as cold, and Zoe took a small step back.
“So, you’ll come inside?” she asked, halfway between a question and a statement. “And film?”
“It doesn’t seem like I have much choice in the matter.” Again, the words came out cold and distant, but that was for the best. “So, yes.”
“Well.” Zoe bit her lip. “Good. Can we… can we talk later?” When she’d been instructing him to come inside, she’d seemedconfident, but now that had given way to a hint of vulnerability. She rubbed her collarbone, her eyes skating away from his.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Nathan said. It wasn’t. If they talked, he’d probably admit how much he’d missed her, and he couldn’t do that. Not when she’d just been using him.
Zoe’s face fell. “Right. Okay. See you inside.”
Without waiting for him to follow, she turned on her heel and hurried towards the clinic. Taking a deep breath, Nathan got to his feet and followed her. This was going to be a very long few days of filming.
Nathan entered the clinic in time to see Zoe run into the bathroom. His brow furrowed — had she been more upset than he’d thought? But he had no time to wonder, because someone was pulling him into the hallway.
“We’re about to start filming,” the man, one of the TV crew, explained hurriedly. “Here’s your mic pack.” He fastened something small to the back of Nathan’s belt. “Okay, let’s go.”
“What should I do?” Nathan asked. He looked around, hoping Zoe had reappeared, but she hadn’t.
“Just act naturally,” the man said. “Go about your day. Pretend we aren’t here.”
“Right.” That didn’t seem at all possible. How could Nathan ignore the fact that his office was packed with TV crew? But the man counted him down, and Nathan stepped into the waiting room from the hall. The waiting room was packed with patients and TV crew and cameras and booms and giant umbrella lights. Nathan’s eyes widened, and he froze.
“Cut!” Someone called. “Doctor Hale, just act normally. Let’s try that again.”
Nathan went back into the hallway, frustration and worry building in his stomach. He wanted to get outside, away from all this. How could Zoe disappear right when they were supposed to be filming? Without her here to help manage everything, he was going to go back to the robot mode she’d made fun of when she’d been getting shots for the pitch.
His frustration grew as they tried a few takes and finally made it back to the exam room with the first patient. His head hurt. Patient care was definitely being sacrificed. He wondered again what Zoe was thinking. The least she could have done after betraying his trust was make sure filming went smoothly, as she’d promised. Where was she? And why wasn’t she doing her job?
CHAPTER 22
ZOE
Zoe straightened up from where she’d been kneeling on the floor. On the way back into the clinic, nausea had overwhelmed her again as she’d thought about how badly that conversation with Nathan had gone. She’d raced into the bathroom to be sick.
Now, she went to the sink and washed her face. She hated being nauseated like this. One hand lifted to rub her chest, which felt tight from her confrontation. Nathan had been so cold and so distant. Zoe would have liked to pretend that hadn’t hurt, but it had. Of course it had. A month ago, they’d been showing each other around their cities and falling asleep in each other’s arms. Now, they were worse than strangers.
It didn’t matter, though. Zoe needed to go back out there and do her job, no matter how difficult it was. She crossed the room to the door, but as she took the handle, she paused. She had never gotten nauseated when she was nervous before — her chest always felt tight, and she had trouble breathing when she was upset. So why was she feeling like this now?
Zoe’s heart began to race, and she placed her palm on her collarbone as she tried to take a deep breath. What if… She counted back. Sure enough, during the weeks of tireless work, she’d missed her period. That happened sometimes — she had never been one of those women who could set her watch by her cycle. But now, she was a week and a half late and nauseated, and the night she’d spent with Nathan had been almost a month ago.
Zoe forced herself to take a deep breath. This was probably just nerves. Probably. But now that the idea she could be…pregnant(it was hard to even think the word) was in her mind, she couldn’t get it out.
Zoe peeked out of the bathroom. From here, she could see through an open door to the reception desk, where Maya was leaning on the counter looking at her phone. Zoe waved, but Maya didn’t see her.
“Maya.”
