It’d been hard all afternoon.
Franklin had given me shit from the moment I swung back into my seat about having hearts in my eyes.
Isla had called me out when I’d almost set the whole place on fire burning her grilled cheese.
Doctor Charlotte Rowe had gotten under my skin.
I knew practically nothing about her. I knew she was an oncologist who wore her heart on her sleeve. I knew she genuinely cared about her patients, and it broke her heart to lose them. I knew she preferred pistachio macarons over ice cream. I knew she filled out a pair of scrubs like nobody's business and I wondered how much better her ass would look in a simple pair of jeans. And by the time I stepped into the shower, after tucking Isla into bed, I knew I needed to know more.
7
CHARLOTTE
“Who is he?”Hannah demanded as she plopped down in the lounger out on the deck overlooking Mason’s fancy new swimming pool.
“Who is who?” I asked, playing dumb.
The hospital, especially the staff lounge, was a gossip pit, usually coordinated and exacerbated by Liam and his big mouth. Normally, I found it funny, but suddenly it wasn't so amusing when the spotlight was pointed in my direction.
“The paramedic buying you ice cream?” she pushed.
“Really?” I was surprised. For once their intel was scarily accurate. “And what flavor did I have?”
“Either chocolate or vanilla.” Hannah shrugged as she cracked open the bottle of sparkling water and filled a wine glass, no doubt wishing it was something stronger.
“Jesus! Can’t a girl eat her ice cream without a hospital-wide announcement?”
“It wasn’t the ice cream they were announcing. It was the buyer of the aforementioned dairy.”
“It was nothing,” I threw out there knowing full well I was full of shit.
It wasn’t nothing.
It was something I hadn't been able to stop thinking about.
And that’s what was annoying me.
I’d just met Luke. Sure, he seemed nice, but I’d made a complete idiot of myself.
Yet he hadn’t seemed to care. Instead, he’d sat there and let me cry on his shoulder without complaining and then bought me ice cream. He hadn’t run from the crazy woman sobbing in the hallway.
Besides, my last relationship just crashed and burned, there was no way under the sun I was looking to climb in the ring for another round.
“Well from what I heard, the cute paramedic with a butt you could bounce quarters off was quite the charmer.”
“And who’s your source?”
“Ah, I’ll never tell. These lips are a vault.”
“But I have the key,” Mason announced, stepping out onto the patio, a tray in hand buried under the three C’s. Cheese, chocolates, and chips.
After setting the food down, Mason bent down and kissed Hannah quickly before rubbing his huge hands across Hannah’s belly, and when she looked up at her husband with those big doe eyes filled with love, I knew what I needed to do.
“I’m moving out,” I announced.
I’d given it absolutely no thought. I had no idea where or when or what I wanted, but seeing the way Hannah and Mason were together and knowing their family was expanding I needed to get out of their way.
“When?” Mason asked, and Hannah swatted him in the stomach causing him to lurch forward dramatically.
