My brow lifts as she makes herself comfortable. “Well, I’d give you my jacket, but I don’t seem to have it.”
“Tiana just messaged me. You left it in her car,” she replies matter-of-factly, tugging my arm and forcing me to wrap it around her.
“Right. I guess I was distracted,” I mumble and force my eyes away from the clear view of her cleavage. But I’m just as unnerved at the sight of her hand sliding casually over my knee.
“Do you ever work at this hospital?” she asks, glancing up at me.
“Uh, not really. I mean, I did a rotation here years ago, but that’s all,” I flounder through what should have been a simple answer.
She hums. “Where do you work now?”
“At a big women’s and children’s clinic on the edge of town,” I reply, though I can’t seem to remember the name.
“With Dr. Rozas?” she asks, referring to the infertility specialist in the practice who’s equally famous for pressuring his patients into IVF treatments and for his IVF success rate.
“Yeah.” Now I’m wondering about her history with an infertility specialist.
“I thought you seemed familiar. I’ve only seen him once, but I’m guessing your portrait’s hanging on the wall with the rest of the doctors there?”
I nod. “It is.”
“You mentioned traveling for work earlier,” she presses on.
“I’m going to start seeing patients at some smaller, more rural clinics. I want to make specialized care more accessible. I hate that my high-risk patients have to go so far when they’re already under so much stress, you know?”
Her expression softens. “That’s thoughtful of you.”
I open my mouth to downplay her compliment, but another loudgut gurgle interrupts me. “Ah, sorry. Excuse me for a second,” I say quietly and scoot away from her, and I hear her snickering behind me when I scurry over to the bathroom.
CHAPTER FOUR
rowan
“Well, that was quick,”Claire declares when I return, and my cheeks heat.
“Thanks, I guess.”
Lucky for me, it was a single-user restroom, and my stomach was only crying wolf. Still, I’d turned on the faucet to muffle the sound as I conducted my business, just in case.
“I kind of expected you to camp out for a while. Did you just go in there to fart or something?”
I shrug and glance around the waiting room, grateful to find it empty. “I figured I’d spare you, since this is our first date.”
“And they say chivalry is dead,” she replies, miming a swoon, and my awkward smile grows more genuine.
The door swings open then, and a middle-aged woman in scrubs squints down at a chart. “Atha—Atta?—”
“Athanasius?” I offer, raising my hand and smiling apologetically.
“If you say so, shug,” she replies.
“I thought your name was Rowan?” Claire whispers harshly.
“My parents named some of their kids after the more obscure saints, so it’s easier to go by my middle name,” I explain quickly.
The nurse keeps her feet planted when we reach the door. “I’m sorry, baby, but only family is allowed past this point.”
“Oh, but she’s my …” I glance back at Claire, debating whether it’s worth lying to keep her at my side. Maybe it’s best if she doesn’t bear witness to the rest of this, anyway.
