“Can I help you?”
He adjusted his balance on his good leg.. “I’m looking for Emme France.”
“She’s on clinical rounds.”
“Will she be back in the office today?”
“No. Is there something I can help you with?”
“No. Thank you. I’ll try to catch her later.” Maybe he’d have better luck if he tried earlier in the day.
“Are you Jordan?”
He stopped with his hand on the knob and turned to face the woman. “Yes. Who are you?”
“Melody.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes scanned him from head to toe. “Now I understand what all the fuss was about.”
He turned fully and gripped the crutches. “Excuse me?”
“I plied her with margaritas the first weekend she was here and got the whole story.”
“What story was that?”
Her look was assessing. “The rescue. Abu Dhabi. Rome. Then you disappearing on her.” She took in the brace on his knee and the crutches. “Although maybe you had a reason for that. What happened?”
“I think Emme deserves to hear that first.”
“What’s your plan?”
“Apologize. See if she still wants to make it work.”
She nodded. “What do you want from her?”
“Why are you asking?”
“I’m trying to decide if I’m going to help you or not.”
He stood up straight to relieve some of the pressure on his ribs. “I want Emme.”
Her eyebrows raised. “That’s it?”
“What else is there?”
She uncrossed her arms. “You need to make a grand gesture.”
He frowned. “A what?”
“A grand gesture. You know. Sacrifice your pride and dignity and possibly make a fool of yourself.”
“And what would that entail?”
Her eyes squinted and she looked like she was thinking about the best way to humiliate him. “Putting yourself out there so she has no doubt you’re serious.”
“As long as I don’t have to run down Main Street wearing nothing but a sock and a sign.”
Her lips quirked. “As fun as that might be to see, I think you’d have a hard time running anywhere at the moment.” She wrote something on a sticky pad and tore off the top sheet. Holding it out to him, she said, “Get these and have them delivered to that address tomorrow. Then, show up at this classroom at exactly nine o’clock in the morning on Thursday.”
“That’s two days from now.”
