“That I’d quit walking around alone at night,” Brooke blurted out before George further explained.
“Oh.” Logan nodded in agreement. “Good advice.”
They stood in a beat of awkward silence.
George gripped the door. “Are you coming in or what?”
“I’m going in.” Brooke shifted to face Logan. “Thanks for walking me. I’m sure I’ll run into you again at the hospital.”
Logan slid his hand into his pocket and removed his phone. “Can I get your number?” He rubbed the back of his neck with his opposite hand. “I need friends, remember? And I’d like to hang out with you again.”
Amused, Brooke smiled. “Friends, right—” Her voice trailed off with her eye roll.
“I need someone to show me around the city,” he quickly added.
Brooke was all too aware that George stood only a few feet away, listening to their entire exchange. She wondered what he thought about it.
She ignored George for a second and replied, “I thought you grew up in Chicago.”
“Outside of the city, in the suburbs, it’s completely different.” If she knew him better, she’d daresay he was nervous. The thought that she made a guy nervous made her heart soar a tad. He continued his rambling, “I need a friend to teach me the best places to eat, shop, that type of thing. Are you up for it?”
For a second, she stared back at him. He flashed her a cheesy smile. She wondered if she wanted to be friends with Logan or if she cared for something more. Either way, her calendar was suddenly bleak and free. There wasn’t a need for her to skip a thousand steps ahead to whatever the future held for her.
Brooke made agive memotion. “I’ve taken mercy on you.” He handed over his cell phone. Without looking up, she said, “We can be friends,” as she typed in her contact information. Once done, she handed it back to him.
Logan glanced down at his phone for a moment before he shoved it into his pocket. “Ok, then.” He pedalled backward two feet. “Brooke, I’ll be in touch when I need you to educate me on the inner workings of Chicago.” Then he motioned toward George, “It was nice meeting you.”
George nodded.
“You both have a nice evening.” Then he pivoted and walked in the opposite direction.
Brooke watched him walk away and wondered how far out of the way her apartment was from his.
George’s voice startled her when he said, “Not bad.” He whistled to himself. “I’m impressed. I gave you the suggestion to find a guy at work, and you had a surgeon walk you home in a snap. You work fast. Is he already on board to go with you to the wedding?”
“What?” She stared at him while her brain played catch up. “Wedding—” Ding, she still needed a date to Aubrey and Ian’s wedding. “It didn’t come up.”
“Ahh,” he waved the idea off, “you still have time to ask him.” George shuffled her through the door into the lobby.
The warmth of the lobby enveloped her.
“He did say he wants to be my friend.” Brooke unbuttoned her jacket as she moved further into the lobby. “Maybe he’d be willing to go with me.”
It wasn’t a horrible idea. Logan was easy on the eyes, and she enjoyed his company. Maybe the wedding wouldn’t be a total bust if he came. She let the idea simmer.
“I have a feeling Mr. Surgeon wants to be more than friends.” He stalled in front of the lobby desk. “I think if you ask him to go with you, he’ll go.”
“Really?” The thought pleased her more than it should. “I think you’re reading it wrong.”
“I don’t think I am.” George continued, “That’s how it always starts—the classic friend to lover trope.”
“Trope?” Brooke raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Since when did you read romance novels?”
“I don’t, but my wife does.” George adjusted the sleeves of his jacket. “Then she drags me to those romcom movies when the books she reads are made into movies.”
“You’re a good man, George. Other men could take notes from you.” Brooke continued to the elevator bay. She pressed the button and turned to face him. “But nothing is going to happen between me and Logan.” Her voice made the space vibrate with her declaration.
George cackled. “Those are fighting words.”
