And Luke notices. “Let’s find a table inside,” he says. “You look like you’re freezing, Melissa.”
“We could walk to Drew’s place,” Austin suggests. “He lives at the Esplanade, just up the block.”
“No, I’m fine,” I insist. The Esplanade is the swankiest condo building in town, and I’d love to see the inside of it, but it would be awkward under these circumstances.
“You’re welcome to come over,” Drew offers.
“Thanks,” I say quickly, “but I should probably get going.”
“Me too,” says Sophie. “Are you guys walking back through the park?”
“Nah,” Austin shakes his head. “We all live pretty close, so we jogged up to the meeting point.”
Of course, the men jogged to the running group and planned to jog home again after running five miles. If I hadn’t felt out of shape before, I sure would now.
“You’re cold, Melissa,” Luke says quietly. “Why don’t you wait in the coffee shop? I’ll run home and get my car, then drive you and Sophie back to yours.”
“I can get my car,” Austin offers, giving Luke a funny look. “What about your leg?”
“My leg’s fine now,” Luke insists. “It was just a cramp.”
“Thanks, but we’ll walk,” I say. “It’s not far.” That’s the beautiful thing about stopping after a mile—we don’t have far to go to get back to our cars.
Luke looks like he wants to debate the point, so I keep talking before he can. “It was nice to meet you all,” I say, gathering my muffin wrapper and empty coffee cup. “Thanks for the coffee, Austin.”
“My pleasure,” Austin says with a grin. “Let me know about the hockey game.”
“Well,” Sophie says as we walk back through the park. “That was interesting.”
Interesting is an understatement. “What’s the deal with Austin?” I ask, because I’d rather not talk about Luke.
“Well, as you’ve seen, he’s very charming,” Sophie says, rolling her eyes. “The ER basically grinds to a halt when he comes down to see a consult. All the nurses kind of flutter around him, and there’s no one available to do anything else.”
“That would be annoying.”
“Yep,” she agrees. “It’s very frustrating. But as far as I know, he’s single.” She hesitates for a minute and meets my eye. “And he’s basically been Luke’s best friend since med school.”
“I’m not actually planning to date him,” I tell her quickly. “I’m just going to watch their hockey game.”
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t,” Sophie says with a shrug. “But I thought you should know.”
SEVENTEEN
LUKE
“I like that girl,” Austin remarks, once Melissa and Sophie are out of earshot.
“We noticed,” Drew says dryly. He glances my way, and I’m sure he noticed that I like Melissa too. Drew doesn’t talk much, but not much escapes him.
“She’s got a girl next door vibe,” Austin continues.
“A girl next door who just got divorced,” I point out. “You should be careful with her, Austin. She told you she’s not ready.”
“She just meant she’s not ready for dinner,” Austin says. “But dinner isn’t really essential for a relationship.”
“You knew what she meant. The last thing she needs is to be your next fling.”
“Who said anything about a fling?” Austin asks. “Maybe I’m ready to settle down. She seems like a really nice girl.”
