Page 57 of Slow Burn

“I don’t want to lead you on.” He was trying to let her down gently.

But to his surprise, she laughed.

“Or maybe I don’t want to lead you on.” Georgia showed him her megawatt smile. “What I’m trying to say is you can’t get angry if I’m talking to another man like you did last night. You said you don’t commit, and I respect that. We need to draw the line in the sand, you know?”

Why did this feel like a breakup conversation?

And why did it bother him?

The vibration of her phone against her purse was loud in the silence. She pulled it out and then looked back at him. “My Uber is here. Are we good?”

“I don’t think we are anything.” He crossed his arms, pissed off.

She tilted her head and watched him for a minute before she left without saying goodbye.

It was better this way.

Elijah made a promise to himself to leave Georgia alone, no matter the desperation he felt to have her again.

“DR. CROSS, YOUR next patient is a routine visit,” one of the nurses said to her as she scrubbed her hands. “Maggie Thatcher, she’s actually a nurse in the ER. Twenty-three, no prior health concerns. I finished her vitals. Nothing abnormal. She’s in room nine.”

“Thank you,” Georgia said as she grabbed the patient’s clipboard from him. She knocked on the door before she walked in.

“Hi!” The dark-haired woman greeted her with a smile. “I heard the practice had a female doctor, so I immediately switched my provider to you. Nash told me you were the best of the best.”

“While I don’t always agree with my brother,” she said as she blew some air on her stethoscope. “You’re in good hands with me. I reviewed your vitals, and everything looked good. Let me check your heart and lungs, and then I’ll do the rest of the physical. We shouldn’t be too long.”

“Thank you. Today is my first day off in over a week,” she mentioned. “We were short-staffed, so I picked up shifts to help.”

“As your doctor, I have to say to take it easy.” Georgia already liked this patient. “But I completely get it. Take some deep breaths.”

She listened to Maggie’s heart and lungs. Everything was healthy. From there, she did the head and neck check, followed by gently pressing on her abdomen to palpate her internal organs.

“On my end, you pass your physical,” Georgia shared. “I will give you a script for routine blood work, but is there anything else you want to discuss?”

Maggie grinned. “Growing up with Brooks and Nash, was it just hot guy after hot guy always in your house? I’m Matt Thatcher’s younger sister, and I swear my crushes on his friends were outrageous when I was a teen.”

Thatcher, that was why she recognized the last name. Matt was a paramedic at the fire station and, growing up, he was Nash’s best friend.

Georgia laughed. “I can’t believe I just put two and two together.” She pretended to face-plant in her palm. “And I can attest to crushes I had on my brothers’ friends.”

One in particular who she newly crushed on.

“Those firefighters are something else.” Maggie fanned herself off.

She and Georgia chatted for a few more minutes before Georgia promised to say hello if she saw her out, before leaving her patient alone in the room so Maggie could get dressed.

The rest of the day ran smoothly, and time flew until it was after six o’clock. She went into her office and changed out of her scrubs into leggings and a college T-shirt. Grabbing her phone from her purse, she had a missed call from Sophie, so she called Sophie back as she walked to her car.

“It’s Friday night,” Sophie singsonged when she answered. “Want to come over for pizza and hang?”

She opened her car door and slid into her seat, buckling her seat belt. “That actually sounds amazing. I’m about to go home. Give me like an hour. Do you need me to pick anything up?”

“Wine, all the wine.”

Georgia chuckled. “How many people did you invite? Are we talking two bottles or twelve?”

“It’s just us! But bring three bottles. School starts next week, so I need to drink up.”