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“No. It’s not like my offer expired. If she changed her mind, she’d tell me. She doesn’t like me like that.”
He peered over at me. “Do you like her like that?”
I was quiet for a beat. “Yeah. I do.”
I saw the flowers drifting down the hall and backed up a little into the doorway. The moment Briana looked over and realized they were for her was my shot of serotonin for the day. Her beautiful face lit up and she took the card from the stick and opened the envelope. I watched her read it and laugh. The card said,
Dearest Briana,
My deepest apologies. I clearly did not understand the assignment.
—J
She looked up and searched the room for me and she beamed at me when she saw me, and my heart was full.
I would give her this every day. I’d spend the rest of my life looking for ways to make her smile at me like that. I lived for it.
When she came over, everyone was watching us, as usual. I knew she’d put on a show. We couldn’t touch too much at work. PDA wasn’t permitted. So what we did here was act like we wanted to touch, but the rules wouldn’t allow it. She’d stand extra close to me, looking up at me like if we just weren’t at work, she’d kiss me. I loved that the best. When she did that, it felt like she loved me back. I let myself pretend.
She stopped an inch shy from being able to hug me. “Zander,” she said, nodding at him. Then she crossed her arms and turned to me. “Thank you for the flowers, Dr. Maddox.”
“So you forgive me, then?” I grinned.
She shrugged playfully and looked away from me.
“How about if I buy you dinner Saturday?” I asked.
Her eyes slid back to mine. “I want Chinese food.”
“Okay.”
“I get to place the order and you have to go get it.”
“Sounds fair.”
She arched an eyebrow. “I’m going to order half the menu.”
“Of course.”
We were leaning into each other, smiling.
“Dios mío, get a room,” Hector said, walking up.
We laughed a little and moved apart, but we didn’t break eye contact. We were so good at this.
It was hard to believe one of us was in love and the other one was just good at pretending.
“Hey, you got a patient asking for you in room three,” Hector said to Briana.
Briana gave me one last flirty look. “Duty calls,” she said, jogging backward. “I’ll see you at lunch.”
I watched her, grinning like an idiot, until she disappeared beyond the sliding glass doors of room three.
“And you’re sure it’s fake…” Zander said.
My smile fell.
“I’m sure.” For her, anyway.
