Page 38

“And you’re not too tired?”

“No. Are you?”

“Not in the least.”

“Well then, Dr. VanRyan, what are you going to do about it?”

I swept her off the floor and headed to her bed. “Make sure your hopes are not dashed.”

I kissed her. “At least twice.”

The following week flew by. Endless hours at the hospital. A sea of patients. Emergencies. Some real, some who simply needed an ear or to be seen. The medical system needed fixing. All I could do right now was try to help as many as I could. I had dinner with Mom and Dad on Thursday at Graham and Laura’s home. Gramps looked at me over his glasses.

“I hear your father was his usual bull-in-a-china-shop self on the weekend.”

“Hey,” Dad protested. “We were out for a walk.”

I laughed. “Give it up, Dad. Mom told me you were tracking our route with the GPS you have on the boat. You knew exactly what you were doing.”

He turned to Mom, shocked. “You threw me under the bus, Katy?”

She shrugged. “Whatever. You weren’t exactly subtle.”

We all laughed. Subtle wasn’t a word you used with my father. Ever.

Grams spoke up. “Your mother tells us that Madison is lovely.”

“She is,” I agreed. “And surprisingly accepting.”

Dad took a sip of his scotch. “I found her to be intelligent. Independent. Stubborn. And pretty. A good match for you, Matthew. I liked her.”

I held up my hand. “We just started dating, Dad. Don’t rush things. She has school in a couple of months. I have the ER. We’re still⁠—”

Mom finished my sentence. “Figuring things out.”

“Yes.”

“I can still like her,” Dad grumped.

“She liked you as well.”

He sat back, satisfied, and raised his glass. “The girl also has excellent taste.”

“Yep. She chose me,” I retorted.

“Give me strength,” Mom muttered.

“We’d love to meet her,” Gramps said and shot a look to Dad. “When you’re ready.”

“I’ll arrange it,” I replied.

I had only managed a fast coffee the night before with Maddy. They had two weddings this weekend, and she was crazy busy in the bakery. I sat with her as she piped flowers in preparation for the cakes, her nimble fingers creating tiny works of art that she piped onto small squares of plastic, then slipped the entire box into the freezer. We chatted about our weeks and plans for Sunday since that was the only day we both had free.

“How about you come to my place?” I asked. “I’ll make something, we can hang by the pool, relax?”

“That sounds great.”

Our kisses goodnight had been deep and filled with yearning. But she looked tired and I was running on empty as well, so we kept the passion between our mouths. I planned on making that up on Sunday.