by Ann, Natalie
“I’m not looking for love either,” she said. “But I was nice to him when I wanted to walk away. Don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t be mean.”
“I would hope not,” her father said. “Don’t get bitter. I rarely say a negative word about your mother because she put you in the middle too many times, but I’m going to say it now. She’s a bitter woman when she doesn’t get her way or things don’t go the way she wants. You’re nothing like her and I hope you never are.”
“I won’t be. Trust me.”
5
Answer For It
Wyatt let himself into his condo, walked straight to his bedroom and started to strip, his clothes falling to the floor before he made it to the bathroom.
He turned the shower on and climbed in, the hot spray beating on his hair while he ran his hands through it.
After work he’d come home and changed into his workout clothes, then hit the gym on the first floor of his building. He didn’t have time to exercise as much as he would have liked, but today his last surgery had been canceled and he had the time for a good workout before he went to his parents’ for dinner.
It was his night with his parents and he was looking forward to it.
Not just because he didn’t have to find food for himself in the house but also because he wanted to know more about Adriana.
Once he was done with his shower and dried off, he walked naked back to his room and picked up his sweat-drenched shorts and T-shirt and threw them into the hamper. Laundry would be on the list of things to do tonight when he returned.
Dressed and running out the door, he drove to his parents’ home just in time to hear his mother say when he walked into the back of the house where she was putting dinner on the table, “I wasn’t sure if you got held up at work or not. We were going to start without you.”
“Sorry,” he said, walking over and giving her a kiss on the cheek. Then he walked to the fridge for a beer. He didn’t normally drink during the week, but for some reason he wanted one of his cousin Mason’s brews. “Dad, do you want one?”
“Sure,” his father said.
When Wyatt was done pouring two glasses he sat at the table and said, “I actually got out early and took advantage of the time to get a workout in. Guess I cut it closer than I thought.”
“You’re here on time,” his mother said. “We know how it goes. You tend to get held up in surgery more than Sam.”
“That’s because my entire job is in the OR. I don’t see patients or have appointments like he does. I’m only in the office doing paperwork a few hours a week if that.”
“You like it that way,” his father said. “It’d drive you nuts if you had to sit in an office all by yourself for more than the time it took to finish up a task.”
Was that how everyone really saw him? That he couldn’t be alone?
He supposed it was true to an extent. Even when he was home, he found a reason to not sit around if he didn’t have things to do.
Give him chores or work, sure, he’d stay home and do it. But sit in front of the TV and watch a show alone? Not usually.
Even at the gym earlier, he was talking with people the entire time he was working out. If not, just being around watching the action was enough to not feel like he was by himself.
Now that all his male cousins were dropping like mosquitoes out of an electric lamp, he didn’t have as many options for catching a game with someone or going for a drink. There was always Ryder, but he normally had a date.
Now, Ryder, he truly couldn’t be alone. Wyatt could at least suck it up for the short term if he had to.
“I wasn’t meant to sit behind a desk for my career. If I weren’t doing this, I’m not sure what I’d do,” he said.
“You would have stayed in the medical field,” his mother said. “It’s your love. For as much as you goof off, you take that one thing seriously. This was always the field you’d be in and you know it. Failure had never been an option.”
It was good to know his parents understood him so well.
“You’re probably right. So many people thought I couldn’t do it or wouldn’t last. You know I had to prove them all wrong.”
His father shook his head and picked up a steak to put on his plate, then passed the dish to him. He speared one and slapped it down. Red meat was going to hit the spot tonight.
“You are who you are, Wyatt,” his father said. “When you behave the way you do, you have to answer for it at times.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. “I don’t behave badly,” he argued.
“Your father didn’t mean it that way. He just meant that you liked to have fun. You liked to terrorize your sister and brothers, even your cousins. Everyone knew you for those things. When you said what you were going to college for, most thought you were joking. So from day one, you’ve had to prove everyone wrong.”
“Point taken,” he said.
He had no one to blame but himself, he knew that. But he’d thought he was beyond proving himself.
“So what else have you been up to?” his mother asked.
“Not much. I had lunch with Sam today and we talked about the wedding a little. He seems excited more than nervous.”
“Why ever would he be nervous?” his mother said.
Wyatt shrugged. “No clue. I just figured he would be, but I got the little lecture about letting go of shit from him in order to be happy.”
He scooped the potatoes on his plate and accepted the dish of carrots next. “Are you not happy?” his mother asked.
“I’m happy. I’m always happy,” he said. “I’m not sure what Sam was smoking.”
“It’s called love,” his father said, letting out a laugh. “When you find it someday you’ll understand. Are you feeling out of sorts because your brothers are engaged now?”
“Not really. I mean I thought it was fast with Kara, but not nearly as fast as it was with Noah. Though Paige is great. Sebastian is a riot. I told him I’d take him to a basketball game in a few weeks. I got two tickets and thought I’d ask one of the guys, but figured Sebastian would like it.”
“I think he’d love it,” his mother said, reaching her hand over and laying it on his. “That’s a very sweet thing to do. He looks up to you in an odd sort of way.”
“What’s so odd about it? Other than I know it annoys Noah.”
“Which is why you are asking, isn’t it?” his father asked. “To tweak your brother?”
“That’s just a nice side benefit. I’ve been doing that my whole life. I’ll never stop.” Just because he couldn’t play jokes on them as much didn’t mean he still couldn’t find ways to get under their skin. “But Sebastian is a great kid. I like being around him.”
“Hmm,” his mother said. And that was it. He hated when she did that.
But they all started to eat and the conversation stopped. “So I met Adriana Lopez today.”
“You did?” his mother asked, barely lifting her head. More like she did it to grab her drink. “She’s a nice young lady, isn’t she?”
“I suppose. We sat together at lunch and she didn’t have much to say to me. I get the feeling she didn’t care for me too much and I’m not sure why. I didn’t realize she hadn’t gotten my last name during the surgery. It wasn’t until someone called me by my last name that she realized who I was. She brought up her stepmother.”
“Did you tell her I asked you to show her around if you saw her?” his mother asked.
“I did. She acted more put out over that, but she did soften a little bit when she found out who I was.”
He got the feeling Adriana was someone to stand on her own two feet and not want to ask anything from anyone.
“Well, you acted all put out when I asked you a month ago. Why was that?”
“I did?” he asked. “I don’t remember. Maybe I was having a bad day.”
“Could be,” his mother said. “I found it strange. You’ve always been willing to introduce yourself and talk to someone.
I couldn’t figure out why you gave me such a hard time about it when I asked.”
“No clue,” he said. “If I knew she looked like that I sure the hell wouldn’t have. What’s her deal?”
“Deal?” his mother asked, going back to her dinner like they were talking about what color paint to change in the kitchen. She sure was acting odd for some reason.
“You said she moved here and didn’t know anyone, right?”
“I might have. I can’t remember because I was too annoyed over your attitude that day on the phone.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. She was playing with him now. Everyone always wanted to know where he got his joking nature from, but he was positive it was his mother!
“Fine. I’m sorry if I was annoyed that day. I can’t even remember it. You said she moved here, do you know why?”
“I thought I mentioned it on the call, but again, you couldn’t be bothered.”
His father started to laugh. “You do know you shouldn’t mess with your mother, right?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Fine. Doesn’t matter. We had lunch and barely said a word and then she left. I got the feeling she’ll avoid me anyway so not a big deal.”
But it was because it drove him insane when someone wouldn’t talk to him and he had no idea why.
If he knew the reason he could let it go. But they’d just met. He knew he didn’t say anything to offend her. So why was she so cold to him?
“I don’t know much other than she had a bad breakup and wanted a fresh start.”
“She’s from San Diego, right?” he asked.
“I believe San Diego.”
He nodded his head and decided to let it drop. He wasn’t in the mood to be led around by the carrot from his mother tonight.
* * *
“That was horrible of you, Carolyn,” Garrett said.
“I know. I can’t help myself. Sometimes Wyatt deserves it for all the things he did as a kid to get attention.” She’d never be able to count the times Wyatt rearranged things in her kitchen, hid shoes on her, ate desserts she was baking for someone else. He did half those things before he was even five. She knew she was in trouble then.
If he wasn’t so darn cute when he did it and so loving and sincere about wanting to make people laugh, she might have grounded him more than she did.
But after a while she’d come to expect it from him.
“That’s true. He was almost squirming in the chair over your blasé attitude regarding Adriana.”
“I couldn’t very well get excited over it. Then he’d think something was up. This way, he just thought I was playing with him like he does us so much.”
Her husband shook his head. “You two are too much alike.”
“Not quite,” she said back. “So what do you think happened today between them?”
Garrett laughed. “By the sounds of it, not much.”
“Which would completely annoy Wyatt. He’s too used to the women fawning over him. She isn’t going to do that. She’s going to make him work for it.”
“If she is even interested. I get the feeling she wasn’t in the least.”
“She will be. She’s had a rough couple of months. She’s all straight laced and serious right now and needs a little bit of excitement in her life. Maggie always talked about how active Adriana was. How she was never alone and always with friends. She’d never sit and read a book or color when she was younger. She couldn’t sit still.”
“Sounds like someone else we know,” Garrett said.
“Exactly. There is no opposite with Wyatt. He needs someone to settle down with that is a lot like him but not so much like him that she won’t give him crap over things too. He isn’t going to be able to get away with too much with her.”
“We’ll see how it works. We’ve got two down right now. We’re on a roll. One for me with Drake and one for you with Noah.”
“I’m going to get a second with this one,” she said proudly. “You just watch. Then I’m going to find someone for Jade. It’ll be three to one when we are done.”
“I didn’t know this was a competition,” Garrett said, walking up to her and pulling her into his arms. “I think I like this side of you.”
“What other side of me do you like?” she asked, reaching up and running her hands through his hair.
“The side in the bedroom,” he said, pulling her to their room.
She’d struck gold with him and all she wanted was her kids to find the same.
6
Some Misunderstanding
A few days later Wyatt was making his way down to the surgical wing. Who did he see? Of course it was Adriana standing around. His guess was she was waiting on the next OR to be ready to open, just like him. He hoped they were in the same room.
“So we meet again,” he said to her. She’d been standing there looking at the computer but glanced up, her almond-shaped, brown eyes focusing in on him.
Her pupils dilated, he saw it, even if she wanted to hide it. He just wasn’t sure the exact cause of it. “Yes, we do,” she said and put her head back down.
Dismissed. Damn it. He wasn’t used to that happening to him.
What the heck had he done to tick her off?
He was going to have to figure it out and now was as good a time as any.
“So how do you like it here so far?” he asked. Might as well be friendly since they both had time.
“It’s nice. It’s not much different than my last job. Well, that isn’t true. I was the scrub nurse there, circulating nurse here.”
Which had different roles for sure, but she seemed to know what she was doing from the one surgery she’d been in with him. Opening the room, making sure everything was set up the way it should be, advocating for the patient, monitoring everything going on at once. His guess was she closed the OR just as efficiently as she opened and ran it.
“I think Duke is lucky to have you,” he said.
She looked at him again, started to narrow her eyes and then seemed to catch herself. “Thank you.”
Back to the computer she went. “So I can show you around the hospital if you want. Show you all the good spots to eat your lunch when the cafeteria is packed. There isn’t always a nice accommodating doctor willing to share his table.”
“I’m good, thank you,” she said.
He was damned if he was going to drop his grin though. He wasn’t used to this. Most loved talking to him. He didn’t ask everyone out he came in contact with. It’s not that. He wasn’t a man-whore. But he liked to talk and be friendly.
He leaned on the wall a little closer to her and waited until she looked up. “Yes? Was there something else?”
“I like you,” he said. “You don’t have a problem being up front.” He lowered his voice a bit and looked around. “If you aren’t interested in being shown around the hospital, how about dinner this weekend? I can show you around the area.”
She stopped what she was doing, looked around a little, then back to him. “No, thank you,” she said. “I’m sure you know my father lives here and he can show me around if I need it.” Her computer went off and people started to exit one of the ORs. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work to do.”
It took everything he had for his jaw not to drop. What the hell? It’s not like he was asking her into his bed. Not that he would mind that at all. Maybe she’d heard rumors about him with women?
Damn Sam for busting his ass in the last surgery they were in together.
Sure, he liked to go out and have a good time, but that didn’t mean he ended up in bed with everyone he went out with. He was just looking to have dinner and show her around.
Maybe he’d explain it when he saw her again. It had to be some misunderstanding.
Forty minutes later he was in the OR, his patient having received the happy juice and not even aware of what was going on around him. Adriana was indeed the circulating nurse and moving around. Sam just came in and the two of them started to talk, but sin
ce Sam was running late, they’d been ready for him to start right up.
When the surgery was done two hours later, he finished up what needed to be done with his patient, then went to his office to deal with paperwork. Sam was moving to another surgery and he assumed Adriana was too. His just got postponed on him and he was fine with that.
As much as he hated to be alone, he had work to do and wouldn’t mind the quiet while he figured out his next step with Adriana.
When all his paperwork was done he grabbed the bag in his drawer of a shipment he’d received at home the other day and made his way to Sam’s office with a piece of paper he’d pulled off his printer.
He wasn’t in there fifteen minutes when the door opened behind him. “What do you think you’re doing in here?”
He laughed. “Nothing.”
“Yeah, right. Move away from my desk,” Sam said.
Wyatt walked back; he was done anyway. It was fine he was caught.
Sam looked down at the picture of a ball and chain on his desk, a photoshop of Dani’s face smiling over the ball.
“It’s funny,” he said when Sam shook his head. “Tell me it is. And it was Ryder’s idea.”
“Figures it’d be Ryder’s idea. As much as you bust my ass you don’t normally think of relationships as traps.”
“Nah. You’re happy and that is all that matters.”
Sam sat down and pulled his drawer open to get a file out and saw the mini ball and chain in there and laughed this time. “I should have figured the picture wasn’t the only thing you were doing.”
“That’s elementary. Come on. You know me better than that.” And Sam wouldn’t think it was so funny when he was finding little balls and chains all over his office months from now.
“So I guess this time you did strikeout,” Sam said.
“What?”
“Sit down, you’re pacing, which is a sure sign you are agitated. With Adriana. She shot you down.”
“Who told you that?” he asked. He didn’t think there were that many people around when he was talking to her.
