Her stomach growled and she nodded. “Done. Extra cheese. Extra pepperoni.”
That was more like it. He placed the order and after agreeing to pay Luigi’s kid an extra ten bucks to drive out there, they sat in the family room. Even though it was small, the ceilings were vaulted and all the wood beams exposed. If he was into this kind of thing, he’d say it was a pretty perfect room. His sister snuggled up under a blanket and settled onto the couch opposite him. “Well, look at us, together again, our lives in shambles. Who would have thought, huh?”
The sadness in her voice prompted him to make light of it. “So you were young and picked a douche of a husband. It’s not a big deal.” But it was. They had both picked the wrong partners. If he’d been married to Gwen, his life would never have gone down that road. He couldn’t have seen himself as the man he used to be. But that wasn’t Lisa’s fault; it was his own. If he had met Gwen back then, they never would have worked. It had made him question his own ability to read people.
It was also a reminder of his own failings. He’d failed his wife. He’d been an equal if not greater screw-up in their marriage. It made him question the entire damn institution, which presented another problem. It’s not that he’d even consider getting married again, but there was something about Gwen that made a guy think about marriage. She was the real deal. She was the kind of woman he should have looked for in the beginning, but maybe he wasn’t ready for a woman like her then. His priorities had been very different. Gwen had made it very clear she wanted the whole package, marriage and kids. He could never be a father again.
Haley’s eyes filled with tears. “You warned me, though. How come I didn’t see it?”
He paused for a second, hating that he had to ask, bracing himself for her answer. “What did he do, Haley?”
She turned from him and shook her head. “I can’t talk about it yet.”
He leaned forward, trying to still look calm. “Do you need me to hurt him?”
She laughed and he smiled with her. “Do you want a hot drink or something?”
“You learned how to make coffee?”
He frowned. “You know I am an adult, right? And a doctor?”
Her brow stayed lifted.
He leaned back in his chair. “Fine. It’s a Keurig, but it still counts as making coffee.”
She laughed again.
“So, coffee? Tea?”
“Coffee,” she said. “Always coffee.”
He stood and prepped two cups for them. “Oh, I don’t have any milk or cream.”
“Omigod, Luke. How can I have coffee without dairy?”
His sister had always been picky. “Like I said, if you’d told me you were coming today, I would have bought some.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll take it black.”
He walked back to the couches and handed her a cup.
“So tell me what you’ve been up to. Please tell me the reason you and Gwen are hanging out and kissing like teenagers at her car is because you’ve told her the truth and as I’ve predicted, she accepts that it was an accident and all is well with the world.”
He leaned forward, bracing his forearms on his legs. “No.”
She groaned. “Why?”
“I…I’ve become involved with Gwen without telling any of them the truth,” he said, his voice sounding strange to his ears. He regretted telling her the minute the words came out of his mouth. Her theatrical gasp solidified how stupid he was to tell her anything.
She raised her hand to her heart. “Oh, Luke. What a tangled web we weave.”
“Seriously.”
She shrugged. “Sorry, it seemed like the perfect time to use that expression.”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. I wasn’t supposed to get to know her, but I did and now…”
“Please don’t tell me you’ve slept together.”
“I’m not a total douche.”
“You’re not a douche at all,” she said, with a look that told him she clearly pitied him. “You know what I think of all this already. You know you’re not responsible, right? Wrong place, wrong time, it could have been anyone, Luke.”
He stared down at the ground. Yeah he’d played this game with her before, but it didn’t matter because it had been him, no one else. If he had done things differently then maybe Gwen’s brother and nephew would still be alive. Lisa and their baby would have been alive. “Well, we’ve been over this before. I am to blame for the condition I was in when I got behind the wheel that night.”
“Stop saying that as though you were a drunk driver! You were a tired doctor, you were a husband fighting with his wife, and the road conditions were bad.”
“I could have slept at the hospital.”
“Stop it. Stop it. You’ve blamed yourself for five years. I understand needing to come out here and meet these people and apologize, I do. But what you’ve done now by getting to know them and getting involved with this Gwen woman is setting yourself up for disaster. How the heck is she going to feel when you tell her the truth?”
He didn’t say anything, just gripped his coffee mug tight. He had no idea. He had no answers to any of her irritating, if not completely relevant, questions. “I don’t know.”
“Luke, you have to tell her.”
The doorbell rang and his sister jumped up. Pizza time. It took him a moment to get up, to shed the weight of the new burden that was now on his shoulders. He wanted time with Gwen. He wanted to know her, everything about her in every possible way, even if it meant that she’d hate him in the end. He just wanted time before he saw hatred in her eyes, before everything was ruined.
Chapter Nine
“You’re afraid, aren’t you?” Gwen said as they each laced up their rented skates. He laughed, despite the insult.
They were sitting on one of the green park benches surrounding the open-air skating rink. It was one of those perfect, Norman Rockwell scenes. There were vendors selling hot chocolate and warm pretzels and popcorn. Kids were skating. Families were laughing. Snow was falling gently. But it was the woman beside him who made it all mean something.
He glanced over at her and she was giving him an adorable smirk, so he leaned forward, laughing despite himself, and kissed it away. When he pulled back and looked into her eyes, he kind of knew she had him. Somehow, Gwen had managed to cut through everything he’d been hiding behind. Gwen made him believe that maybe he could have a second chance…at everything.
“Let’s go, Muffin Man,” she said, jumping up. Her hands were on her hips and she had no issues balancing on her skates. Her dark hair was long and loose under her white beanie. Her nose was pink already and her cheeks were rosy. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. But he knew that alone wasn’t what got him, it was her whole package. It was the person he knew she was inside.
He stood slowly, aware of his lack of expertise in this area. “You know, judging by that grin on your face, you’re looking forward to seeing me fall on my ass.”
Her eyes sparkled as she held out her hand for him. “Only kind of.”
He laughed again and took her hand, needing it for support as they made their way to the rink. He stepped on the ice tentatively. Two teenagers zipped by him and he fell backward with a thud and maybe an expletive that was a tad too loud.
Gwen held out her hand and to her credit did a fine job trying not to laugh.
“Look, it’s Dr. Thomson! He fell on his bum!”
He swore under his breath and managed to stand and not fall as he heard the boy. Gwen was wiping tears from her eyes while taking heaving breaths in between laughs as a little boy and his parents skated over to them. Gwen held his arm, sort of bracing him up. Great. Pity was written all over her pretty features.
“Hello, Dr. Thomson! Remember us? You treated Chris for pneumonia last month.”
He smiled at the family. He did remember them. They’d come in during the night when their six-year-old son had been wheezing and crying. “Yes, I do. You’re all l
ooking well. Chris, all better?”
The little boy nodded. “Thanks to you!”
“Well, we won’t keep you. Have a good night,” the father said, and they skated away. He stood there for a second, and he realized that for the first time, he liked being part of a community. That was new for him. He hated being attached. He hated running into patients. But this…was nice. He looked over at Gwen. She wasn’t pitying him anymore. She was looking at him with something that made him wish for things like he was a kid again.
“I think one of the most attractive things about you, despite the obvious, um, external attributes you have,” she said, turning into him, holding onto the front of his jacket. “Is that you have this warmth and compassion. It’s there, under all those layers of hurt, but it’s there.”
He leaned down and kissed her, not caring that they were in a public place. He kissed her because he couldn’t not kiss her. He couldn’t not fall for Gwen. No matter how hard he tried not to, he was falling in love with her.
…
Gwen pulled back from Luke and smiled up at him. She couldn’t stop smiling tonight. Something felt different, like he was opening up and all of this was real. “C’mon, time to skate,” she said. She skated a circle around him, while he just stood there looking hot, irritated, and amused.
“You’re a show-off, Gwen.” He was grinning when he said it.
“True enough. Consider this payback for all those weeks of ignoring me. Here, let me help you skate.”
“What are you doing?” he asked, when she placed her hands on his back.
“I’m helping you move. I’m going to push you slowly. Try not to fall. Bend at the knees a little. You look a little stiff.”
“I’m not a giant statue you can push along the ice.”
She moved beside him. “Okay, give me your hand and I’ll pull you.”
He sighed and accepted her hand, but she could tell he was fighting a smile. They slowly made their way around the ice, staying to the edges so people could pass them. She couldn’t have asked for a better night. They talked and laughed as they circled the ice. Everything about tonight reaffirmed what she knew the first day she met him—she and TMM were meant to be.
“We need hot chocolate,” he said as they approached the hot chocolate booth. “And any other stuff he’s selling.”
“Fine. I’ll get it. You stand still. Don’t move.”
“Agreed.”
“Oh, you know what? I left my purse in the car.”
“Obviously, I’ll pay. I can’t move, but I’ll pay. Here, take my wallet.” He moved to grab it but he looked like he was going to fall over with the motion.
“I’ll get it,” she said, reaching around him. “Though I think this is a ploy to get me to grab your butt.”
“Kind of is,” he said, giving her a kiss as she slipped the wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans. She was not going to let her fingers linger on what she already knew was a pretty fine butt.
“Don’t move,” she said, skating in the direction of the chocolate booth. She ordered them two hot chocolates and one chocolate donut. She opened his wallet and searched for the correct bill. She paused as her finger felt something in the back of the bills. She paused at what looked like an ultrasound picture. Her heart slammed up into her throat. This was his private wallet. She glanced down at the picture for a moment, confirming it was indeed an ultrasound of a baby. Whose was it? He said he didn’t have kids. She knew his sister didn’t have kids. She glanced over at him, waving as he smiled and waved back at her.
She paid for their drinks and food and made her way back to the rink. This wasn’t her business. It had nothing to do with her. When he was ready, he’d open up about whatever else he had in his past. All she knew to be true right now, was that Luke made her feel like no guy ever had. He was funny, kind, loving, and sexy as hell. He made her feel alive and special. She was prepared to fall in love, all the way, with him, no matter the cost.
Gwen gave herself a quick check in the rearview mirror, and satisfied there were no major flaws with her face or hair, decided it was time to go and surprise Luke. She didn’t know if this was a good idea or not, and she imagined it was pretty hectic in the ER and he probably wouldn’t welcome any intrusion, but when she heard he was pulling a double shift, she felt bad. He probably had to do this because he’d spent so many nights with her when she had the flu and then when she’d made him take the night off for skating. Her discovery of the ultrasound picture in his wallet the other night only made her want to get to know him more. She trusted him. She trusted that when he was ready, he’d fill in all the missing pieces of his life story for her.
She grabbed the paper bag that contained a few sweets from her shop and then the other paper bag that had two slices of Luigi’s pizza. She walked across the parking lot as quickly as she could without jeopardizing all the goodies she was holding. The emergency room doors slid open as she crossed the threshold and she walked toward the information desk.
“Hi there,” she said to the pretty woman behind the desk. “I’m just dropping off some food for a…friend…who works here. Dr. Thomson.”
The woman sat up a little straighter and seemed to give Gwen a once-over from her barely-able-to-see-over-the-counter posture. “Oh, you’re friends with Dr. Thomson?”
Gwen tried not to let her irritation show. She didn’t want to add to any kind of hospital gossip. But seriously, all the women in this hospital were interested in him? Last time the nurse. This time, this lady. “Yes. I have dinner for him.”
“Oh, well you can leave it with me and I can put it in the doctor’s lunchroom and let him know it’s there.”
Was this woman screening his visitors? “Well…do you know if he’s going on break soon?”
She snorted. “He never goes on break. It’s cold and flu season, do you know how backed up that place is?”
Gwen frowned and looked in the direction of the ER waiting room. She grimaced and tried not to inhale too deeply. “Okay,” she said, reluctantly sliding the coffee and paper bags across the counter.
“And who shall I say sent this?”
“Um, Gwen.”
“Do you have a last name?” she asked, pointing her pen to a notepad.
“Bailey.”
“All right, Gwen Bailey. I will make sure he gets it.”
“Thanks,” she said, slowly leaving the hospital entrance. That wasn’t exactly the way she’d planned for that to go. The disappointment didn’t go away when she got to her car, either. As she made her way back to her car, she wondered about their night, or rather nights, together when she was sick. Now, it was as though he’d disappeared. Was he having second thoughts? Maybe…
“Gwen!”
She spun around, her heart beating a mile a minute as she spotting him jogging across the parking lot. Omg, the hotness of him. She hadn’t ever seen him dressed in scrubs before. His tall, athletic frame seemed to make those scrubs into the sexiest getup she’d ever seen. His arms were bare and she could make out the well-defined biceps. But when her eyes managed to meet his, she felt a twinge of sympathy for him. He looked wiped.
“How did you know I was here?” she asked.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he closed the remaining distance between them. He wrapped her up, backed her up until she was sandwiched between her car and him, and all she could think about was how good he tasted and felt. He kissed her as though he was starved and she was dinner. He held her as though she was his lifeline. They kissed until a car horn honked and a man poked his head out the window. “Are you going to move your car? I need a parking spot.”
“Go to the back lot and walk,” Luke said. She let out a startled laugh as the man gave Luke the finger and drove away.
“I didn’t want to bother you, but I felt bad, and I know how crappy hospital cafeteria food is,” she said.
He grinned. “I’m not complaining. You’re the best thing I’ve seen in twelve hours.”
“Can you g
o home?”
“Yeah. I’m ready to go. I just need to grab my things, and dinner, and I’m outta here.”
“Do you want to come back to my place?” she asked, not believing she’d asked that. The look in his eyes told her that’s exactly where he wanted to go.
“I’ll meet you there. I’m just going to grab a quick shower,” he said. He gave her a long kiss and then was gone, jogging back across the lot and then vanishing into the hospital.
Gwen took a deep breath as she got into her car. Then, once the door was shut, squealed with happiness. It was her year. It was true. She was finally taking all the steps to claim her happiness. Then panic set in. She drove out of that hospital like a speed demon. She had so much to do. Body parts needed shaving. Her apartment needed cleaning. Candles. She needed to light candles. Wine. Did she have any wine? Her mind was racing a mile a minute as she pulled into her spot outside the building.
Once inside the apartment, she decided showering and shaving were priority one. Once she did that as quickly as possible, she ran around the apartment cleaning up. Her hair was still wet when she ran into her bedroom to try and decide on what to wear. Okay, new underwear and bra, check. Then it was the rest…she didn’t want to look as though she was trying too hard, but she also wanted to look as though she was putting some effort into it.
Panic was rising in as she tore through her clothes, but then couldn’t make a mess because he’d be here any minute. Finally, she decided on jeans, because hello they weren’t yoga pants, but still weren’t too overdone. Then she picked out a white looks-like-cashmere sweater, but then decided against it because what if she spilled red wine? That was a very real possibility for her. Red. She should wear red. Perfect. She slipped on the red looks-like-cashmere sweater that she’d bought on her shopping spree. It had a V-neck that wasn’t low, but showed a hint of skin. She spun around and gave herself a look in the mirror. Okay. She tousled her hair a little, hating that she didn’t have time to properly dry it. Candles and wine.
She ran out into the kitchen and took out her matches and lit the three candles on the coffee table in the family room. She stood and her heart started pounding as she spotted Luke’s SUV parked across the street. She walked over to the window when she noticed he was still inside. It looked like he was looking at his phone or something. He wasn’t moving though. He slowly lowered his head and placed it on the steering wheel. Worry shot through her.
The Doctor's Redemption (Shadow Creek, Montana) Page 11
