by Tracy Ewens
“Why did you go?”
She was hoping he’d forgotten that question. Mainly because she didn’t know how to answer. What was the correct answer for a child his age? My parents are robots and should have never had children? Not ideal, so she went with Becca’s Disney version.
“It’s a tradition. My parents went, and so my sister and I went too.”
“Huh. I’m nervous enough about high school. I don’t think I’d want to sleep there too.”
Ella laughed. “Good point.”
“Where did you go to college?”
“Harvard and then UCLA for medical school.”
“Oh, that’s right. You had to go to more school after college.” He rolled his eyes.
Ella rolled hers too. It was fun making fun of school for a change.
“All right, Mase. Sorry for the wait.” Vienna handed him a pink box tied with string and then a white bag like the one Ella picked up on the mornings she worked.
Glazed doughnut, that sounded good too. Maybe next week, she thought.
“So, your roommate liked field hockey?” he asked after thanking Vienna.
“She did. She used to say constant movement was a high. Is that why you don’t like baseball? All the waiting around?”
He nodded. “Never thought about it that way, but yeah. I get bored and then I mess up. I like basketball, but look at me.” He gestured up and down his body. “That’s not going to happen.”
Ella laughed.
“Mase, are you baking the stuff yourself? Let’s—” Boyd’s voice rumbled through the tinkling sound of the bell on the front door, but he stopped when he saw Mason standing by Ella. Wiping his boots on the mat by the door, he visibly took in a breath.
Ella was used to men looking at her, assessing who they thought she was or more often doubting her abilities based on her looks. She’d worked twice as hard in medical school and busted her ass once she graduated to prove she wasn’t some blond genetic lottery winner looking to land a doctor husband. Ironic she ended up with a doctor, and every stereotype was made worse by the way that turned out.
“Got it. I just got it. Vienna’s a little nuts back there. She needed more time to pack it up. We’ve got time,” Mason said.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Boyd. Crazy busy this morning. Can I get you coffee and a sticky bun on the house?” Vienna asked.
Boyd hesitated.
“Fresh out of the oven.”
He took off his baseball cap, morning hair all over the place. “Can’t say no to that, but I’ll pay for it. Thanks, Vienna.” He turned to Mason, expression softened no doubt at the thought of anything Vienna offered fresh out of the oven.
“Look who comes here too—Dr. Ella from the hospital. Remember?”
Boyd nodded. “That was yesterday, Mase. I’m not senile.”
“Not yet.”
“Look at you all clever. How about you walk to school?”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
“I would and I’ll take your cookies.”
“That’s cruel. Hey, Ella slept at her high school. She went to boarding school.”
“Huh.”
Their eyes met and she was hit again by the distinct feeling he wanted to avoid her. She wasn’t a woman to take offense, but she was curious why he appeared to find her so distasteful. Maybe it was the whole doctor thing that threw him off. The boarding school tidbit certainly wasn’t going to create any common ground.
“Yeah, and her roommate played field hockey.”
“Interesting.” Boyd took the bag and coffee Vienna handed over the counter. He offered her money and when she refused, he stuck it in the jar by the register.
“We’re going to be late,” Boyd said, no longer bothering to make chitchat with Ella.
Mason glanced at the clock on the wall. “Crap.” He flinched. “I meant gee golly we better get going, sir.”
Boyd shook his head and Ella tried not to laugh. Funny and smart, inquisitive and obviously a smart ass. His dad took him under his arm.
“Say goodbye to the nice doctor, unruly kid.”
“Bye, Ella. I’ll keep you posted. Maybe Dad and I should get your num—”
Boyd dragged him out the door before he could finish his sentence.
She was still grinning as she finished the rest of her sugar breakfast, and then it hit her.
Had Boyd even said goodbye?
This was not happening, he told himself as Mason turned up the music and continued babbling on about Ella and her boarding school years. Boarding school? Who the hell still went to boarding school? Gorgeous blond doctors with a great sense of humor and an affection for nosey kids, that’s who. He knew he sounded ridiculous, but honestly, what the hell was a woman like her doing here?
“Ella went to Harvard. Did you know that?”
Boyd shook his head and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. That caused his hand to throb and then he thought of her again. Damn it, she was everywhere. He didn’t need this, didn’t want attraction anymore. He had work and his son. Women, other than his mom, Aspen, and occasionally Claire when the mood struck, did not factor into Boyd’s equation. He’d need to figure out why Mason was so hell-bent on hanging out with the doctor. Yeah, that sounded good. “The doctor.” That’s how he should think of her from now on. It rang formal and so much better than the woman all disheveled with powdered sugar on her cheek. He knew where to file “the doctor,” but Ella Walters was stirring up a whole mess of something he did not want to sort through.
“Yeah, she must be smart.”
“Must be,” Boyd said as he pulled into the school roundabout. “Okay, let’s get in there and learn.”
“It’s Friday. No one learns on Friday.”
Boyd moved to ruffle his son’s hair and thought better of it. Mason’s friends were waiting outside for him and the expression on his face said, “Don’t do it, Dad. I’m not five anymore.”
“Get out,” he said in a Terminator voice.
Mason threw his backpack over his shoulder. “See you at three?”
“I’ll be the one waiting outside my truck in a Speedo.”
“That is so wrong,” he said.
“Ya think? I don’t know. I’m thinking an American flag one. Maybe with my work boots.”
“How are you even allowed to be an adult?” Mason laughed, taking the cookies and sack lunch Boyd handed him once he hopped down out of the truck.
“I have no idea. They handed me a truck and a baby one day.”
“It’s a crazy world.”
“Yes, it is. Be kind,” Boyd said as Mason nodded to his friends and turned back one more time.
“Yup, I’ll try. Be strong,” he said, closing the truck door.
“I’ll do my best,” Boyd said through the window.
Their eyes held for an instant and then Mason was gone, joined by his friends and walking into school. Pulling away, Boyd allowed for the next car in line and swallowed back a lump in his throat. Two more months and his son would enter the summer before high school. Change was good, he told himself.
What do you want him to do, play with Legos forever? That’s not what he wanted. He wanted Mason to grow up and have all the adventures imaginable. He was thinking too far ahead. Two months was a long time. Right now, they had a weekend and they needed to start working on a science fair project or he’d be up all night like last year when he was gluing cotton balls to poster board until 2:00 a.m. Weekend and poster board: that was as far ahead as Boyd needed to look.
Be kind, be strong. They’d been saying goodbye to each other that way since practically his first day of kindergarten. God, he loved that kid something crazy. He wasn’t one of those dads to declare, “I have no idea where the time went.” Boyd liked to think he was present for every twist and turn of Mason’s life. He could remember most things, but lately little memories like the age he started walking or what his toddler voice sounded like were beginning to fade. Boyd supposed they had to if only to make room f
or the new memories, the details of who his son was becoming. There were times it seemed that to fully appreciate teenage Mason, he might need to say goodbye to toddler Mason. Like they couldn’t both exist together.
Boyd pulled a piece of sticky bun from the bag Vienna had given him and tried to manage his mind the way he managed the recipe he needed to start working on once he got to the brewery. Balance—every change created something new. Change could be good.
Shit, I’m talking to myself now.
Chapter Ten
“Honestly, Bri, they’re all starting to look the same,” Ella said as she glanced up from her phone to find her friend in yet another sexy black dress. She and Vienna had agreed to spend the day shopping for a “dress that kills,” but if she didn’t find something soon, there were going to be casualties all right.
“No. This one has a keyhole back.” Bri put her hands on her hips and twirled in the mirror.
Ella met Vienna’s eyes right before they rolled.
“Oh, you’re right. It is different,” Vienna said. “I have an idea, let’s think about whether a keyhole or the one with the single strap across the back is going to drop your date to his knees. While we’re doing that, I need a large glass of wine and food.”
Bri turned to them. “You’re mocking me.”
They both nodded.
“Change, Bri. You need to step away from the dressing room for at least an hour,” Vienna said.
“Are you sure? I’m feeling this one.”
“No, you’re not,” Ella said. “I’m with V. Lunch is calling us.”
Bri took one more look in the mirror and disappeared into the dressing room. Ella and Vienna both closed their eyes. Food was moments away.
“Do you think I can wear any of these to Perfect Annie’s christening next month?” Bri asked as she reappeared hopping on one foot and pulling the back of her shoe on the other. She’d taken to calling her new niece Perfect Annie or Brilliant Annie Pretty Face.
“Are you looking to get laid at the christening?” Vienna asked, handing Bri her purse.
Bri stopped, raised a brow, and pursed her lips. Ella shook her head and held the door open for them both.
They took their favorite table at Central Bistro and Vienna finally had her large glass of wine in hand as they looked over the menu they’d all but memorized by now.
“I’m so tired of dating, but I don’t want to be alone forever. I’m not you, Ella.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ella said.
“You’re like a professional alone person. You bring your lunch, you don’t fall asleep on your couch with Doritos stuck to your face. You’re good at being alone.”
“Well according to you, that’s because I don’t have a life and I have a strange affection for Monday.”
Bri sipped her gin and tonic. “I explained that. It was a cry for help. V, have you heard about Monday?”
Ella laughed as Sistine and Aspen came in waving and the nachos were delivered. Ella glanced around the circular booth. “Why do you think we’re all single?” she asked. All conversation stopped.
“Um… Well, technically I’m divorced, so that makes me a special kind of single,” Bri said.
“I’m dating Thad, which means theoretically I’m not single. So… because I was waiting for the love of my life and he finally showed up?”
Sistine tilted her head in an “aw” gesture while Bri’s brow furrowed.
“Oh, cut that crap out. If I thought you believed that and it wasn’t your sex trance speaking, I’d have to smack you,” she said.
“I’m single because… I don’t know how to be anything else,” Sistine said in a voice that spoke to her love of libraries. “I guess I like being alone? Is that an answer?”
The table nodded because as content as Sistine seemed, weren’t human beings meant to pair up? Christ, that’s what Ella had heard her whole life. Most of the time she too was content being single. In fact, until recently she rarely thought about it after the Marc disaster.
“Aspen?” Sistine said as if to take the focus off her.
Aspen glanced up from her phone. “Sorry. Single. Yeah, I don’t need the aggravation. I have a good thing going at work. I have the occasional date, but I like my life, my work.”
“Me too,” Ella said.
“Clearly,” Bri added.
Ella tossed a chip at her.
“I don’t think that’s true,” Aspen said, giving her phone a few more taps and slipping it into her purse.
“Don’t think what’s true?” Bri asked over the chip she was crunching.
“That work is enough for Ella.”
Ella felt the heat of the spotlight.
“I think you were consumed by work when you were at the big hospital, but now I think you want your job and other things. Isn’t that why you moved here?”
“I…Yes. I wanted something different.”
“Exactly.” Aspen dipped a chip. “So, your usual ‘it’s all about my career’ isn’t the best explanation for why you’re alone. What about Boyd?”
The table was still. Drinks midsip, a couple of mouths full. Ella felt the air rush from her lungs. This was why she didn’t discuss her personal life. This was why she’d worked hard over the past two years not to have a personal life.
“What?” Aspen said as she chomped. “He’s male and single. Ella already likes his son. Could be a good fit.”
“Why do I suddenly feel like one side of a corporate merger?” Ella asked.
Aspen shrugged.
“Boyd’s the hand laceration, right? With the cute kid,” Bri said.
Vienna woke right up. “You know, I did notice some sparks the other morning when they came in for cookies.”
This was enough. If Ella let them continue, it would be a matchmaker frenzy. “Did you? Because those sparks were from him hightailing it out of there as fast as his boots would take him.”
Bri shook her head and finished chewing. “Seemed like he stuck around for a while when his son came to visit you.”
“Mason came to the hospital again?” Aspen asked.
“Wait, I thought Mason was only thirteen,” Sistine said.
Ella closed her eyes as all four women began trading comments and filling the others in on bits of information they’d witnessed. The now empty nacho plate was cleared, Ella ordered another drink, and there was finally a long-awaited silence as lunch was delivered and they all began eating.
Bri lifted her glass in a toast. “Aspen, I love you. I’m officially off the hook as the only obnoxious and nosy one.”
The rest of the table laughed and Ella shook her head. “Couldn’t let it go, could you?”
“Oh, hell no.” Bri played with the straw in her glass. “I think Boyd is a perfect candidate.”
“For what?” Ella’s face grew warm.
“For some weekend… experiments.”
“You are so wrong. The man has a child and he can’t stand me.”
“Not true,” Aspen said.
Lord, this wasn’t going to die.
“Do you have information you need to share?” Sistine asked.
Ella hoped she still possessed some intimidation and leveled her best cold-doctor stare at Aspen. Something needed to turn this conversation around.
Aspen shrugged again, didn’t even flinch. Traitor.
“Not exactly information. Mason shares and his uncles listen. They were talking about Ella, and Boyd didn’t seem uninterested.” It felt like she was issuing a report rather than feeding the wolves, and then she returned to her phone.
“Well,” they all said as if they were launching into a musical number.
“Oh yes, this is promising. I’m wondering if you have all forgotten the rule.” Ella held up her hand, hoping like hell it still worked. It was all she had left. Aspen and Sistine appeared confused.
Bri rolled her eyes and swallowed another sip of her drink. “It’s the hand again,” she explained to them. “Dr. Ice here doesn�
��t discuss her personal life. Although, I would like to point out that she was the one who asked the initial question about our single status.”
“It was rhetorical. Like, let’s discuss singlehood in general, in theory. You know?”
They all shook their heads and laughed again. Vienna high-fived Bri across the table. Traitors, they were both such obnoxious traitors.
“I’m sorry if I misspoke. I certainly understand not wanting to get into the mess of pounding hearts and all of that, but if you were looking to dive in, Boyd is a good guy,” Aspen said to the table, but it was mostly directed at Ella.
“It seems that way. I’m glad I could stitch up his hand and meet Mason. He’s adorable, but I’m afraid, ladies, that the juicy gossip stops there, so let’s talk about something more interesting. Bri is going on a date tomorrow night with a former IRS auditor. Huh?”
The table erupted in laughter at Ella’s failed attempt to redirect.
“That’s right. I think he even worked in their corporate fraud department, so stay tuned for more on that hot-and-steamy developing story.”
“Has he ever audited someone famous?” Sistine asked.
“No idea, but I’ll ask.”
“That’s a pretty cool job. I mean it’s not as fun as rock god or movie star, but it’s different,” Vienna said.
“True.”
“Did you guys know that Boyd’s brother is a—”
Ella held up her hand and Aspen stopped speaking, which based on what Ella learned from Bri and Vienna was no easy feat.
“Right, no McNaughtons. Got it.”
Why was it so difficult for her to share her life with other people? Not even people, these were her friends to varying degrees. Maybe Ella had never had friends on this level. All of this circled back to hugging and connecting with people over something more substantial than credentials and accomplishments.
The conversation turned to new wedding cakes Vienna was designing and the next book club meeting. Aspen excused herself to use her phone, asking for assistance with bail if she was arrested for “murdering Patrick McNaughton.”
Bri sat back in the booth and grinned at Ella. She then gave an exaggerated inhale and exhale through her perfect lips. She drove Ella crazy with her touchy-feely crap, but somehow, she’d snuck under her skin and figured Ella out. Past what she put forward to everyone, Bri understood what made Ella who she was, and Ella supposed that’s what being friends was all about. She took a deep breath and nodded to Bri, who raised her glass and returned to the conversation.
