Page 43 of Reformation

Right now, I see a man who might be older, but by his actions, is saying that it’s never too late to try and change your direction in life. That it’s never too late to try and be a better person. And I think that’s the part of him I’m falling for the most. Because if I have figured anything out since yesterday, it’s that I’m falling for Garrett Dixon.

Hard.

“Are you going to get that?” Cassie asks.

“Huh?”

She nods toward my purse on my desk. “I think your phone is vibrating.”

I hurry up and dig for my phone, secretly hoping it’s Garrett.

“Hello?”

No one says anything, and I pull the phone away from my ear when I realize the origin of the call. It’s another unknown number.

“Hello?” I ask again.

“How are you, Josephine?”

How in the hell did she get this number?

“You have the wrong number.”

I hurry and hang up the phone and pray that my face doesn’t give away the gravity of what just happened. Luckily, Cassie was scrolling through Facebook when I took a phone call from the one person I hoped to never hear from for the rest of my life.

“Everything OK?”

I nod. And then I lie.

“Yup. All good.”

I might have been willing to tell Cassie my secret about Garrett today, but I’m not ready to tell her about my past yet.

One I’m scared is now trying to come back and haunt me.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Garrett

I never understood why people found it freeing to get behind the wheel of their car, roll down the windows, and blare a favorite song. As I’m doing it now on my way to pick up Paige, I see the appeal.

Or maybe it’s because I’ve never felt this way in my life.

The practice is thriving with every doctor at Innovative so busy that they are not accepting any new patients. And despite not making the rounds at various charity or social events, the clinic’s funding is looking solid for the first quarter and into summer.

Personally? I’m happy. Lighter. Just being away from Annika has made me feel twenty pounds lighter. Living with Mark and Charlie means I get to spend more time with Cullen and Makenna. It has been firmly established that I’m the top uncle over Charlie’s brother, Dominic, despite my lack of pancake-making skills. He might be a big time senator, but I’m pretty sure I rock a pretend tea party better than he does.

When I was lying in my hospital bed, wondering why I had been given a second chance at life, I didn’t realize how unhappy I was.

Looking back at that version of me, and the one I’m looking at right now, it’s amazing how much things can change in such a short amount of time.

Annika hasn’t given me much grief over the separation. Which is odd. I expected daily texts and calls from her about her “lack of funds.”

This tells me she is already seeing someone else. Good. She can be someone else’s problem.

And then there is Paige. Fuck, that woman is driving me insane. And she doesn’t even know it.

It’s been almost a week since I’ve seen her. A week since I nearly found out what her lips taste like. A week since I chickened out and went for a kiss on the forehead instead.

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