Page 7 of Dream a Little Dream

“Two and a half for me,” Jocelyn said.

“Oh.” Confusion arrived. “But you’re staying in a hotel?”

They exchanged what seemed to be a private smile. I felt like I’d overstepped. Jonathan would have shot me wide eyes that meantbehave. “You know what? No explanation needed,” I said with a smile and a wave of my hand. I sipped my martini as if I’d politely moved on from my query about them.Them.

Who was I kidding?Her.

Kyle turned fully on her stool. There were two empty ones between us. “My apartment is under construction, so I grabbed a few nights in the hotel so I didn’t have to live among the colossal chaos during my time off. Joss just joined me for a night out. We’re rarely off work at the same time, so tonight’s a novelty.”

“Resident life,” Jocelyn said, glaring at the empty space in front of her, drink on its way to her lips.

I squinted. “And help me, but a resident is the portion of a doctor’s career when they’re…”

“Still building our skills within a specialty,” Kyle said, picking up the slack. “But we’re nearing the end.”

“And did you always want to be a doctor?” I asked.

“Yes and no.” She seemed to decide to tell me more. “I’m a formerfinancial adviser who hated my job, ran away to medical school to reclaim my childhood dream, and now I’m in my last year of residency in emergency medicine.”

“Look at you,” I said too loudly, my brain forgetting to censor itself. “That’s impressive,” I amended in a more conservative tone.

Jocelyn pulled out a pager, an actual one, turned it around, and showed Kyle. “Looks like we’re going to have to raincheck our little gathering.”

“Paged?” I asked, having not seen one of those except on doctor shows and nineties movies.

“Joss is on call,” Kyle informed me. “That’s why her drink’s a mocktail.”

“Ah,” I said, taking it all in. There was some kind of medical emergency, and Jocelyn would swoop in and help. I liked being on the fringes.

“I’ve got your drink,” Kyle told her. “I hope it’s an easy one.”

“From your lips.” Jocelyn leaned in. My cue to look away. That did not stop me from hearing the soft sound of a lip smack. I waved to Jocelyn as she gathered her belongings. “Nice meeting you, Savanna.”

“You, too. I hope it’s an easy night, as well.”

Kyle said something to her quietly as I returned to my drink.

A couple moments later, Kyle tilted her head dramatically to catch my eye. “Do you mind if I…?” Kyle pointed at the barstool next to mine as the bartender poured a bright pink Cosmo from his shaker. I liked tonight. It shimmied with the sheen of something special. I was out and about making very cool friends in a city I didn’t know.

“Not at all. I’d love company, actually.” Attraction aside, I was genuinely enjoying getting to know Kyle and finding out more about her life, what she was like. Our sustained eye contact left me wanting more. Her energy had me excited, yet comfortable. I hadn’t yet figured out how she managed to make me feel so important with so few words. “Sorry Jocelyn had to leave.”

“Me, too,” Kyle said, and stirred her drink once. “This was supposed to be our catch-up night. At least we got to have a nice dinner.” She sighed. “Honestly, I could have predicted she’d get called in.”

“It must be hard balancing your schedules.”

Kyle tapped the rim of her rocks glass. Some kind of whisky drink with a large cube of ice in the center and a metal swizzle stick resting against the side. She looked sexy as fuck as she tilted it towardher, surveying the contents of the glass. “Yeah, but we knew what we signed up for. This stretch of time is not meant for anything but eating, drinking, and sleeping medicine.”

“Speaking of, you must not be on call,” I said, gesturing to the drink.

She smiled at me blissfully. “I have four straight days off. Rare, but I saved up and called in a few favors.” She shook her head. “Time to myself is the most glorious thing. The only downside was the whole apartment debacle.” She studied me. “But I have to say, I think it worked out for the best.”

A warm shiver danced across my skin. What did that mean? She had definitely directed that comment toward me with no attempt to hide it. I was so very into direct communication patterns like that one. I might have been falling in love if it wasn’t for the girlfriend situation she had going on. I glanced at the doorway Jocelyn had vacated. “How long have you two been together?”

Her brows rose. “Who two?”

“You two. You and Jocelyn.”

“You thought we were…? Nope.” She eased into a relaxed smile. “Joss is my best friend. I adore her but there’s definitely no romance.” She shook her head as if incapable of imagining such a thing.

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