Page 24 of Lost and Found

“Oh, that’s okay. It’s probably because of that cute little boy in the waiting room, it’s no big deal, just knocked me off-kilter,” I tell her, as I sit up a little straighter. “So, I did something at my appointment.”

Arden gives me a curious look. “What?”

I can feel the blush creeping in the apples of my cheeks just remembering how Reid’s lips felt against mine. “I kissed Reid,” I admit to her, biting down on my bottom lip with embarrassment. Looking back, I can’t believe I did it. I mean I don’t regret it, but still, it was very forward of me.

“You what?” Arden asks, her tone tense.

“I kissed Reid.” I’m not sure why her tone is so tense, but she’s clearly not very supportive of this idea I had in my head.

“Paige, you shouldn’t go around just kissing random people like that,” she tells me.

I laugh. “Well, I’d hardly call Reid random. It was just a kiss.” Arden rolls her eyes and starts to walk away from me. “Why are you upset?”

Arden turns back around. “He’s your doctor. You are his patient. The last thing he should be doing is kissing you. Where is his code of conduct for while at work? There are lines that he shouldn’t cross, but he just did.”

I shoot out of my chair as Arden makes Reid out to be the bad guy he so clearly isn’t. “I kissed him, not the other way around. He had nothing to do with it and I don’t know why you are so upset with me over kissing him. I like him, really like him. You’d think you’d be happy for me considering what I just went through.”

“You have no idea what you just went through, Paige,” Arden says harshly, but the moment she says it, I see the regret fill her face. But I’m too angry to care.

I grab my purse. “I’m taking the rest of the day off,” I tell her, as I head back outside. Arden calls out to me, but I can’t listen to any more of it.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Reid

Thankfully, Paige was one of my last patients of the day because I need to get the hell out of this office. After she kissed me, my focus was gone. I shouldn’t have let that happen, but in my defense, I didn’t see it coming. I didn’t imagine that she would kiss me when I came walking into the office or while I had been lying awake all night. Regardless of the fact, that I didn’t know she was going to kiss me, it doesn’t change the fact that I kissed her back. Even knowing that I shouldn’t, I did.

The guilt settles in my stomach and makes me antsy as I think about the face that I should have stopped it. I wish I could say I regret it, at least then I could still think I was a good man, but now…I’m nothing but a liar and fraud. I kissed a woman with no memories of her deceased husband and son. I knew this, yet I kissed her. The worst part is, I’d do it again.

Now, I’m sitting at a bar. Why? Because I feel like it’s the place I deserve to be at the moment. I called the hospital earlier and told them to call Dr. Garcia, because I would be unable to come in for an emergency. I could hear the shock in the nurse’s voice. I had never done this before, but tonight, I just need to keep to myself.

I’m sitting there already feeling the buzz of the alcohol after my first drink. I don’t like alcohol and the things it can do to your body, so I usually avoid it, but tonight it feels like a much-needed escape. My phone rings and I see Arden’s name flash across the screen yet again. ‘Nope’ I think as I swipe decline. She’s definitely wanting to give me the ass-chewing I know I deserve, but I just can’t deal with that right now. First, I escape then I’ll deal.

My phone rings again. ‘Jesus this girl doesn’t give up’ I mutter, as I yank the phone back up from the bar top. Only this time it isn’t Arden’s name on the screen. It’s Elena’s. Of course, my best friend would call me when I took the night off from work. She knows me well enough to know that means something is most definitely wrong. I contemplate declining hers as well, but I know her. She’ll just keep calling until I give in. I sigh and answer the phone. “Yep.”

“Yep? That’s how you’re going to answer your phone now? Really, Reid?” she asks me.

I shrug then realize she can’t see me. “Well apparently.”

“Wow, someone is surly at the moment. And to think I called to check on your sorry ass,” the tone of anger shoots through her voice.

“Well, I didn’t ask you to.” Damn, why am I being such an ass to her?

She huffs on the other end of the line. “You know when they told me that you had taken the night off and put Dr. Garcia on call, I thought you were dying! You never take time off, no matter what. So I thought, Elena, you need to check on him immediately. He could be on his death bed. Then I call to find that you are fine! Just being surly as hell for some reason, well you know what, I’ve had it with difficult men!” The line goes silent and I flinch at the disconnect. Elena and I have never really had an argument during our friendship. I’m not a conformational person and Elena has always just been honestly opinionated. We meshed well together. I guess it doesn’t help that her whole DJ situation is difficult.

I hang my head and stare at the dirty floor beneath my feet. I don’t know how long I sit there feeling like a bigger ass than when I entered, but it was long enough. “When in the hell did you start drinking?” Elena asks me.

I raise my head and see her glaring at me. “How did you find me?” I ask her, confusion evident in my voice.

She rolls her eyes. “GPS on your phone, smart one.” She takes a seat beside me. “Now, want to explain why all of a sudden, my always calm, reliable best friend, is drinking and looking like he ran over a cat?”

I sigh and drop my head back to look up at the ceiling this time. “It’s a long story.”

“Can we get two bottles of waters, to go?” Elena calls out to the bartender. Once she has those, she grabs my arm and pulling me to my feet.

“What are you doing?” I whine.

“Saving you from yourself.” She leads us to the door and we continue, until we find a vacated bench. She pushes me down onto it and then hands me a water. “Now, speak.”

---