Page 24 of Paging Dr. Breakup
Finally. A public, fake date so they could both appease the relentlessly helpful family and friends.
She glanced over at patterned couch in her living room. The room was too large for one person. The furniture was too much for one person. A framed picture caught her eye, and she swallowed a lump in her throat as she tossed up a silent apology to Elijah as she gently tucked the picture in her top desk drawer.
Crossing back across the living room was a long-distance journey filled with unknown dangers and an uncertain destination. Her well-ordered and insulated world shifted, and she scuffed a foot on the carpet, trying to regain her balance.
Reaching for the doorknob felt like a huge step. A turning point. A deliberate decision.
No. She shook her head. This was just dinner with a friend she was pretending to date. A mutually beneficial and pleasant smokescreen.
She swung the door open, and Deirdre’s mouth dropped. True to weather changes in spring, last night’s blizzard had given way to an afternoon of temperatures in the forties and melting snow. As such, Calvin didn’t have on a coat. He wore a plaid green button-down with the top button open enough to show a small dusting of dark hair. Over the shirt was a black Patagonia vest. His shoulders filled out the garments well.
Deirdre rolled her hands into loose fists, resisting the urge to pat his chest and discover how he felt under those clothes. She knew she’d find his warm, lean, solid frame beneath her fingertips. She swallowed.
Every hair on his head was in place. He wore black hiking pants, the trim waistband hinted at what lay beneath the hem of the vest.
She inhaled, catching a scent of soap and spicy aftershave, which led her to examine his smooth jaw. Unconsciously, she leaned toward him, then caught herself with a startle.
“Hello,” she managed to stammer.
“You look great, Deirdre.” His voice rumbled through her, sending a tingle down her legs. “I mean, you always look great. But you look casually great today.” He frowned. “But not too casual. Socially appropriate. Unlike work attire. Which is also socially appropriate. Uh.”
In spite of herself, she laughed, a broad, loud sound that came up from a source of pure joy. She hadn’t done that in such a long time. “You look nice, too.” In those hiking pants and flannel shirt and vest, he looked good enough to snuggle into. “Glad I’m not the only awkward one here.”
“Oh, that smooth bit?” He shrugged. “I was just breaking the ice.”
“As one does in Yukon Valley.”
His wide grin set her back on her heels. “Touché.” Leaning against the doorframe, he said, “Ready to make us Yukon Valley official?”
“Let’s walk the plank.”
“We’ll walk it together.” He pretended to tug at his collar, took her hand.
Peering up at him, she asked, “Bruce and Aggie nagging at you?”
“You have no idea. They’re in cahoots with the hospital staff’s matchmakers.”
“The staff is relentless. I got all kinds of hints about how well we worked together yesterday.”
“We did. Professionally speaking.”
“Exactly.” Somehow her agreement felt a half degree off plumb. “When I tried to refocus their attention elsewhere, they keep circling back. They’re like lynxes, able to stalk a topic for hours at a time.”
“They work fast to set people up.”
“I wish they’d do their quarterly training modules as quickly.”
The low bark of his laugh caught her off guard, but she chuckled along with him.
“Always the administrator,” he said.
She shot him a grin as he helped her shrug into her light coat. “Sure.” Stopping, she asked, “Hey, any recent updates on Tuli?”
His warm smile melted her insides. “I spoke with Dr. Yang right before I got here. They had brought him back from the OR where they had performed a second cleanout of the wound. She said our repair was solid.”
“Yourrepair. I only dabbed and cut suture.”
“Oh no, that was a full-contact team sport yesterday in the ER.” He waited while she locked the door. Unnecessary in this tight-knit community but a good habit for safety. “They cauterized small arteriolar bleeds in the area and did extra microsurgical work on the femoral nerve that had been severed.”
