Page 75 of Paging Dr. Breakup
“That is but one of many surprises for our evening.”
Even in the waning twilight, her cheeks glowed pink, and he could have drunk in her beautiful smile for another five minutes.
Opening the car door, he handed her in and came around to the other side. Even though he had been cleared to drive, he remained extra careful. No need to tax his brain with too many hard decisions or multitasking. It was challenging enough thinking straight with theshushingfabric sounds and heady scent of her in this confined space.
After parking at the Yukon Valley Diner, he came around again, and she put her hand in his. That small, trusting action made him stand up straighter. Guiding her through the front door, they took a booth near the back.
“Subdued lighting?” she asked with a twinkle in her blue eyes.
“Hey, some of us look better in dim light.” He pointed a thumb at his chest. “Truthfully, it’s a little easier on my eyes.”
“Sure you’re okay?” she asked.
“I am now.”
They settled in as the waitress poured water and a few minutes later returned to take their orders.
“Thanks for going out with me,” he said.
“Of course.”
“Notof course. You made a choice to be here, after… a lot of things that have happened. That’s a big deal.”
Her smile belied the vulnerability he glimpsed in her eyes. “What you said about living in the now instead of the past? That kind of hit me in the guilt complex.”
“Is that near the liver?”
She shook her head. “Pancreas, I think.”
He mock shuddered. “Oof.You know the rule. Never mess with the pancreas. It’ll flare up if you so much as look at it wrong. Make that organ happy and move the heck on.”
She grinned. “You’re probably right.”
Knocking his knuckles on the table, he said, “So let’s circle back to the Breakup Festival.”
“Thanks for the topic change. You know, we’ve already discussed this several times.”
“The bonk on the head might have ejected my first year of med school classes, but I still have some ability to read a situation.”
She snorted, then clapped her hand over her mouth.
He sat back and appreciated her glowing, lovely, familiar-but-somehow-new-again face. He couldn’t process all of the feelings hitting him. The head injury had shaken something loose. Maybe he truly did have more emotional lability after the concussion. It sometimes happened.
Either way, he wrestled control back and concentrated on the conversation. “Festival is tomorrow. Clyde and Amberlyn are leading the gossip charge. The sharks are circling.”
“No sharks in the Yukon River. Mostly salmon.”
“I meant the hospital staff. The Breakup Festival and dance is all about who you bring, and they’re still gunning for us.”
Crossing her arms, she said, “I thought they were gunning to win the prediction about when the river ice broke up and the river started flowing.”
“Is it flowing yet?”
“The camera that recorded the breakup timed the event at 3:12a.m. two days ago. Clyde in the ER won the pool this year. Nearly $20,000!”
“Good for him,” he said.
“Good for patients and their families. He turned right around and gave half to the hospital foundation to use on resources for family support when patients are hospitalized or in the ED.”
