Page 109 of Hold Me Instead
He swore the organ stopped beating in that brief moment, waiting for his answer, before she continued.
“What if Mom and Dad find out? Then what? They’ll want you to stay and keep working together. How’s that going to go if things end between you guys?”
“Who knows what they want? Dad wants me to buy the practice from him now.”
Jay straightened as Sandra leaned forward.
“But Charlie’s taking over the practice,” she said.
“Not with the state it’s in.”
“What are you talking about?”
He gave them a brief rundown.
“She has no idea?” Sandra asked.
He nodded grimly.
“Zachary. You need to tell her.”
“Sandra. I just told you, I can’t.”
“But this is what she’s been working toward—”
“I know! Sandra, fuck, I know. This is shitty. Someone or everyone will be hurt. I’m trying to figure out the best solution before she hears the news. There’s gotta be a way.”
They sat quietly.
“Are you considering it?” Jay asked.
He scrubbed his hand over his face. “I don’t know where my head is at right now.”
“But you guys are seeing each other,” Jay supplied.
“Honestly, that’s the one thing I look forward to most.”
Sandra’s eyes widened, but she said nothing.
“Good God, women take a long time at the bathroom,” Charlie said, sliding back into the booth. “So I met this woman in line, and she was telling me about the new restaurant moving in around the corner.”
“You met someone in line again?” Zachary asked.
“What else are we going to do while we wait?” she asked.
“Last time, she came back and told me all about this poodle, I thought it was a patient of ours. Turned out, it belonged to someone she’d just met in the bathroom,” Zachary said.
She laughed lightly. “I think she scheduled with us afterward, so technically, that poodleisa patient.”
He felt it on his face, his affection for her. It must’ve shown, because even in the dim light of the bar, he saw the blush spread across her cheeks. She leaned closer, and he grabbed her hand to keep from running his nose along her neck.
“Babe, I think we still have time to get food from that place we were talking about,” Jay said as he nudged Sandra. “Make this a real night on the town…thing.”
Zachary looked over to see his sister’s eyes bouncing between him and Charlie.
“Uh, yes. Good call. Rare night out, you know how it goes. Well, yeah. You get it.” Sandra scrunched her face as she reset herself. “It was great hanging out with you both, thanks for joining us.” She scooted from the booth. “See you later!” She grabbed Jay’s hand and tugged him away, giving the man only a moment to throw a wave behind him.
“That was weird,” Charlie murmured.
