Page 41 of Hearts on the Table
“Dr. Reese is your brother-in-law? I met him briefly at a cardiology event a couple of weeks ago. He seemed nice.”
God, had it only been two weeks since she’d shown up and blasted my carefully manicured peace to smithereens? Despite the new thing I had going with Sam, late at night, it was easy to keep myself awake with increasingly outlandish, invented scenarios that involved running into one or both of the McDaniels in the hospital.
Oddly, now that it had actually happened, it wasn’t going as poorly as my two a.m. brain had anticipated, even if she was fishing for information on Sam.
“Dr. Reese’s brothers own the gym I go to. I’m friends with…their family.” It felt odd saying it out loud, but I supposed that was the best way to describe it. I’d chased bubbles with Eli and I knew Jas liked spicy peppers on her tacos. Will and I harmlessly flirted whenever we saw each other. Was I…friendswith Sam’s family? Between the Reeses and Rija, I was wracking up quite the tally.
“Still doing the kickboxing thing?”
“No.”
Her smile faltered, just a millimeter. “Too bad. I was hoping you’d be able to recommend a place.”
“Nope. Sorry.”
“I’m sure I’ll find something. Mrs. Reese, let’s get you changed into this gown and then we can see what the baby’s up to in there, shall we?”
Katie closed the door on her way out.
“I can give you a minute, too,” I offered, already reaching for the handle.
“Uh-uh. You stay right there.” I stopped, frozen in place by Jas’s Mom Voice. It was effective. “Spill the tea before doctor blonde lady comes back.”
Jasmine rustled around with the gown as I kept my back turned. All the better for me to hide my wince. “What tea?”
“Why we hate her, obviously. It took me a second to pick up on it. I was too busy blubbering in the waiting room.”
“You’re allowed to blubber a little when you’re in a hospital waiting room.”
“You can turn around now. And tell me fast before she comes back. Why do we hate her?”
We. See, this happened when you started making friends with people and accompanying them into an exam room. Closeness. Camaraderie.We.
She was seated on the exam table when I turned, sporting a faded hospital-issue gown. “You do not need to hate her. I meant what I said earlier. She’s a good doctor.”
Jas pointed at me. “Your face did that thing when you said that before, too, like someone’s pinching you. Come on. Let me in on the hot goss. It’ll take my mind off….” She looked around the room, then back at me. Her puppy-dog eyes were a littletoogood.
I squinted at her, but she didn’t budge.
“Come on. Tell ol’ Jasmine why she’s a bitch and when she comes back in here, I’ll clothesline her with my giant stomach.” She wiggled her fingers, drawing me closer to the bed. I studied the ultrasound machine in the corner.
“Fine.” She clapped as I sighed. “Katie—Dr. McDaniels—was my best friend in high school. We roomed together in college. Went to med school together. And then”—I swallowed—“it turnsout she was banging my boyfriend for several months behind my back just before we graduated med school.”
Jasmine sucked in a breath. “What the fuck?!”
“Ha. Yeah. I thought he was going to propose. Nope. Just…in love with my best friend. They’re married now.”
“Shut up. She’s carrying around a cheater baby under those scrubs?”
That surprised a laugh out of me, which gave me enough courage to look at Jas again. I didn’t see any pity, just anger on my behalf.
“I don’t think it qualifies as a cheater baby if they’re married to each other.”
“Mmm mmm. That’s a cheater baby.” Jas shook her head. “Once a cheater, always a cheater. Let’s get out of here.”
“Whoa! Absolutely not. We’re getting you checked out so that you and your healthy baby can go about your day.”
“We hate her. I’m out.” Jas began inching off the exam table as quickly as her pregnant body would allow.
