Page 27 of Don't Regret Me
Liz gave her a two-finger salute and escaped back into the dining room, where the sight stopped her in her tracks.
Owen led a family of four to an empty table, menus clasped in his hand. He passed them out when they sat. “Enjoy your meal.”
Across the room, Evelyn bounced toward a two-top with an elderly couple trying to keep up. She threw the menus on the table and grinned at them. “Remember, pasta sauce is red. It stains.” It was what Liz had to tell her every time she tried to slurp up noodles, splashing sauce on her shirt. “Don’t be a mess.”
The elderly couple watched her flounce back to the host stand with looks of adoration on their faces.
Liz headed for Matthew, who stood talking to one of the other hosts. “Are my children doing your job?”
He shrugged. “They were bored, and I’m not a babysitter.”
She put a hand on each of their shoulders, ushering them toward the door. It opened as she reached for it, and she almost crashed into a firm chest.
It wasn’t until Evelyn screamed that she realized who it was. “Booker!”
His eyes didn’t leave Liz’s face. “Hey, kids.”
A woman walked in behind him, and he turned to her. “I’ll just be a moment. Will you put our names in?”
“Of course.” She brushed a hand over his arm on her way by.
Liz had played a masterful game of avoidance since the last time she saw Booker. They didn’t leave on the best of terms. His “I’m in love with you” still stuck in her mind. He’d expected her to feel it back. Because they were such good friends, because she relied on him, he thought she owed him some kind of romantic relationship.
Maybe she had led him on, but she didn’t think so.
She didn’t hate him for his feelings, but his reaction to her lack of feelings wasn’t okay.
“Can we talk?”
“Now?” She looked down at the kids. “Aren’t you on a date?”
He looked to where the woman waited in line. “No. She’s a reporter, here to do a story on a new procedure we’re working on at the hospital.”
“It would be okay, you know. Good, even. If it was a date.”
“Well, it’s not.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
There’d never been so much distance between them, and she wanted it to end, to be able to call up Booker for one of their Sunday movie days and act like they used to. Nothing had ever been easy with them, she realized. They became friends when she wasn’t sure if she’d survive the second round of cancer, and he was the doctor willing to go to any lengths to help her.
Could friendships born of tragedy survive when there was no more heartache to hold them together?
And yet… Nick too was brought to her in a time of need.
Placing a hand on his arm, Liz forced a smile. “It’s good to see you.”
He nodded, turning his attention to the twins. Bending down, he gave each of them a hug. “You be good for your mom.”
“We always are, Book.” Owen grinned.
“Good is boring.” Evelyn crossed her arms.
He ruffled each of their hair in turn before slipping by them to return to his lunch meeting. Liz watched him for a moment, wishing she could take back that single day where everything changed between them. Maybe one day, she would have been able to fall for Booker. He was the ultimate catch. Gloriously handsome, successful, and kind.
But now, all she knew was that he wasn’t Nick.
