Page 17 of Hello Handsome
I pushed my cart out of the grocery store just in time to see a familiar face haloed by a cream cowboy hat.
Gray cast me an easy smile that always made my knees feel weak. “Is this my lucky day?”
Laughing, I replied, “Guess, if you consider grocery shopping fun.” I pushed my cart out of the way of the front sliding door, and he stepped aside with me. “Wish I could chat longer, but I don’t want this food to go bad.”
“Let me help you load up,” he offered.
It was a simple gesture, but I appreciated it, nonetheless. Usually I was the one waiting on others. “If you have time.”
“For you? Always.”
He said it casually, but the words held meaning to me.
He helped push my cart off the curb and around to the trunk of my car that was facing Main Street. While I handed him items,he placed them in the trunk. We worked like a team, which made the task go faster.
I reached to push the cart back to the store, but his hand covered mine. His warm palm encapsulating the back of my hand sent a swoop through my stomach. Years of no touch had left me extra sensitive to this man and the callouses that trailed the ridges of his hand. I wondered how they would feel traveling over other parts of my body.
“I’ll get that,” he offered. And it was just what I needed to let go and take a step back.
Apparently, my heart and body didn’t get the message that we were taking it slow.
10
GRAY
My oldest soninsisted I come into his medical practice every quarter so he could run blood tests on me, check my skin for iffy-looking spots, and berate me for eating too much bacon. And since he was the only doctor in a thirty-mile radius, he was good to treat me.
I shrugged on my shirt once he was done examining my skin and muttered, “I feel like a damn lab rat.”
“Your hair’s the same color,” he teased.
I turned, raising my eyebrows at him. “Is that a joke? Not a lecture on the importance of skin checks?”
He shrugged. “Guess you caught me in a good mood.” He started pulling drawers open and gathering supplies for blood collection.
“Why’s that?” I asked, settling in on the exam table.
He turned back to face me, a smile brightening his whole face. He looked so much like his mother it made my chest ache. It was hard to grieve someone you saw echoes of daily.
“What is it?” I asked, curious at what could have my serious son smiling so big.
“Liv’s expecting.” He rushed out. “She’s pregnant.”
My jaw dropped. Fletcher had confided that Liv suffered from endometriosis, something that made conceiving even more difficult. “She is?”
He nodded, eyes shining. “The laparoscopy worked.”
I got up from the exam table, hugging him tight. Happy tears burned, mixed with the knee-jerk thought,Maya should be here. I wondered if Fletch thought it too, but I didn’t want to bring it up in case he wasn’t.
“Keep it between us,” Fletcher said as he stepped back. “Liv doesn’t want to tell everyone until she’s a little further along.”
I mimed zipping my lips. Although, I’d tell the cows and all the horses right away. I was so over the moon.
Fletcher reached under the sink into a different storage bin. “Let’s get you tested for STDs as well.”
“Fletcher, I told you I’m not–”
“Seeing anyone,” Fletcher finished and stood up with the urine collection cup. “I’ve heard you say that before. But I don’t know that you’d tell me if you were. So this makes it easy for me to feel good about your health while you to maintain your privacy.”
