Page 9 of Gravity of Love
“No, no, no!” Yaya wagged her finger at him as she walked behind him. “You can’t say things like this!”
Mr. Santino glanced over his shoulder at her, and Frankie would swear that there was a glimmer of mischief in his eyes as he gazed up at her grandma.
As they disappeared out of the ER, Frankie tilted her head to the side as she crossed her arms. “He only said that to wind her up, didn’t he?”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Caleb co-signed her assessment.
Taylor agreed, “Me too.”
“Well, shelovesgetting wound up, so if he loves winding her up, this is a match made in heaven." Frankie smiled as she shook her head. “They are the perfect couple.”
She glanced back toward Taylor, as she did, she thought she saw a ghost, and she did a double take. Her eyes scanned past a man who lookedexactlylike Liam Sterling, and time began to move in slow motion. Convinced that she must be seeing things, that her eyes had to be deceiving her, she blinked,surethat when her lids opened, he would be gone. That the mirage she’d imagined would have disappeared.
Why would Liam be at Pine Ridge General? He was in the Navy, wasn’t he? He hadn’t been in the US since…she didn’t know the last time he’d stepped foot stateside. She stopped asking questions about him years ago.
When she opened her eyes, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her brain was telling her that he wasn’t there…except, he was. And he wasn’t a young man anymore. He was a grown man and even hotter than she could have ever imagined. His brown hair was thicker, his jawline was stronger, his stubble was stubblier, his shoulders were broader, and his lips…his lips were still perfect. They all combined to create a man who should look too pretty but somehow still had a dangerous edge.
And he was walking straight towards her. If he lifted his head, he’d be staring directly at her face. The last time she’d seen him was over a decade earlier, and she’d made a complete fool of herself. She couldn’t see him now. Not like this. What would she say to him?
Hi, how have you been? Oh me, well, your brother cheated on me, so we broke up, but please don’t say anything because your dad and my mom just hooked up and are now in a relationship.
No.
She couldnotsay any of that.
Panic flooded her system like a dam bursting, and she looked to the good pastor and Taylor for help. “I can’t…oh…my…please don’t…”
None of the words she was trying to say were coming out, and in the last thirty seconds or so, she’d forgotten how to breathe. She couldn’t seem to get any oxygen in her lungs. She glanced around looking for an escape route. There was only one way in and out of the room, and if she went out that door, she’d run right into him, just like her parents at Sue Ann’s Café. If she didn’t do something, he was going to see her.
Without having any other option, she ran behind the blue curtain that had separated Mr. Santino’s bed from Taylor’s. That solution wasn’t great when she realized the cloth hit her mid-shin, which meant her feet would be sticking out. After a frantic scan of her immediate options, she quickly ducked behind the supply cabinet in the corner and crouched down, making herself as tiny as humanly possible as she whisper-yelled, “Don’t look over here!”
She tucked her knees just beneath her chin as she hugged her legs against her chest and tried not to breathe, not to move, to be as quiet as a mouse.Mouse. The name he’d given her.
Liam's world was always moving at a pace just slightly faster than everyone else's in the ER, the hours flew by but somehow dragged as well. He should have been home by now, but every time he was about to leave, something else needed his attention. He'd just finished signing off a new hire from Southern California, who was discussing the difference between an L.A. gunshot wound and a pine-country dirt bike collision, when he heard his name called out in a voice that was impossible to miss, even with the low hum of the patient moaning in six, keyboard clacks, and the squeak of gurney brakes.
“Hey, Dr. Davies!”
Liam knew who it was before he turned around. Owen Taylor was a regular—a “frequent flyer”—and a favorite of the ER staff. The kid reminded him a lot of himself when he was younger. He was smart, funny, and wiser than his years. The embodiment of an old soul in a child’s body.
He’d been dealt a shit health hand: type 1 diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, and a congenital heart disease. But despitehis sometimes biweekly visits, he never had a bad attitude. He acted like nebulizer treatments, getting his blood drawn, and radiology visits were social opportunities. No matter how much pain or discomfort he was in, he always had a smile on his face, which Liam always sensed was partly his personality but also for his mom’s benefit, and Liam respected that.
His mom, Rebecca Taylor, who went by Taylor, was a single parent who he admired. It was clear that she’d experienced trauma in her life, but she didn’t let that stop her from doing her best by Owen. She was the kind of parent who would walk into oncoming traffic for her kid. Anyone who spent five minutes with them could see that he was her entire world and vice versa. Truth be told, Liam’s feelings for her had been more than just professional. He’d definitely had flickers of romantic interest, but he’d never acted on them. Not really.
He’d given her his cell number so she could reach him if Owen ever had an emergency, which is something he’d never done for another patient. But he’d never asked her out because he’d sensed her walls were up, and he never wanted things to be awkward between them.
Now he’d heard from the gossip grapevine, aka the nurses, that she’d married Hope Falls Most Eligible Bachelor, Caleb Harrison, aka “Hot Pastor.” He knew Caleb peripherally, as clergy, he came to the hospital often to visit patients. As protective as he felt over both Taylor and Owen, he had to admit he’d only heard good things about the man. If he made her happy, then he was genuinely happy for her and for the kid. Caleb had made it clear he wasn’t Liam’snumber one fan, but as long as he never did anything to hurt his favorite patients, he wouldn’t have any problems from him.
“I didn’t know you were here.” The staff all knew to alert him immediately when Owen was being treated. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m here for Mom.”
Concern instantly flooded his system. Taylor had been admitted for a viral infection about a month earlier. “Is she sick again?”
He glanced around, looking for Zeta to find out why she hadn’t informed him immediately that Taylor was there and brought him up to speed on her condition. Zeta had just completed her probation period and may not have known to come and tell him immediately.
“No, she’s not sick. She’s okay because Mr. Santino saved her. He’s a hero! You’ve got to see the video. He got shot.”
Liam felt the air leave his lungs. Taylor was the patient in ten? She was the domestic? She could have been shot?
