Page 59 of Doctor Second Chance

I relish our connection and the simple intimacy of sharing this small space. Careful not to wake him, I gently brush my lips across his forehead.

My eyes are on the steady rise and fall of Shep's chest, the soft whisper of his breath, the comforting weight of his arm draped across my waist. I want to memorize every detail and hold onto this feeling of peace and togetherness.

I gently nudge Shep awake, my hand resting on his chest. "Hey, sleepyhead," I whisper. "It's after 3 AM. Rounds will probably start in a few hours."

He stirs, blinking sleepily at me. I can't help but smile at his tousled hair and drowsy expression.

"You might not want to get caught in bed with a patient," I tease.

Shep chuckles, his voice husky with sleep. "You're right. With everything that has happened, we definitely don't need that."

He sits up and stretches. "Cason stayed the night because I was on call, but I should get home. She usually likes to leave early when she does the overnights with him for her school stuff."

His eyes soften as he looks at me. "I loved being with you tonight. Talking, smoothing things over... especially the private PT session."

My heart flutters at his words. It's nice, for once, to be wrong about him. The last few days have been pure hell. We still have more to discuss, but working through the misunderstanding has done wonders for my psyche.

"Can I come see you when I'm back at the hospital in a few hours?" he asks. "I have a light surgery day, but I'll be around. I can bring you a latte. Or, we can have a coffee date if you’re cleared to meander around."

For a moment, I wonder how my mom might react if she sees him here. First, he won her over, and then he put all of us back to square one with that nurse-hugging situation the other night.

"Hey, I have a question for you. It may be none of my business, but I guess I want to know what I'm walking into if we do try to explore this more."

"Sure, anything."

"The other night, I saw you with a young blonde—a nurse- outside my window. You two looked pretty friendly, and I think you even embraced. All good, but since you asked me about Justin, is that your girlfriend? Or someone you have something going on with?"

He lets out a big laugh. "Oh, you must have seen me with Carly."

"Yes, that is her name. Now that you say it, I remember her coming into my room for some reason and introducing herself.” For some reason, my blood pressure is rising, and I feel my face getting warm. Now that the woman I saw him with has a name, somehow, that hits harder.

"No, no. Carly is my good friend. We have worked together for years, way back to my residency. I've never had anything with her."

He seems sincere, but I know what I saw. I would almost feel better if he admitted something had gone on. Now I have to square what my eyes saw with what he is saying. I want to tell him it is okay, but now, the time has passed. I have to take what he is saying at face value.

"I'm sitting here wracking my brain. I think I know the time you're talking about. Was it Wednesday, by chance?"

I have to think about that for a moment; all my days here start to run together in my mind. Then I remember that it was the day Izzy came by on her lunch break but didn't return that evening.

"Yes, it was Wednesday!"

"I knew it. And that makes sense. I was coming up here to tell you the news. Wednesday is when I got the call from Houston Methodist about Ari. I was so excited to share it with you since you’d been so thoughtful about the whole ordeal before you got sick again."

"And… I'm sorry, I'm not making the connection."

"Sorry, I digress. Wednesday, I came up here to tell you about Ari, and Carly caught me while I was walking by. She asked about Ari, so I told her. And then she jumped on me; she was so excited. You must have seen that and misinterpreted it."

That is quite the spin on the fly in the middle of the night. There is only one thing missing…

"So, then, why did you never come in to tell me, then?"

"When I turned around to head to your room, your door was closed, and your privacy curtain was drawn. I know that means you want privacy. I had no idea what was happening on the other side, but I didn't feel it was my place to come in at that point."

He's right! Mom closed the curtains when she saw my face and then followed it to what I was seeing. She saw him talking to Carly, too. He's absolutely right.

"Shep! We are a series of unfortunate misunderstandings," I laugh. I remember all of that exactly like you're describing." I leave out the part about blocking him out. I can’t let him know how close to my heart he is—not yet.

"Of course," I finish. "I'd love for you to come by when you can. If you see a man here, don't assume I'm sleeping with him, okay? Because I'm not."

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