Page 17 of Doctor Neighbor

I clear my throat, trying again. "I know we got off on the wrong foot. Or, well, maybe the right foot, and then I tripped spectacularly. But I'm not as much of an ass as I seem, I swear."

Cole raises an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced.

"Okay, maybe I am sometimes," I admit. "But I'm working on it. And I owe you an apology. For ghosting you after... you know. It wasn't cool, and I'm sorry."

She turns back to me and studies me for a moment, her blue eyes piercing. I hold my breath, waiting.

Cole's expression doesn't soften. Instead, she lets out a humorless laugh.

"Your jokes aren't that funny, Dr. Hankel," she says, her voice flat. "And for your information, I ghosted you, too."

I blink, caught off guard. "You did?"

"Did you have any missed calls from me over the years?" she asks, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

I open my mouth, then close it. She's got me there.

"Well, no," I admit. "But I thought?—"

"You thought what?" Cole interrupts. "That I was pining away for you all this time? Waiting by the phone for the great Dr. Buster Hankel to grace me with his presence again?"

Her words sting more than I'd like to admit. I run a hand through my hair, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

"Look, I didn't mean to imply?—"

"Save it," she cuts me off again. "We had a one-night stand. It was fun, but it was just that—one night. I didn't expect anything more. Clearly, neither did you."

I nod slowly, processing her words. It's true. I hadn't expected anything more at the time. But seeing her now, remembering that night, I can't help but wonder what could have been if I hadn't been such an idiot.

"You're right," I say finally. "I'm sorry for assuming. And for, well, everything else."

Cole sighs, her shoulders dropping slightly. "Look, Buster. I'm sorry for being a bitch. I've had a week. And seeing you after that horrificness at Alabama Adventure, it was just weird and piled on top of everything else. So, while I stand by my statement about your jokes not being funny, I’ll say that you’re catching me at an especially tense moment.”

"Fair enough. I've been working on my stand-up routine, but I keep getting tomatoes thrown at me. You're not the first to complain about my jokes.”

That actually gets a smile. She’s sadistic, I gather.

"Ben, get this girl another of whatever fancy drink she is enjoying. I owe her a few."

"What about that insanity on Saturday?" she asks. Okay, now we are getting somewhere. I’ll call her bringing up another subject an unofficial invite to keep talking.

I nod, relieved she's at least willing to be on speaking terms. "That was fucked up."

"Holy shit. I can't get it out of my head. Did you find out anything? I scoured the news but only saw a mention that a man had fallen from an attraction. It was super vague."

I start to tell her what the detectives said, but it feels so dark, and we are making progress, so I stick to the obvious: “I think they are still investigating it. Apparently, he was working on something on the top, and they aren't sure why he fell."

"Ohhh. Sound salacious. Well, I apologize for not sticking around to speak. I had to go wash his guts off of me."

“At the time, I didn’t register that your daughter was with you. Was she okay?”

“She saw it, but luckily, what was happening didn’t completely register for her.”

I explained that I was there with my brother’s daughter, which I think softened her a little more toward me. I’m hoping we can use this tragedy to smooth things over and start off on a new foot.

We go on to talk more about the whole situation. Turns out we were both shaken, understandably. Her daughter Maddie saw it and him, so she had the added layer of explaining it in the terms a four-year-old could understand.

I’m grateful her daughter didn't understand it enough to let it freak her out. Cole took the brunt of it.

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