Page 78 of Summer with the Single Dad

Naomi snorted, squeezed Justine’s arm and smiled. “I want to know more when there’s time. You have a secret, Justine, and I want to know it.” She winked.

Dread coated the inside of Justine’s belly.

“Until then, I’m off for pizza the size of my face.” Then Naomi allowed her son to haul her off toward the bouncy castle.

Hanging her head in shame, Justine closed her eyes for a moment. But she couldn’t descend into too deep of a spiral before a familiar voice roused her from her free-fall. “Hey, everything okay?”

Opening her eyes, she found concern etched across Bennett’s face. “There was commotion. I was busy chatting with Carnation’s parents to discuss the incident of the girls fighting, and when I looked over, I saw you. What happened?”

Her bottom lip wobbled, so she bit it hard with her top teeth to keep her emotions in check.

Shove that down.

Surgeons. Doctors. Brazeaus didn’t let feelings control them.

With nausea in her belly and the taste of sick on the back of her tongue, she tossed on the fakest smile she’d ever mustered and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Bullshit.”

Well, that wasn’t the response she expected.

“What happened?” His brows narrowed beneath his black frame and lensed sunglasses.

“A … a kid choked.” And then I choked.

“So you helped him?”

She didn’t say, or do, anything. She just stared straight ahead until the trees lining the field melded into a deep green blur.

“Justine?” A firm, but gentle hand landed on her shoulder.

She flicked her gaze to him, and an angry heat filled her chest. “I’m. Fine. I need to go.” Then she shook him off and stormed away, not stopping until she reached her SUV—because she insisted on driving herself—and her heart threatened to punch a hole through her ribs.

Leaning against the driver’s door, which thankfully faced away from the funfair, she pressed her hand to her chest. Her breathing was ragged like she’d just sprinted the quarter-mile, but all she’d done was walk briskly.

Stupid emotions.

Stupid feelings.

They got in the way of everything.

She choked.

She freaking choked.

A kid nearly died, and she just stood there like an idiot, allowing it to happen.

It was the right choice to step away from medicine. Clearly, she wasn’t fit to be a doctor anymore. She couldn’t even step up and stop a child from choking.

Climbing into her SUV, she gripped the steering wheel like it threatened to fly away. She was in no state to drive, but she also couldn’t be around people anymore.

So she did what she could do, which was rest her forehead against the steering wheel and breathe.

Time stood still. She had no idea how long she sat there in that position, but when there was a gently rap at her window, she jumped a little in her seat and opened her eyes. The sun was behind the trees and her vehicle was encased in shadow.

She expected to find Bennett at her window, but it wasn’t him.

Rather, it was an older woman, probably mid-eighties. Her hair was snow-white and pinned up in a smooth, flawless knot on the top of her head. She wore turquoise earrings the size of quarters on her large, stretched-out lobes and her smile jostled a bit as she waited for Justine to roll down her window.

---