Page 49 of Perfect Imperfections

“What? I’m always happy.”

Wrinkled lips pulled into a grin. The mop of short, pure white curls shaking back and forth. “No, you’re always pleasant. You have a wonderful bedside manner, Dr. Green. That’s why everyone loves you. But I know the difference between a man’s pleasant smile and his smitten one.”

Smitten? Did people still say that? Eighty-year-old women did, apparently.

“It’s a lady friend, isn’t it?”

“Um—”

“I knew it!”

She clapped her hands together so hard Sullivan was afraid she might shatter the bones.

“I didn’t say it was a…lady friend.”

“You didn’t have to.” She shook a finger at him. “You have that twitterpated look about you.”

Smitten? Twitterpated? Had he fallen into a time vortex?

“I might have met someone…special recently.”

He didn’t like to get too familiar with his patients, but they shared very personal information with him, trusted him with their health, their very lives. He had to give a little back. Plus, he found if he related to his patients, shared a little of his own life, they tended to be more honest with him and he could care for them better. Hard to treat someone when they lied about their habits or symptoms.

“Oh wonderful! Good for you, Doctor.” She placed hands, covered in sunspots and freckles from a lifetime of enjoying the outdoors, over her heart. “I’ve been hoping for years that you would find someone sweet and kind and loving to take care of you and your precious little girl.”

Ellie may be all those things, but Mrs. Wilkins was barking up the wrong tree. He and Ellie agreed to keep this thing casual. She understood he wasn’t looking for anything serious. He didn’t need anyone to care for him and Charlotte. They were doing just fine on their own. Speaking of Charlotte, he had no idea what to tell her about him and Ellie. Until this moment, he hadn’t considered the impact of dating a woman his daughter considered a friend.

He’d have to talk to Ellie and make sure when they decided they were done having fun, it wouldn’t come between her and Charlotte’s friendship. His daughter needed a strong, smart female presence in her life, and he’d be damned if he was the one who took it away from her because his dick decided it wanted someone for the first time in years.

“It’s nothing serious, Mrs. Wilkins. We’re just taking things one day at a time.”

“Well, don’t be too loosey-goosey about it. We never know how many days we’ve got. Have to live them all to the fullest.”

He knew that better than anyone. Less than ten seconds of distraction took his parents away from him forever. As a doctor, he’d seen life snuffed out in moments without a damn thing anyone could do to stop it. He knew how precious every day was. That’s why he was trying to enjoy this time with Ellie without complicating it with thoughts of a future he couldn’t give her.

“You deserve your happiness, doc. I’m glad you found it.”

Happiness.

Yeah, that pretty much described how he felt around Ellie. She was sunshine and laughter all rolled into one sexy package that made his blood boil and spirit lift. He didn’t know if they were going to soar to the heavens or crash and burn, but damned if he wasn’t excited as hell to find out.

CHAPTER 18

“Eleanor Constance Clark, don’t you dare wear jeans and a shirt tonight! You’re going on a date you cannot dress in animal puns.”

Ellie pulled the phone away from her face as her best friend’s loud demand pierced her eardrum, causing a slight ring.

“Ouch!”

“If I don’t yell, you won’t listen.”

She touched the screen to enable speakerphone so her eardrum wouldn’t burst before her date and set the cell on her dresser.

“I have nothing else to wear,” she complained, digging in her dresser drawers. “He’s already seen me in the black dress you gave me. The only other date-ish outfit I have is my peacock dress.”

The short skater style dress with a peacock-patterned print was her only concession to dressing up. It wasn’t nice or fancy, but it sufficed when she needed to wear something formal, like at the zoo fundraiser dinner last month. Paired with her black lace shrug, the outfit could pass for fancy.

“Perfect! Wear that.”

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