Page 14 of Doctor Enemy

Nate says nothing.

“Nate, buddy, don’t do this,” I tell him, taking a swig of my beer. “Come on, you know better than that. She’s not good for you. That’s why the two of you got a divorce in the first place. The fact that she keeps messaging you like this, is proof of that. You need to figure out how to put a stop to it. For your sake and for Tabitha’s. This back-and-forth is far more confusing for your daughter than it is for you. And you are—”

“I know, I know. I just–damn, we were married so many years, we had created our own family,” says Nate. “It’s hard to just let it all go like that.”

“Emma’s a bitch,” I tell him, bluntly.

It’s not in my nature to dance around things, just to try and spare someone’s feelings. And sometimes, Nate needs tough love. He’s a good guy. A smart guy. But he also loves too hard and too easy, and this thing that he’s got going on with Emma is bad for everyone involved.

I could understand his doubts at first, especially with a toddler in the middle of this, but the more Nate talks about it, the more obvious it is that there are lingering feelings for her.

“Yeah, well. She’s always been my bitch.” Nate confirms my thoughts with unmerited passion, as though that reasoning makes any kind of a difference. “And she still wants to be mine.”

“No, she wants to use you for your money, because she doesn’t have any gold cards. You do,” I correct. “And the last time you gave her a second chance, she stole all three of your credit cards and maxed them out by the end of the week. Come on, Nate, you know better than this.”

Nate purses his lips together. “You’ve never been with someone as long as I’ve been with Emma. You just don’t get it.”

“I don’t need to be in a long-term relationship to look at the two of you and say that you’re not good for each other. I mean it,” I insist. “Come on, the credit cards are just top of the list. Emma’s a gold digger.”

“She didn’t even know that I had money when we first met,” Nate protests, but it’s more to save face than anything else.

I counter, “Your family runs the only other major hospital in the city. There’s an entire ward there named after you. Anyone in Seattle knows that you’ve got a lot of money. They just need to hear you drop your last name. And you know what? That’s fine. It’s fine. The only thing that’snotfine is that you’re determined to let Emma take advantage of that.”

“At least I had someone around long enough to try and take advantage of me,” grumbles Nate. He sinks a little bit lower in his seat the moment the words leave his mouth.

This is so unlike him. Nate’s always been confident and decisive, charming his way in and out of any situation, not to mention having the guts to set boundaries with his overbearing family. The strong man I know seems to disappear every time this woman comes back into his life, resulting in poor excuses and lousy retorts.

Tilting my glass toward him, I say, “Come on, even you know that’s a bad comeback.”

“It’s not wrong, though. When was the last time you were with someone for longer than a week?” Nate insists. I can tell that he must be really worked up over Emma. Perhaps this is not about her entirely, after all. Perhaps it’s because he wants to be in a relationship, to create a family he finds comfort in.

Unfortunately for him, I don’t mind not being in a stable relationship. The last time that I was with someone… It ended badly. Monica left a scar on my heart that took a long damn time to heal, and I’m not interested in jumping back on it with anyone like that any time soon.

I would rather just do this. Take it slow and easy, and make sure that I have fun with whoever I’m with.

Nate says, “You’re forty-five, Kurt.”

“Almost fifty.” I have a bit of a hang up with turning fifty. My father died when he was fifty. Six more years, and I’ll be older than my old man. Seems like a hard thing to not think about whenever my age is brought up.

“That’s a little old to still be playing the field, don’t you think?”

“Why should I settle down with someone, just for the sake of being able to say I’m with them? That hasn’t worked out too well for you so far,” I tell him.

“Are you sure that there’s no one you would want to spend some more time with?”

I don’t know why, but when he asks that question, the only person that I can think about is Lori.

It’s stupid.

She hates me, and I’m not that fond of her either.

Even if she does have the kind of fiery personality that’s always drawn me in. And a killer body. And the kind of passion that’s hard to come by in a resident. “More than sure.”

Nate grins, leaning toward me. “You hesitated.”

“I didn’t hesitate,” I tell him, with a snort.

I finish off my first drink and wave Seth over for another. Someone on the other end of the bar turns on the jukebox, and an old Tom Petty song comes spilling out through the tiny, half-ancient speakers.

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