Page 34 of Forgot to Tell You Something

I melt when I see my tiny vixen relax into the embrace. Her own mother died several years earlier, but she still feels the loss acutely.

The first few minutes sail by, exchanging pleasantries about the weather, beach, and restaurant. Just as I’m relaxing, my mother decides to dive into the deep end of the conversation pool.

I had one request—don’t mention that I’m a doctor. Well, she doesn’t. She does one worse.

“Owen tells me you have an interesting rule.”

Tally’s eyes widen as they swing between us. “I do?”

“You don’t date doctors.”

I put my head in my hands, the muscle in my jaw jumping. What part of my simple request was too difficult for my mother to follow?

“How in the world did that come up in your conversation?” Tally chokes back a nervous chuckle, sipping from her water glass. No doubt she wishes it was vodka. I know I do. “I guess it is weird, considering I work with doctors every day. But I have my reasons.”

My mother waves her hand, dismissing Tally’s anxiety. “I understand that, dear. In fact, I dated a doctor when I was in college. The man ripped my heart apart.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you. I had more than my heart ripped apart, hence, my rule.”

“It’s never easy to overcome a broken heart or will. But, as luck would have it, I met a delightful man only a few weeks later. Owen’s father.”

Tally smiles, reaching across the table to squeeze my mother’s hand. “It all worked out, just as it was meant to. You didn’t need that silly old doctor, anyway. His loss.”

Christ. Mom, for the love of everything, please stop.

“It was his loss, but the man I married was also a doctor.”

Now those huge, luminous eyes focus squarely on me. “Your father was a doctor?”

Oh, boy, this is going to get interesting.

“He was a pediatrician for thirty-five years,” I reply, guzzling down my drink and motioning for a refill.

I’m glad my tiny vixen is sitting. She might fall down otherwise. “No wonder you dreamed of being a doctor. It makes sense now.”

She’s not wrong. My father instilled his love of medicine in me from the time I could walk, but I never had the slightest interest in pediatrics. For me, it was always cardiac medicine. I’m glad that my father got to see my dream come true, even if he’d kick my ass right now if he heard the half-truths I’m spouting to the woman I love.

“My point,” my mother continues, accepting her own wine refill, “is that if I had sworn off all doctors forever, then I would have missed out on the man of my dreams. A man who treated me like a queen until the day he died.”

Tally laughs, but it’s tinged with nerves. “What am I missing here? Are you two trying to set me up with a doctor?”

That is my segue. My mother, intent on getting the truth onto the proverbial and literal table, set it all up.

Now it’s my turn. With a deep breath, I grasp Tally’s hand. “Funny you should mention that—”

I don’t get any further, as our server interrupts the conversation. Honestly? I’ve never been more grateful. I know I have to tell Tally, but I have my own set-up in mind. One with far less clothing.

I don’t know if it’s the darts I’m shooting at my mother or her own desire to ease any brewing discord, but she steers clear of medical conversations. The three of us fall into an easy banter, and it’s clear that Tally has earned my mother’s seal of approval by the end of the night.

It took my tiny vixen two hours for my mother to love her; Charlotte never managed it in several years of dating. Hell, it’s hard to warm to an iceberg.

But now it’s time—the big discussion with Tally.

God help me. I’m going to need it.

* * *

“Ilike your Mom, even if she is trying to set me up with a doctor.” Tally shimmies out of her dress, and my dick springs to life. I’d be happy being inside her 24/7. It’s insatiable, my appetite for this woman.

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