Page 27 of Claimed by my Bestie's Dad

“I remember.”

I pour her some chardonnay, and she takes the stem ofthe glass from me. Our eyes meet, and I feel something behind her gaze. She’s watching me with a hunger I’ve seen before. She wants me, but she doesn’t want to admit it.

“Make yourself at home.” I pull out a chair for her. She smiles, a bit hesitant, but she sits down, and I can tell she’s a little out of her comfort zone. It’s kind of endearing actually, seeing her like this. Normally, she’s so confident. The first time she showed up, she was more than a little pushy.

But now, it’s like I’m seeing the real her behind the front.

I head to the oven to check on the lasagna, and I see the cheese definitely has a brown, crisp crust on it now. I open the oven and pull it out, setting it carefully on the stovetop. I wonder what Madison is thinking. I didn’t plan this to feel like a date, but now that we’re here, it kind of does.

Once everything’s ready, I bring the food to the table and top up Madison’s glass of wine. It might be a little fancy for a casual dinner at home, but I wanted tonight to be special. She doesn’t protest when I hand her the glass back, just offers me a grateful smile.

There’s a brief, awkward silence as we both take a sip of our wine, but I don’t let it linger. “So, you’re really good with dogs. Did you learn all of that just from Samson or do they give away college degrees in dog care now?”

She shakes her head, setting her glass down. “I mean, I’ve always done some dog-sitting and walking, that sort of thing. But this is my first professional dog experience, and I don’t know if I would call it really good. I might be really good at losing them, but…”

We both laugh a little, and it’s enough to break the tension.

“Well, I think you handled them well, considering they’re both about the same size you are.”

Madison fingers her glass and avoids eye contact. “Thanks. But I don’t know if I’ll take them back if the owner goes out of town again. I prefer the smaller dogs.”

“Smaller dogs are louder though. I haven’t heard those two barking at all.”

Madison gives me a look. “Maybe because you’ve been at the hospital all day.”

I shrug and concede.

“How is it…working at the hospital? I would think it’s really stressful.”

“It depends on the day.” I don’t particularly want to talk about my job, but people are usually curious. I’m used to answering a few surface questions about what I do and how I do it.

“What about today?”

“Today was okay. I had two surgeries, both standard and small. Nothing life-threatening. I helped a patient who’s been in physical therapy for a couple of months. She’s improving a lot. That’s always encouraging to see.”

“I have a question…” Madison is staring at her wine glass like it’s going to be the one answering.

“Yes?”

“I just want to know. Honestly.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t you have to see…naked people a lot in your job? Naked women? Does it ever…”

I shake my head quickly. “No, it’s not like that. They’re not men and women when I’m on the job. When I’m doing surgery or…whatever, it’s more like they’re science experiments.” I press a hand to my face as Madison starts giggling.

“That sounds so bad.”

“I know. I know! Let me rephrase. They’re… I don’t know how to put it. I can’t put it any better than that.”

“So, each time you see a patient, it’s just like you’re doing a science experiment. You don’t ever get…”

She glances at me and shrugs.

I reach across the table and grab her hand. “No, I don’t. Do I detect some jealousy here?”

That must have been the wrong question to ask because Madison immediately becomes serious. “I’m not jealous. I was just curious. I’ve never talked to a doctor personally. I just wanted to know. Sorry if my question offended you.”

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