Page 80 of Holding Out

She stopped.Once she said it aloud, it would be impossible to take back.And the ball would be in his court, and she would know.

“Becca,” he said.

“Uh-huh?”

“Do you know what we’re doing?I mean, literally, right this second, in this bed.”

“Eating donuts and—”

Suddenly she got it.

“Eating donuts and drinking coffee.”Her voice cracked.

He nodded and reached for her hand.Squeezed it.“You killed my fear of complications.Killed it dead.Iwantcomplications with you.”

Her heart was pounding.Hard.

“Would you think about—?I know this is a big ask, but would you at least think about sticking around here a while?Maybe seeing if Jake could give you the receptionist job long term?Doing a little more work for Nate?I know,” he said, “one successful tutoring session and all that, but—”

The way he was looking at her, almost pleading, it was hard to breathe around the lump in her throat.

“Yes.I will think about it,” she said.

He looked startled.Like he hadn’t actually expected her to say yes, let alone so quickly.And then he broke out in a grin so big it made her smile, too, and the two of them just did that, beamed stupidly at each other until he took her donut and her coffee cup out of her hand and set them on the night stand.

Becca was very late to work, which she supposed didn’t make the best impression under the circumstances, but it had been the best morning she could remember.And she didn’t want to waste a crumb of it.

37

“Hi, Becca,” Jake called, rushing past her into his office.“Overslept!”

He’d come in even later than she had, but unlike her, he wasnotwearing the same clothes he’d worn yesterday.He was, however, looking every bit as flustered.Becca got the distinct feeling that whatever went on in Jake and Mira’s house, it was off the charts.She didn’t like to think about the details, but it did make her smile, seeing this big, tough, in-charge man still acting like a teenager in love a decade into his relationship.It made her feel hopeful about romance.

Or maybe she was just so happy herself that other people’s happiness felt like icing on the Dundee pink donut.

His first patient was waiting for him, so she knew she wasn’t going to get a chance to ask Jake now about a permanent job, but maybe she could snag some time with him later.She got up from her desk and peeked her head into his office.

“Hey, Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I grab fifteen minutes with you later today?”

“It’s going to be a crazy one, Becca,” he said.“Tell you what.Is it something we can talk about tonight?At Friday Night Dinner?”

She shrugged.“Sure.”He’d made his last job offer to her at the dinner table in front of her family members, so she didn’t see why not.

“Okay.Remind me.”

Becca’s projectthat day was to clean out the desk, the perfect thing to do on only four hours of sleep.

Sibby might have been a stern taskmaster, but she wasn’t a neat freak.Becca tossed out, among other things, a half-eaten candy bar and aPeoplemagazine from five years ago.She found twenty black pens that still worked, threw away nine that didn’t, then turned up a brand-new unopened box of pens.Note to self, no office supply orders until you do an inventory.

She chatted with several repeat patients—she was getting to know them now: Garcia and his knee, Jaquizz and the neck pain that made him hold his head brittlely at an angle, McElroy who wouldn’t talk at all or even make eye contact—and met three new ones.She let Yuri Osterich see Jake even though he’d arrived ten minutes late.Sibby might have the ovaries to send away a guy who was clutching his hand and walking with a limp, but Becca was, for better or for worse, a softie.

She went to lunch, spotted Alia, and set her tray down.Her sister looked up, raised both eyebrows and said, “Yesterday’s clothes.”

“Don’t be judge-y.”

---