Page 34 of Keeping It Professional

“Sue? Did you hear something?”

Brian’s brows nearly hit his hairline. “Yeah. That you crashed. Was there something else?”

My heart sank. This was Brian’s worst trait, and also what made him a great doctor and friend: he was perceptive. Sharp-eyed to a fault. Nothing escaped him, and neither would I.

“It’s nothing,” I said, but my protest came out weak. Brian pounced on it.

“I knew it! You kissed.” He did a fist-pump. “I guessed at the bar when you came back all red, but you didn’t say anything, so I thought maybe not. But you did, didn’t you? And now you’re all stressed.”

I hung my head. “Yeah, but that’s not why I’m stressed. It was after the accident, the rush…”

“Like after surgery.” Brian scooted up next to me and jabbed his elbow in my ribs. “You got that near-death rush, like the OR. What’d you do, kiss her? Round second base?”

I smacked him. “Second base? What are we, twelve?”

“Well? What’d you do?”

My whole neck was prickling. Flaming with shame. “It wasn’t just me. It was both of us. I kissed her, or, I don’t know. She might’ve kissed me. With how fast it happened, it was hard to tell. But next thing I knew, she had my pants off?—”

“Whoa!”

“—and her pants, and our shirts, and— Shut up. Shut up.”

Brian was laughing, half toppling off the bench. I resisted the temptation to shove him the rest of the way.

“It’s not funny.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“She could sue me for real.”

Brian made atchsound. “No way she’d do that.”

“What do you know?”

“I know she likes you.” He jogged my ribs again, less hard this time. “I’ve got to make fun of you. You know that, right? But I saw how she looked at you that night at the bar. You’re her hero. Be nice to her, and this could be great.”

I buried my face in my hands. Sophie’s hero? Oh, God, ifthatwas true, that made it worse. However weird things had got when we kissed, this would be twice as weird. Ten times, maybe.

“Hey.” Brian gave me a shake. “It’s funny because of how hard you denied it. How you went on and on about how hard she sucks. I told you you liked her and you said no way, then you couldn’t wait for your shift to end so you could have her. That’s hilarious, and I’m going to mock you forever, but at the same time, I’m happy for you.”

I choked on a snort. “Happy? For what?”

“I think she’ll be good for you. She’s smart and she’s sweet.”

“Good for me…” I stared at him. “We’re not dating.”

“Not yet, but you could be if you asked her out.”

I shook my head. Was he nuts? Ask Sophie out? She’d been right the first time, when she’d said to forget it.

“I’m going to tell her tomorrow it was a mistake.”

Brian stood up. “Or, you couldnotdo that.”

“And ask her out? Right.”

“I mean, why not? You could take her to dinner, out somewhere nice. Have a real conversation and see where it goes. Maybe you’ll bring up soccer and she’ll fall asleep, and you’ll both agree you’re better off friends. But what if she doesn’t? What if it’s great? You want to pass on that chance in case it gets weird?”

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