Page 87 of An Engagement for Erica

“Thank you for saying that,” Clara said. “And I know Tucker told you my reaction to your so-called engagement. I’m sorry about that. It’s between you two.”

“I know,” she said. “It’s an odd situation.”

“But you care a great deal for my son and you were helping him,” Clara said. “I see that now. The same as I saw he was waiting for you to come so he could get a hug. He doesn’t often show any vulnerability and he is. I’ll admit when I’m wrong and I was wrong about what you two have.”

“Thanks for just airing all sorts of things out there and embarrassing me, Mom,” Tucker said, frowning.

Erica poked him in the side. “I think that is what parents do. I find it very refreshing. My mother doesn’t ever admit she might be wrong about anything. Or that her opinion isn’t the only one. I care for Tucker and what he’s going through. I’m sure you know about our past and what we’ve got now is new. But at the heart of it, what we are doing is for TC and no one else. I won’t hold Tucker to anything. You know, like getting a real ring.”

Tucker laughed. “I love it when Erica jokes which isn’t often, but if you couldn’t tell, she was.”

“I’m not that stupid,” Clara said. “That I can’t catch sarcasm or humor.”

“Can I get you a drink?” he asked.

“Water is fine,” she said. “It’s a bit early for wine.”

“It’s never too early for wine,” Clara said. “Not when you’re meeting your son’s girlfriend and want to make a good impression.”

She smiled over the good humor. “Wine sounds lovely,” she said.

The last thing she wanted to do was make this meeting any worse than it started out.

Tucker returned with two glasses of wine. “To fresh starts,” Clara said. “Seems as if the two of you have gotten that.”

Erica smiled. “I think we have,” she said.

“And may it continue,” he said. “For a long time.”

She took a sip to try to calm her racing heart.

They hadn’t talked about the future much, but Erica found she was thinking about it more than she ever had before. At least in her personal life which was always at the bottom of her to-do list.

29

WHEN YOU ARE TOGETHER

“I’m dating Tucker.”

“Tucker who?” her father asked the next morning.

Erica pursed her lips, not that her father could see it on the other end of the phone.

That she’d thought he’d remember Tucker’s name was stupid on her part.

He saw any number of patients a week and most likely was able to keep his distance because he didn’t remember their names.

“Tucker Nelay,” she said. “Remember? The guy I called to interrupt you in surgery about so you could operate on his grandfather?”

Her father laughed on the other end. “Erica. I remembered. I’m picking on you.”

With the dry tone her father used when he’d asked the question and then again right now, she wasn’t so sure it was a joke. “Do you really remember, or are you just saying that?”

“It’s the same guy you’ve been working with,” her father said. “The one Daisy and your sister were talking about.”

So he did remember. “Yes,” she said. “That’s him.”

“How are you getting along?” her father asked.

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