Page 21 of Healed Hearts

“Huh?” I ask, turning to face Beck.

He gives me a strange look as he backs out of his parking spot. “I asked if you had a good day.”

I smile. I had such a good day. One super bright spot, but still good overall. “Yeah, I did. What about you? I got Ro riled up, telling him the ER was dead.”

Beck groans. “If you jinx me for tomorrow, I’m going to be so mad at you.”

I roll my eyes. “You two are way too superstitious.”

He scoffs. “No. You’ve worked in the ER, CT. You know better.”

I do. I really so do. I would never ever say that in the ER, especially not during my shift. Definitely not out loud. Period. But I enjoy giving Beck shit. It’s one of my favorite pastimes, if I’m being honest.

My phone is burning a hole in my pocket. I want to pull it out and check my messages so badly. But I’m definitely not letting on to that with Beck in the car. The man’s a bloodhound, and I’d like to keep this to myself.

I almost laugh.This.There is no this. Just an adorable, tiny patient and her dad. Who I may or may not be a little infatuated with. I’m not actually, though, right? I just think they’re a sweet little family. That’s all. Nothing more.

When Beck pulls into the driveway, it takes all my self-control to not throw myself from the car and run to my bedroom. I make sure to keep my movements slow and fluid as I walk to the front door, since Beck’s right behind me. When we walk in, Ro is sitting on the couch, watching TV. “Hey, guys!” he calls over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off the show he’s watching.

Beck gasps. “You little shit. You’re watching ahead. How dare you!”

Roman turns around with a slightly guilty expression on his face. And that’s my cue. I won’t get a better opportunity than this one to sneak by unnoticed. I walk through the living room and breathe a sigh of relief when I make it to my room and shut the door behind me.

I force myself to wait until I get to my bed before pulling my phone out. Not that I’m expecting it to be Julian. Why would it be? He just wanted to show me the picture of Wren and thank me. Surely he doesn’t want to have long, drawn-out conversations with me.

Would I even want that? Yeah, kind of.Fuck.

My stomach flips in nervous anticipation as I pull my phone from my pocket. I almost want to peek at it with one eye, but that would be so incredibly stupid.

I look at the screen and my heart absolutely goes haywire.

Julian

You really have an uncanny ability to calm me down when I’m freaking out. Which, I’m sorry for. That you keep having to deal with it, that is.

Chapter Eight

Julian

Iglance at my phone once again. Frozen’s playing in the background, but I can’t be bothered to shut it off. Not even now that Wren is asleep, covered in stickers. Her Holden stickers, as she called them.

I have no idea what possessed me to text him. Sure, he told me to. If I had questions. A picture of my sleeping kid doesn’t count as questions. But she kept saying, “Daddy, look at my Holden stickers.”

It’s already hard enough to get the man out of my head without Wren saying his name seven hundred times a day. So I folded.I stared at her photo for ten minutes before finally deciding to send it.

Good lord, the panic I felt afterward? But then he texted back. I wasn’t expecting a response. I wasn’t. I was hoping, but I wasn’t expecting. Then he responded. And responded again.

But now, I’m staring at my black screen, seriously debating if sending him a text was the right thing to do. I guess this is a sign, right? I texted him. I tried to open lines of communication. Not that I had any right to do that. Not for personal stuff, anyway. That wasn’t what he gave me his number for.

Fuck. I may have messed u—

My phone lights up and I grab it so quickly, I’d be embarrassed if anyone else saw.

Holden

It’s part of the job. The calming effect, that is. But really. It’s all good. You don’t need to apologize.

Don’t text him back. Thank him for his time and put your phone down. Do it now.

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