Page 4 of Come Back to Me

Teddy works over at Fire Station Three on A shift full-time, so he’s only here in the ER once or twice a week while he tries to save up money for his upcoming wedding to his high school sweetheart, Emily. His captain on A shift is Emily’s older sister, Trina, a badass female firefighter.

It cracks me up because theonlytime Teddy isn’t being flirty, bordering on pervy, is when he comes in on a paramedic run with his fellow firefighters.

Janie and I are convinced it’s because he knows his coworkers would tell Trina and he’s afraid she’d beat his ass for flirting when he’s engaged to her sister.

I’m pretty sure she could take him, too.

“What’s wrong, babe? You’re not being yourself. You haven’t said a word since we left the building,” Janie says.

“Nothing. I’m just tired.” Even I’m not convinced by my answer.

Unfortunately, Janie has this innate ability to sense a lie. I’ve watched her use it on several patients when they weren’t being truthful about what happened to them to bring them to the ER.

“Annie? Don’t make me nag you until you tell me…”

“Ugh, it’s nothing really. Not a big deal,” I answer, shrugging and trying to avoid eye contact.

She stops dead in her tracks, raises her eyebrows at me, and refuses to walk any further until I answer.

“Come on, Janie, it’s practically a monsoon out here!” I have to yell for her to hear me over the downpour.

She doesn’t budge and doesn’t speak. Just stares at me. God, she’s stubborn.

“Fine. This is a crappy weekend for me. I was supposed to get married tomorrow,” I answer. The defeat in my voice doesn’t escape even me, so I know it’s not getting past Janie.

She stares at me for a few seconds before she walks again. “Excuse me? I’m your new best friend and I’m just hearing that you were supposed to get married tomorrow?” she asks, totally serious.

I can’t help but smile at the incredulous tone of her voice.

“Well, screw this. Best friends don’t let each other mope alone. I’m coming to your house, and we’re going to get toasted while you tell me all about what this wanker did to make your wedding get cancelled. Because you, my dear, are bloody amazing, so it must be his fault.”

Two hours later, Janie and I are on my couch sipping wine, with Beanie between us, and I’ve given her the basics of my breakup with Jason. Her intermittent commentary alone has already gotten me to laugh more than I would have thought possible over the fiasco that was my engagement to Jason.

Once we hit our second bottle, we watch aBridget Jones’s Diarymarathon, at Janie’s suggestion, since it’s her favorite movie. Her vocabulary instantly makes a lot more sense. I must admit it feels good to have some girl time. Sitting here with Janie, I realize I didn’t really have any close female friends in Columbus, even though I grew up there. Honestly, I didn’t haveanyclose friends except Jason. I feel like there’sprobably some psychological pathology in there to unpack, but I’m too tipsy to attempt it tonight.

Halfway through our second bottle, I’ve let Janie convince me that, no, I will not be spending tomorrow evening with my friends, Ben and Jerry. Instead, I’ll be joining her and her book club. She makes me pinky promise I will come join theSpicy Girls, as they’ve dubbed themselves, and sends me a link to the name of the book they’re discussing tomorrow so that I can spend the day catching up.

Holy hell,now I understand the reason behind Janie’s book club being named theSpicy Girls.

I started this morning by having a cup of coffee on the balcony, with a plan to skim the book quickly to prepare for tonight’s meeting and then head out for a long run. That was three hours ago, and I can’t put this book down. Typically, my leisure reading has been comprised of dystopian society type novels. But, shit, I’ve been missing out until now by not reading in this steamy romance genre.

I realize mid-afternoon that I’ve read well past the time my wedding ceremony had been scheduled to occur without it even crossing my mind. I’m also damned sure that just reading about the sex in these books is much better than any actual sex I would have had on my wedding night with asshat Jason.

Later, squinting in the dark to see, I finally find the house number to match the address Janie sent me for book club tonight. Just as I lift my hand to knock, the door opens and—What the hell?—Teddy walks out wearing scrubs.

“Ooooh, Annie,” he teases, “are you here for the erotica book club?”

Embarrassed, I lightly push him in the chest. “It’s noterotica! It’s just… steamy,” I answer, trying to explain. “What the hell are you doing here, anyway?”

“I live here, love. This is mine and Em’s place. She’s hosting tonight, and I’m one hundred percent in support of her reading this shit. I must say, I’ve benefitted more than once when those books get her all?—”

“Enough! I’ve heard enough,” I say, covering my ears and walking toward the open door.

Chuckling, Teddy heads toward his car before calling out, “Have fun, Annie. You’ll have to tell me all about it at work.”

As soon as I walk in, I’m able to follow the laughter and cheery voices to find the women gathered in a cozy family room. Spotting me, Janie enthusiastically waves me over to her. “You came! I’m so excited. Let me introduce you to everyone.”

I meet Emily, who is just lovely, her sister Trina, whom I’ve met once before in the ER, and two middle-aged ladies who teach at the same school as Emily. Trina scoots over so I can sit next to her on the couch.

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