Page 5 of Cocky M.D.
His face was red, but he said, “Yeah. I never liked a teacher before her.”
Me too. I’d happily gone to parent–teacher night in the spring for a chance to see her again. I squeezed Bradley’s arm and said, “I remember.” His kindergarten had shown me a litany of things wrong with Bradley. I’d removed him from that private school. Seeing how my son enjoyed school in the past year had kept me from asking Olivia out when I met her. I stood and said, “Okay, I have to work another hour. Make your card, and we’ll drop it off at her house on the way home.”
“Thanks.” Bradley gazed up at me like I’d just made his year.
I nodded at him and slipped out the door. If he was successful at getting Olivia to help out, that would solve my problem of being scheduled to work at the hospital.
I headed back to the patient floor, and the chief, Dr. Richard Munz, flagged me down. When I headed to meet him near the nurses’ area where we tracked all of our patients, Dr. Munz said, “Dr. Dawes.”
I glanced at the monitors on the wall, and all looked fine as I said, “Making my last rounds.”
He crossed his arms and lowered his voice. “I wanted to speak about your application to replace me.”
Dr. Munz was retiring soon. Being chief meant more meetings, but it also meant I would make more of my schedule, and flexibility might be nice, but I met his hazel eyes and said, “No one can replace you.”
Dr. Munz said quietly, “I’m looking forward to retirement, and you have the best internal application.”
“Excellent,” I said and imagined having more time to spend with Bradley.
His lips thinned. “But management is concerned about your reputation.”
My eyes widened, and my chest tightened. While I had a wild side, I hadn’t brought that to the hospital, and I’d kept my inner bad boy in check, at least until a couple of hours ago. Adrenaline rushed through me as I wondered if I was caught as I asked, “My what?”
The balding chief’s face turned bright red as he said, “The nurses have a bet on who can bed you.”
My lips turned up. My father had drilled into me that work people were work people. I rocked on my feet and said, “I don’t encourage that. I’m a widower.”
He patted my side like I was his son and said, “And if you were married again, then rumors about you might die down.”
I’d tried to be good and perfect for my parents and people like Dr. Munz once. I kept my voice low when I said, “It’s hard to move on. I’m still a widower.”
He turned a more normal color as he said, “Well, your girlfriend you treated earlier seems lovely, and I just wanted to let you know the situation.”
My heart sped up as I asked, “My girlfriend?”
He nodded like he knew something and said, “The teacher. Bring her to the picnic next weekend.”
“Okay,” I said to buy time, though I would have to figure out what to do next.
I’d checked to make sure that no one was near her, but my heart began to race. Her kiss had been exhilarating, but I’d clearly fucked up and didn’t know what to do next.
For the moment, I finished my rounds. Then I trekked to my office, where Bradley stuffed markers into his bag while he held a folded paper.
I knocked so that he would look at me, and I said, “I’m ready. Can I see the card?”
He held his hand back like he didn’t want to show me, but then he trembled and gave it to me.
He’d drawn her flowers and hearts.
Is Olivia his first teacher crush?He had good taste, as she inspired feelings in me that I’d thought died out, but then Bradley said, “You don’t have the glitter I know she likes, but can you buy her some flowers?”
We would have to have a talk about women, but I walked with him to the door as I asked, “From you?”
He took my hand and said, “From both of us. I want her to come home with us.”
And I needed to ask her to go to a picnic with me. Bradley had spent every day with her, though betting my career hopes on my seven-year-old’s ability to sweet-talk his teacher wasn’t strategically in my best interests.
We headed to the gift shop, but when we got there, I said, “She’s going to say no.”
