Page 23 of Just One Chance
Chapter 8
Davidwashalfwaythroughhis shift before he had a minute to talk to Lucy. He found her reviewing a patient’s chart, flanked by a new batch of medical students. He wasn’t old. Not even close to old. But he still felt like the med students looked younger and younger every year. Lucy looked up and they made eye contact, David motioning with his head for her to follow him. A few minutes later, she excused herself and crossed to where he leaned against the nurse’s station.
“Gastroenteritis,” David said.
Lucy shook her head.
“Kidney stones.”
Lucy scoffed. “The patient’s only fifteen.”
“Appendicitis!” David said with a snap of his fingers.
“Bingo. He’ll be in surgery within the hour.”
“Three guesses,” David said. “I think that officially puts me in the lead.”
“No way,” Lucy fired back. “You get a penalty because I told you the patient’s age. That means we’re still tied.”
The game was simple. Guess a diagnosis for the other doctor’s patients, without seeing a chart, or examining the patient. The rules made it mostly about luck and not about skill which is exactly the way they wanted it.
David pulled out his phone and tapped until the photo Avery had taken of the two of them on the beach filled the screen. He turned the phone to face Lucy.
Lucy leaned in, studying the photo with her eyes scrunched up. “That’s you!” she finally said with a gasp. “I hardly recognized you. You look great!”
“Thanks,” David said. He adjusted his glasses. Maybe he’d ask John about trying the contacts he’d mentioned.
“And Avery, she’s... Wow,” Lucy said, drawing the word out long and slow.
“Wow? Wow what? What does wow mean?”
“Wow means wow. She’s beautiful.”
David’s shoulders fell. If he was reading Lucy’s tone right, what she wasn’t saying, but definitely thinking, wasso beautiful, she’ll never want to date you.“I know, I know. She’s too beautiful for me.”
“Hey, woah, that is not what I said. Do you really think that? That she’s too good for you?”
“Sheisn’ttoo good for me.” David meant his words. He was happy with the man that he’d become over the years. He loved his job. He had healthy relationships with his family. He believed he would make a good husband for someone eventually. But he was also a realist. And in his world, women that looked like Avery didn’t often date men that looked like him. “Sheistoo beautiful for someone like me.”
Lucy scoffed. “That’s ridiculous. Look at the two of you. You look like a happy couple. No one would ever look at this picture and think you don’t belong together.”
“And yet,” David said, “I’m still firmly in the friend zone.” Even as he said the words, David wondered if they were true. When he thought about that moment on the beach, when she’d touched his hair and looked so intensely into his eyes—there was something there. Shehadto feel it, too.
“She’s still dating the other guy, huh?”
David nodded. “I met him. I guess they have a lot of history together. Avery seems pretty optimistic.”
“Your tone is telling me you weren’t impressed with the guy.”
“Who am I to judge? I’m terrible and awkward when I meet new people. If she likes him . . . I don’t know. I probably ought to give him another chance.”
Lucy reached up and cupped David’s cheek. “You’re too good, David.”
“I just hate that I can’t stop thinking about her, even though I know she’s dating someone else. It’s exhausting. She takes up so much space in my brain, and for what? I don’t have a chance with her.”
“I don’t know that I’d give up that easily,” Lucy said. “She’s only dating the guy. They aren’t engaged. And the relationship already failed once, which doesn’t bode well for their second attempt. Maybe you just need to wait it out and see what happens.”
“That feels sad,” David said. “And pathetic.”
