Page 32 of Just One Chance
“Sorry,” he said. “Excuse me just for a minute.” He turned and walked toward her, holding out the skateboard. “Go to MUSC Children’s,” he told her. “They’ll take good care of you there.”
The woman nodded. “Thank you for your help.”
David waved at DeShawn then walked back toward Jessica and Tucker, who still watched him from the sidewalk.
“Someone you know?” Tucker asked, his tone pointed.
“Ah, no,” David said. “I was just sitting in my car and I saw the boy fall.” David swallowed. “I’m pretty sure he broke his arm.”
“Oh, no!” Jessica said. “I’m so glad you were here and could help him.”
“Yeah,” Tucker said, nodding his head. “That sure is convenient. What, exactly,areyou doing here?”
“Oh.” David wiped his palms on his scrubs. Had it gotten hotter in the last thirty seconds? It suddenly felt hotter. “I was, um, just visiting a friend. A date. A date . . . friend. Do, um, you live here too?”
“I do,” Jessica said, all sweetness. “Who’s your friend? Maybe I know her.”
“Oh. No, she, she just moved in. Way on the . . .” David motioned with his hand toward the back side of the complex. “Back there. She doesn’t know anyone yet.”
“I bet she doesn’t,” Tucker said.
David took a step backward. “I guess I should, um, get back to the hospital.”
“I thought you were going on a date,” Jessica said. She frowned, as if she felt genuine sadness he was going to work instead.
“Nope, nope. Got to work tonight.” Man, he was spinning lies fast. “I’m on call, so I thought I might be able to go out, but I just got called in. So. Life of a doctor, right? It was great seeing you though.” He clicked his key fob to unlock his car then moved to the driver side door.
David pulled out of the parking lot, his heart hammering in his chest. He breathed in through his nose then out through his mouth wondering if he might need to pull over so he could throw up. What had he been thinking? How on earth had he ever thought himself capable of actually setting up some sort of entrapment? He wasn’t James Bond. He didn’t know how to be stealthy or secretive. And he lied about as well as he talked to women.
He pulled back into the Velvet Undergrounds parking lot and parked, dropping his head onto the steering wheel. He was an idiot.
He liked Avery.
Hereallyliked Avery.
But he was pretty sure she knew that. And she was still choosing to be with Tucker. Whether he was able to ruin Avery’s relationship or not, would it actually matter? Maybe he’d prove Tucker was a jerk and then Avery still wouldn’t want to date David. There were no guarantees.
And if history was an indication, no matter how much Lucy insisted it was possible, women like Avery never dated men like him.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” he muttered, banging his forehead against the wheel.
David drove home in silence, shame coursing through him hot and thick. It was time to move on. He couldn’t keep acting like this, couldn’t keep spending so many hours thinking about Avery.
He pulled into his driveway and sighed. How could henotthink about Avery when she lived right next door? He watched as she walked up the pathway from the beach in a swimsuit and a pair of cutoffs, a paddle board under her arm. When she saw him climbing out of his car, she dropped her board onto the grass and changed her course, crossing to where he stood.
“Hey,” she said, dusting sand from her palms.
David looked toward the beach. “How was the water?”
“Warm,” Avery said. “And calm.” She pulled her phone out of her back pocket. “There was a school of dolphins just off the shore and they let me get really close.” She held out her phone. “Look.”
David scrolled through several pictures Avery had taken of the dolphins swimming around her paddle board. “That’s amazing.”
“Have you ever done it?”
“No, not yet. I’d like to try though. My friend Lucy loves it.”
Avery smiled. “It’s so fun. There’s a place over by the yacht club where it’s easier to launch because you don’t have to deal with the waves. Tucker and I used to go all the time, but we haven’t . . .” She shook her head, her words trailing off.
