Page 5 of Just One Chance
After the breakup, Tucker had ghosted her without a backward glance. No messages. No calls. Nothing. He’d completely cut her off.
But maybe he’d changed.
Maybe he’d decided to stop listening to his mama and do whathewanted for once. Maybe he’d missed Avery enough to forget about being the perfect Charleston son.
Melba’s warning echoed in her head, but Avery pushed it aside. Dinner didn’t even have to mean anything, did it? Maybe it just meant they were two old friends, reconnecting over a shared meal.
It was just one dinner. How much damage could it actually do?
Chapter 2
Davidleanedagainstthecounter of the nurse’s station in the Medical University of South Carolina Hospital emergency room and spared a quick glance at his watch.Nine hours.He’d been on his feet, working nonstop for nine solid hours. He needed food. And a bathroom break, probably. And five minutes of quiet meditation if he had any hope of making it to the end of his shift.
Most of David’s colleagues had been surprised when David had chosen Emergency Medicine. He blamed Hollywood. Television shows had long since convinced American TV viewers that ER docs were both rugged and handsome, with a little bit of daring mixed in. Just because David looked like a podiatrist, all boring and buttoned up, didn’t mean he had to practice boring medicine. He liked the way his brain had to work in the ER—compartmentalizing, prioritizing, deciding what patients needed what treatment and when. Every day was a giant logic puzzle that only he could sort out.
But nine hours was a long time to go without food.
In the doctor’s lounge, Lucy, the only person in the entire hospital David had known longer than three weeks, sat hunched over a pizza box, her phone in her hand. Lucy had attended the same residency program at Northwestern that David had, though she had been a year ahead of him. They’d become good friends, good enough that he’d trusted her when she’d recommended MUSC as a launch point for his career.
She looked up when he entered. “Want some?” She shoved the box in his direction. “It’s fresh.”
He dropped into a chair beside her and reached for a slice. “Thanks.”
When Lucy didn’t even look up from her phone, he nudged her knee with his foot. “What are you reading?”
“A trashy romance novel. Care to join me?”
“You’re still reading those things?” David asked. She’d had the same habit during residency.
“Absolutely. It’s the purest form of escapism.” She clicked off her phone and set it face down on the table then reached for another slice of pizza. “How are you? Settling in okay?”
“To the hospital? Sure.”
“I meant the city. But I’m glad you like the job, too. I knew you would.”
“The city is . . . hot,” David said. “And humid.”
“But?” Lucy prompted, her smile wide. “You still like it, right?”
David thought of the walking tour he’d taken the weekend before at his neighbor’s suggestion. It had been a good idea. He’d never been big on history—he loved the absolute nature of science a little more—but it was hard not to be impressed by cobblestone streets and buildings that were centuries old. Charleston had a story. And he could definitely appreciate that. “I like it,” he finally agreed. “My neighbor sent me on a walking tour of downtown. It helped.”
“Hey! You’re meeting your neighbors. That’s good.” Lucy knew him too well. Meeting people wasn’t exactly his specialty.
“Just one,” he said. “A woman.” Avery’s face flashed through his mind and heat pooled in his cheeks. He looked away, hoping Lucy hadn’t noticed, but he was too late.
She grinned. “A woman, huh? I’m guessing by your face that she’s young and beautiful and made you all kinds of nervous.”
“Stop,” David said. “It’s not like that. She’s beautiful, yes, but that doesn’t mean anything. I don’t even know her last name.”
“So ask her.” Lucy leaned back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. “Dating would be good for you, I think.”
“Yes, because spending eighty percent of my time at the hospital makes for a great social life.”
Lucy scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You don’t have to be here that much and you know it.”
“Either way, Avery is not the kind of woman that usually looks at a guy like me.”
“Oh, please. You mean a guy who is a doctor with an oceanfront home in Charleston? Yeah. Exactly what every womandoesn’twant.”
