Page 5 of Forget Me Not
After helping Danny secure his seatbelt, I headed toward the medical offices of Doctor Craig. Part of me was glad to be getting this visit done for Danny’s sake. He missed school and his friends, and I missed work. But the other part of me was nervous. My mother-in-law had been right. He had been flirting with me when we're in the hospital. I only came to accept this when he had given me his personal number and insisted that I call him for anything. Danny’s nurse’s expression had told me all I needed to know—that wasn’t a common practice. It hadn’t stopped there. He had called three times in the past week to check on Danny. I was flattered he had made the effort, yet a part of me felt guilty.
“Alright, champ, we’re here.” I parked the car and grabbed my purse.
“Mom?”
Peering over the seat, I smiled at my son. “What’s up?”
“Do you think you’ll ever get married?”
“What? Where is this coming from?”
“Grandma said you’re afraid to date.”
“Did she?” I rolled my eyes.
“I asked her if she thought I’d ever have another dad, and she told me you weren’t ready. She said one day you’ll meet someone you won’t be able to walk away from, and until then, it would be okay that it was just us.”
“Do you want a dad?”
“I mean.” He twisted in his seat and looked out the car window. “I know I’ll only ever have one real dad—it’s just that I’d like one I can know.”
The tears pooled in my eyes as I stared at my heart in the backseat. I hadn’t realized how I might hurt him holding onto Danny’s ghost so long until this very moment. My fear of opening my heart wasn’t just hurting me, it was hurting him.
“I miss your dad. But your grandmother is right. How about I promise to be a bit more open, and you promise to tell me if something is bothering you instead of grandma?”
“Deal.”
“Good. Let’s go find out what Doctor Craig has to say. I know you’re ready to go back to school.”
As soon as we stepped inside, we were greeted with friendly faces. His staff was super professional and overly accommodating. We didn’t even sit down and were whisked off to a patient room. Danny sat on the paper covered bed, playing with his cast. He struggled to keep his fingers off the damn thing, inciting it itched too bad not to touch.
“I imagine your cast is itchy.”
I stiffened at his voice as the butterflies in my belly fluttered. It was hard to deny there was an attraction to him, but the guilt of starting over swirled inside my chest. Danny smirked as he stepped closer to me, placing his body inches from mine. It was like my nearly ten-year-old kid was picking up on the sexual tension in the room. Doctor Craig lifted the side of his mouth in a cocky grin as he cut his eyes toward me as well.
“How’s our patient?”
Danny filled him in on the past week and begged for the doctor to let him go back to school.
“Well, I’m going to have the nurse do a quick x-ray and make sure everything is healing right, then we can talk about your return to school, okay?”
Danny followed the nurse out, leaving me alone with Doctor Craig. He leaned against the door; his arms folded across his chest as he stared at me. “So,MissStanton.”
“I’m pretty sure we’re past the formalities. You can call me Mackenzie, Doctor.”
“In that case, I insist you call me Austin.”
“Okay, Austin.” I beamed. “Thank you for calling and checking on Danny. I know that’s not normal protocol.”
“It’s not. But I like Danny and his mom.”
“Oh.” My skin tinged crimson with embarrassment. “I see.”
“Do you?” He pushed off the door and stalked toward me, causing me to back into the bed. My hips bumped against the edge as my hands gripped the cold leather. The paper crinkled beneath my fingers. “I’d like to take you out.”
“Like a date?” I squeaked.
“Like a date.”
