Page 26 of Doc Showmance
Will said, “I was meeting someone who I don’t think is here yet, but I can’t believe I ran into you. You mind if I take a selfie?”
Camera was out before either of us replied. He leaned in next to Amber, grinning. Then he came around to repeat with me. I read his intention to join us, which was a firm no.
Before he could nudge himself into the booth next to me, I scooted to the edge. “Amber and I were actually just taking off, weren’t we? It was a surprise running into you. Best of luck in your job.” I stood in front of Will and held out my hand for Amber. Instead of pushing it off with an acerbic comment, she took it. And held tight.
“Wait a sec,” Will said, “Are you two…are you guys sneaking around because you can’t on the show? Oh my God.”
“Great seeing you, Will.” I threw enough money on the table to more than cover the bill. With her hand secured in mine, I pulled her toward the exit without answering him. We had to get outside before Will could ask more or follow us.
“Well, that was… What the hell was that?” she asked when the door slammed behind us. “He’s watching us.”
“Don’t pull a fuss yet. I don’t want to tempt him to move our way and lob more questions. How about I drive us up the street to one of those fast-food places? We can come back for your car in a bit.”
“Sure.”
No smartass comeback? No fighting?
* * *
Dinky’s Donutsup the street was brightly lit. The sweet sticky scent of donuts hung in the air and mixed with the aroma of hours-old coffee. The picked-over donuts were half melted and had lost their fresh appeal long ago. Oddly, the menu was more about croissant sandwiches than donuts.
I asked her, “Anything look good?”
“I’m paying this time.” Amber took her donut selection seriously, with sharp evaluation of every single item in the case. “I’m kind of miffed I didn’t get to finish the cake. My one bite was so good.”
“I’m sorry about—”
She held up a hand to cut me off. “We’re not going to speak about him yet. I need to find the right donut. Something decadent and bad for me is necessary right now.” She perused the paltry offerings before addressing the man behind the counter. The bags under the clerk’s eyes suggested this might be his second job of the day. She announced, “I’ll have one of the cat donuts.” She pointed at a white frosted donut sort of in the shape of a cat with a thick tail that almost looked like it was holding up a leg to lick its butt. The green sprinkles had long ago melted into the frosting, and the black frosted eye dots had slipped.
I whispered, “Looks like Jackson Pollock’s ghost haunts this place.”
She pointed at the case. “There’s a bird-shaped one right there calling your name.”
I tried not to cringe at the kindergartner-worthy decoration of the white-frosted bird-shaped donut covered in bleeding multicolor sprinkles. “I’ll take one of the bird donuts.”
“Don’t feel pressured by me. I didn’t mean you had to get it.”
“I’m good with the bird.”
Once settled, I said, “Before Will showed up I was about to say he’s a total dick.”
“As if that’s a news flash to me?” Amber crossed her arms.
“Would you let me finish? What happened in vet school on Valentine’s Day, I hadn’t meant for that to happen. I hadn’t meant to prank you. It was intended for someone else, a random someone else. We didn’t have an exact target picked. You showed up at the wrong moment, and I found myself on my knees, but I meant what I said. I did like you.”
“You didn’t mean to play a joke on me by pretending to like me?”
“I wanted to ask you out so many times. Legit.”
“Yet, you let Will turn me into a joke, though, didn’t you? You went along with it when he said you were kidding. You didn’t say anything to counter him or anyone else’s opinion, and you let them post it online. Which makes you a dick, too, in my book. You let your little clique of veterinary friends believe you did that on purpose togetme. Don’t you dare think whatever the fuck just happened at the diner earned you some brownie points. There’s still all the other shit you said to me for two years after that night. You even still call me Goth Girl.”
“Yeah, I sucked back then.” I massaged my neck. “You dressed in black with heavy black eyeliner every single day in school. You earned your nickname.”
“I liked black clothes. I know we’re supposed to be trying to pave the road for us to get along and make it easier to do this romance thing, but I still think you’re a grade A asshole.”
“Fair enough. I’m not sure I like you yet, either.”
Amber had way of cutting down a man’s ego, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why I liked it. Why I’d liked it back in school.
