Page 42 of To Belong Together
“Good thing you broke your left,” the nurse said.
John gave a polite smile and stepped out of the way so Gannon could add his name to the paper.
“Can we get a picture too?”
“Sure.” Gannon laid the pen down.
“I’ll take it.” John extended his hand for the phone. He’d rather heal in private than have pictures leak onto the Internet, and playing photographer would keep him out of the frame.
A few minutes later, they were back in Gannon’s car, headed for John’s house under a gray sky.
“Macky.” Gannon looked over.
“He’s an option.” John watched the road since Gannon wasn’t paying close attention.
The four lanes narrowed to two as they traveled away from the medical center. He could imagine careening off the edge so clearly, he winced. As the car spun, they’d get a view of the houses on both sides. They’d end up in the snow, maybe crashing into that privacy fence—unless the curb stopped and flipped them first.
He inhaled for a five-count, loosening his frozen lungs.
“Yeah, hey, Macky.” Gannon didn’t lift his hand to mimic a phone call, but his tone conveyed the effect. “You know how you think California is too cold in winter? How about coming up to Wisconsin?”
John clenched his teeth, his muscles both tense and weak with anxiety. “Focus on driving.”
Gannon complied, expression somber. “You wouldn’t be the first to drum one-armed. What’s got you down?”
He didn’t bother to insist for the millionth time that he was fine.
“What happened with Erin yesterday?” Gannon ought to get more credit for his observational skills. If only he hadn’t chosen such an annoying time to use them.
John had stopped short of spilling the story to Erin about Mom leaving his dad, but he’d said so much more than he’d meant to. No wonder she’d left. What had he expected?
He’d been irrational to argue that she ought to quit lumping him in with the men who mistreated her when he couldn’t stop his experiences with Nicole from shadowing how he thought of her. But she’d earned points by leaving the lawyer’s number. He also believed what she’d said about turning down fame and fortune if she wasn’t sure about the man who offered them.
Her history was eye-opening, and if he’d wanted someone who didn’t treat him differently after knowing about his role with Awestruck, well, he’d found that in Erin, hadn’t he?
“You want to swing by Hirsh Auto?” Gannon asked. “I could get an oil change.”
John knew better than to battle Gannon’s persistence, so he served a detail. “She made me soup yesterday.”
“Soup.”
John nodded.
“And soup offends you?”
“Two minutes into the meal, she spouted off about how I think women belong in the kitchen. I said I never doubted her abilities as a technician, but she was looking for a fight. She’s so busy proving herself that she gets offended if I notice anything kind or feminine about her.”
Gannon’s eyes shifted toward John and back to the road again. “Long story short, you’re in love.”
“I’m in frustration.”
“When you’re frustrated, you get quieter than ever, not more talkative.”
If Gannon thought John’s talking signaled love, it was a good thing he hadn’t heard the argument last night.
“How do you pursue a woman that closed off?”
The lines on Gannon’s forehead deepened. He took a breath as if to speak, then tilted his head and thought some more. “You could treat her like a guy.”
