Page 14 of Doctor Daddy

“You aren’t dumb, Brooke. So, what if you took your time figuring out what area of study you wanted to graduate with. Most people end up changing careers two or three times in their life.”

I snorted. “Not in my family. Rhys is going to be a lawyer forever, and my dad has been a surgeon forever.”

She sighed. “Just because your family can have single-minded laser focus, doesn’t mean that you have too as well.”

“What would I do with a business degree?”

She shrugged. “We’ll figure it out. And then we’ll twist it so that it’s not a weakness but an asset. Come on, it will be fun.”

“Yay more college,” I said with scathing sarcasm. “We need to work on your definition of fun.”

“Tell me about it.” She jumped off her stool. “And in true killjoy fashion, I have to go back to work.”

I followed her out to the parking lot and said goodbye.

She went off to work, and I drove across town to find a different scrubs shop to see if they had anything in my size. I had exactly three scrubs outfits for work, I needed at least two more tops before I felt I was adequately clothed for work.

My thoughts bounced between going to graduate school with Angela or staying at home and being ignored by Mark for the rest of the foreseeable future. The shop was full of fun fabrics, and the more office-friendly pastel colors. I left with three tops and two more pairs of dove gray pants.

The next morning getting ready for work I felt like I had an embarrassment of riches when it came to choices of what to wear. I could wear a white top with the gray pants, or a pink top with the darker gray pants. I ended up wearing the other pink top, it was more of a salmon pink versus the baby pink of the first top.

It didn’t matter what I wore. I wasn’t there to impress anyone, at least not anymore. I was there to look clean, presentable, and professional. I met the most basic requirements of the dress code. As tempting as it was to save myself sometime in the mornings and give up on makeup, well, I wasn’t going to do that. The makeup was for me and my self-confidence. I needed as much as I could get.

I may have confessed most of my disappointment regarding what was not happening between Mark and myself to Angela. I hadn’t confessed everything. I was feeling incredibly insecure. I had thrown myself bodily at that man, and he reciprocated, or at least I thought that’s what had happened.

He had started flirting with me at work, and then suddenly, like a light switch being flipped, it went to nothing. No smiles, no greetings. I gave up trying to seek him out in the mornings.

He no longer made my day; he was just somebody who worked in the same building that sooner or later I was going to have to deal with when he came over to my parents’ house for dinner.

I finished directing an elderly woman to the sixth floor for her appointment when the phone rang.

“Information, Medical Tower, this is Brooke.”

“Brooke, just the person I wanted to talk to.”

I froze. I wasn’t going to panic, but why was Mark calling the information desk?

“Um, yes, how can I help you?” I tried to keep it as professional as possible.

“I’ve been thinking about you lately, and—”

“You should know that this line is monitored, so…”

“So watch what I say and don’t mention…” He paused so long I didn’t know what he was torturing me with. “Do you get a lunch break?”

“No. My shift ends at one. I eat after that. Why?”

“This conversation would be best not over a recorded or monitored line. Tomorrow, would you be willing to meet me after you get off?”

There was something about the way Mark said‘get off’that had me thinking about what he did to me in that closet. I didn’t know if it was the tone of his voice, the way it got lower and kind of raspy, or if it was wishful thinking.

“Sure, I’ll meet you.”

7

MARK

Ileaned against the hood of my Maserati, waiting. What was I doing? I canceled my appointments immediately following the office’s lunch break, giving myself an extra hour and a half, all for this girl. No, this woman.

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