“Well, you haven’t said no, so I can only take that as a good sign.”
“Give me your phone,” I said.
He did as he was told, handing me his unlocked phone. I punched my phone number in and then gave myself a call. My phone vibrated in my pocket.
“There,” I said. “Only call me if it is something important.”
We moved ahead in the line, only two people away from being attended to.
He smirked at me. “What counts as important?”
“That’s for you to decide.”
He nodded, his gaze darting away from me. “Okay,” he said. “But what if I decide, and I’m wrong. What happens then?”
“That’s easy. I just hang up on you.”
“I would like to have some guidelines,” he said. “I think it’s only fair.”
I laughed. “You’re a big boy. You can figure it out yourself.”
He opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could, something else got his attention. I hadn’t seen the man who had walked up to him, and while Jody was tall, this person towered over him. He was about a head taller than Jody, and generally, much burlier too. His clothes were very large, and somehow, it looked like he was also about to burst them open simply by virtue of existing in them. His skin was paperwhite, almost the color of his shirt, and the only bit of color on his face were his eyebrows, dark, bushy black eyebrows that framed an otherwise mostly entirely forgettable face.
But that was just his face.
While it might have been forgettable, the rest of him was too intimidating, and I could see how he had commanded Jody’s attention so immediately and thoroughly.
The tall man smiled, his smile never quite reaching his eyes. “Jody,” he said, his voice much higher than I’d expected it to be. “Didn’t think you would be showing your face here.”
“This is a hospital. I am allowed to be here,” he said, his tone as jovial as the tall man’s. They were making it sound like a joke, but it didn’t feel like a joke, and I could see that Jody had placed himself in the space between the tall man’s body and my body, directly between us.
“It’s not about whether you’re allowed. It’s about whether it’s a good idea or not. Do you think it’s a good idea?”
Jody chuckled, shaking his head a little. “I have as much right to visit as you do.”
“Exactly,” he said. “You do have as much right to visit as I do, and later, we should all go to your place. Once they get out. The doctors are taking very good care of our friends. Speaking of which, who is your friend here?”
His gaze darted toward me, but then he took another step close to the tall man. “That’s nobody,” he said. “I have hardly seen her before.”
I felt the flash of red-hot anger all over my body, particularly in my face. I heard them continue their conversation for a few seconds, but I wasn’t sure what they were saying. By the time I managed to catch my breath, I was already in the hallway of the emergency room, waiting for my work night to start in earnest.
And waiting to forget about fucking Jody Banks.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
2019
I spent the rest of my shift furious.
There might have been other reasons for him to do what he did, but I couldn’t think of any. He might have paid lip service to the fact that he wasn’t ashamed of me, but actions always spoke louder than words, and his actions were those of someone who was still ashamed of me.
I couldn’t believe I had let myself be put in that position. In the position where he could act as if he didn’t know me, as if it was cool that I wasn’t part of his life.
And I wasn’t. I didn’t want to be that person in anyone’s life.
He might have had unsavory friends, but that didn’t mean anything. What happened was simple and straightforward. He had pulled exactly the same move that he had when we were in school and it was clear to me that I couldn’t expect any better from him.
Cam had been wrong. She had been way off base when she had said that he had grown up, and so had he. I had been so close to believing him, but I was now glad that I had treaded lightly, that I hadn’t just fallen for it, hook, line and sinker.
Jody was charming. If I had been a little younger, a little more naïve, I might have believed his routine. But I was old enough to know better.
I went home, still angry. The night had been surprisingly calm, which was good. I never wanted to be distracted when I was treating patients, though I was pretty good at compartmentalizing. At least it felt like I had been until Jody walked back into my life.
I told myself I was being ridiculous. I shouldn’t have cared this much about this. He was just a part of my past, and I didn’t want to have to deal with that.
I was only going to focus on my future. I wasn’t going to focus on him. Clearly, that was going to get me absolutely nowhere.
I was thinking about that when the phone rang. I had left it on my desk, near the kitchen, as I was getting ready for bed. I had just put my stuff down and kicked off my shoes. Naturally, I went to get my
