They never lacked for conversation. Sports, activities, bantering back and forth. But personal conversation didn’t always come about.
“That’s not the first time I’ve been told that,” she said. “See, you are finding I’ve got a lot of flaws. Why are you trying so hard with me?”
“I took you for someone to have a higher opinion of yourself. Or more confidence. Man, that guy really knocked you down.”
“He did,” she said. “I never thought I’d be someone to act this way either. I’m probably harder on myself than most people are.”
“It’s that competitive nature of yours. This isn’t a contest. This is a relationship. There’s a difference.”
“You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?”
“That I’m right again?” he asked, smiling.
“I’m just going to record it on your phone so that it can save me from saying it so much.”
“It’s funny, you know. No one in my family ever said I was right before. They said a lot of things to me, but never that.”
“Things like what?”
“Get away. Stop talking. You’re annoying. That’s not funny. You name it, they said it.”
“You’re smiling. I can hear it in your voice. They might have said all of those things, but it was said with love. I saw that this past weekend. You’ve got something special with your family that most don’t have. I don’t. Trust me.”
Back to her mother, he assumed. She was more complex than he expected her to be but realized that maybe he found something else to put everything he had into. It wasn’t just his family or his career anymore. It was Adriana.
28
Sharing Something
“What do you want to do tomorrow now that we are both off this weekend?” Adriana asked Wyatt.
The two weeks of on call were over. She’d only gotten called in once more, but Wyatt had to stay late several times or he was receiving calls on consultations and questions from doctors the whole time. Sometimes surgeries were put off until the morning, or could wait until the anesthesiologist working was available, other times not.
The past few weeks they hadn’t seen much of each other during the day and it actually worked in her favor. There was no arguing over being seen together because they rarely had the same break or were in the same room or building.
Not today though. Her last surgery ended earlier than normal and she was on her lunch break, Wyatt on his.
The weather was nice and she wasn’t about to sit around the cafeteria where people could see them. The compromise was walking while she had her smoothie and cookies. She’d grabbed Wyatt a large chocolate milkshake, as she didn’t see him as a smoothie person.
The look of surprise on his face when he took a sip had been well worth it. Then she handed him a cookie she’d gotten for him too.
“Definitely something,” he said. “I’m itching to be active. That’s the problem with being on call. I might not have to go in, but I’ve got calls coming in and it interrupts everything so I don’t plan much.”
They spent time together this weekend but just watched movies or ordered takeout. They couldn’t even go on any hikes in case he got a call and needed to leave in a hurry.
“I’m game for anything,” she said. “What haven’t we done?”
“We haven’t done a lot. How about golfing? Eighteen holes takes up half a day or so. Do you golf?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Mini golf or the driving range. I don’t have clubs.”
“Jade has them. It’s the one sport she does. We all golf in the family and the four of us used to go a lot.”
“If she doesn’t mind me borrowing them, then sure. But I’m positive it’s going to take a lot longer since I’m not very good and my guess is you are.”
“Golf is one of those games where even if you think you’re good you could send every shot into the water.”
She laughed. “Somehow I doubt you do that. We will walk and not ride a cart, right?” she asked. “You need to work off that lunch.”
She turned her head to look at him after he bumped shoulders with her. She lifted her eyebrows, but he just grinned. They may be walking together, but they weren’t holding hands or touching. She’d been firm on that.
“You’re the one that got me a dessert for lunch.”
“Sometimes we need to splurge. I just didn’t see you drinking a fruit or veggie smoothie.”
“Nope,” he said. “I eat my fruit or veggies when I have them. I’m not taking them through the straw.”
“It’s really good,” she said. “Want to try it?”
He leaned down and took a sip of her smoothie, his eyes dancing at her and she knew right away the reason he did it wasn’t because he wanted to taste it but to prove a point that she made the first move of them sharing something other than “walking as friends” together.
“It’s nice and sweet. Kind of like the person holding it.”
“Sweet needs to be taken in small doses,” she said back, her head tilted.
“Point taken. But you started it.”
“I did,” she said. “My bad. Speaking of bad…you might have gone a bit too far with your pranks yesterday.”
“What?” he asked. “He had it coming.”
One of the other anesthesiologists on the floor had been known to be a little harsh with patients. Or maybe not as caring or gentle as Wyatt or others. Many thought it was funny that Dr. Jones was walking around with a note on his back that said, “Have patience with me, I’ve got performance anxiety.”
But Dr. Jones didn’t think it was so funny.
“He might have, but I heard he was going to file a complaint against you,” she said. When she’d overheard that an hour ago she’d been torn between
