Frowning, he asked himself if that was a brush-off. A way for her to let him know she wasn’t interested in attending the party with him.
He felt ridiculously like a smitten schoolboy, trying to read her expression, trying to keep his cool—and his ego—intact while still angling for a date with her. He couldn’t say he cared for being in that situation at his age.
“Yeah,” he said, trying not to speak too curtly. “It all depends, of course.”
She raised her gaze to his face, and the anxious look in her eyes told him that she worried she’d hurt his feelings. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d be happy to go to the party with you if our schedules allow. It sounds like fun. Maybe the whole gang can get together that night. Anne and Liam and James and whoever he wants to bring, if anyone. Maybe Connor and Mia can join us after they take Alexis trick-or-treating. Our party usually starts after kids are in bed.”
“The whole gang. Sure. That would be great. It’s always good when we can get together these days.”
“Um, Ron?”
He crumpled the plastic wrapping from his biscotti and stood to toss it in a nearby trash can. “Guess I’d better get back to the ward. My resident should be available soon.”
She reached out to catch his arm when he passed her. “Ron, wait.”
He paused. “Yeah?”
“How about dinner tonight?”
The blurted question took him by surprise. “Um—dinner?”
“Yes.” She nodded firmly, as if to convince both of them. “We can meet somewhere…or you could come to my place. I’ll cook, if you like. I made and froze a lasagna a couple weeks ago. It wouldn’t take long to thaw out and warm it up for dinner.”
He searched her face, wondering if this was another pity gesture. A concession to his pride? An implicit apology for the brush-off of the Halloween invitation? He didn’t like any of those possibilities. And yet…
“Sure,” he said lightly. “I’ll bring the wine.”
“That sounds good. I’ll see you at about seven, then.”
Nodding, he took a step backward, making his escape before she had a chance to change her mind. “See you, Haley.”
“Yeah.” Her tone was just a bit hesitant, as if she was already wondering if this was a mistake. “See you tonight, Ron.”
She considered calling Hardik or James. Either or both of the bachelors would probably have enjoyed a home-cooked meal. She was sure Ron would enjoy spending a casual evening chatting with them.
She was equally sure that he would think she’d invited them because she’d been a coward. Afraid to be alone with him.
He’d have been right.
It wasn’t that she was afraid of Ron. She trusted him implicitly. She was the one who’d been acting strangely lately. Whose impulses seemed to be getting out of hand. Like this dinner invitation, for example. What had made her invite him to her place for a cozy, meal à deux?
Though she’d tried all afternoon to rationalize the invitation by telling herself that it had been a gesture to apologize for her inadvertently rude response to his Halloween party suggestion, she knew that wasn’t quite the whole story. The thing was, it was getting harder to deny her attraction to Ron—and his to her. It was time for them to either do something about it, clear the air, or allow their friendship to be irreparably damaged—something she wasn’t willing to risk.
He arrived exactly on time, bearing the bottle of wine he’d promised. Knowing her behavior was a bit too animated, she served dinner immediately, chattering and laughing the whole time. Ron played along, teasing and joking as he always did, though something in his eyes let her know he was as aware as her of the underlying tension between them now.
The chocolate torte she’d thrown together for dessert was a big hit, as anything chocolate always was where Ron was concerned. They continued to talk shop while they finished the meal. Ron shared stories about the hem-onc ward, and Haley told him about the children she worked with in pulmonology. One cystic fibrosis patient had particularly captured her heart, a six-year-old boy who’d been hospitalized with pneumonia, but was making a satisfactory recovery. Even with his health ailments, the child was sunny-natured and funny, wrapping the entire hospital staff around his little fingers.
“Sounds like you rather enjoy peds, yourself,” Ron commented as he helped her stack dishes after the meal.
“I do like it. I’m thinking maybe I’ll specialize in child psych, rather than adult.”
“You could do a double board residency. Get certified in both.”
“Actually, I’ve been looking into the triple board program,” she confessed. “Child and adult psych and peds. It’s a five-year program, but I’d be board certified in all three, which would really open my options for the future.”
He didn’t look particularly surprised by her aspiration. “I see. So you’ll definitely be leaving the state for your residency, since there’s not a triple board program here.”
“Yes, I would have to go somewhere else if I decide to go that route. But I plan to come back to Arkansas eventually. My roots are here.”