He's the Man (The Alexanders 3)

“It was in the garbage can next to your desk. You must have knocked it off when you were eating lunch.”

Penny pulled up the call log on her phone, shocked to see two missed calls. Scott wouldn’t call her during the work day unless it was important. He was an assistant district attorney, so he understood her crazy schedule. Plus, he’d already told her he’d be too busy catching up with work to see her tonight.

“Okay, I need to listen to my voicemail. Can you go check in with Mr. Eisenberg? I’ll be right there.”

Georgia grimaced. “Do I have to?” At Penny’s pleading look, she crossed her arms. “If he tries to cop a feel again, I’m holding you personally responsible.”

“I’ll owe you one. Thank you, Georgia.” She laughed as her assistant shot her a withering look before turning the corner toward the waiting room.

Penny walked into her office and dropped down wearily into her desk chair as she pressed the button to listen to her first message.

--Hey Penny. I guess you’re with a patient. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and I hope you are, too. I’ll pick you up at eight o’clock sharp. I bet you’re wondering where we’re going, but I’m not going to tell you. I have the perfect surprise planned for you. It’s going to be a night to remember. See you tomorrow, babe.

She looked out the window aimlessly as Scott’s voice rumbled over her phone’s speaker. He sounded as harried as she felt. She rewound the message and listened again, noting the time he’d said he was picking her up.

Georgia stuck her head in. “Mr. Eisenberg’s all set. Anna is getting him started.”

Penny stowed her phone in her desk drawer and grabbed the patient file on her desk. Georgia followed her into the hall.

“Scott was calling to remind me about dinner. He keeps saying it’s going to be a night to remember.” They walked down the hallway toward the treatment rooms. “You remember the last time he tried to plan a romantic evening? We spent three hours listening to opera in some language that I couldn’t even identify. And then—”

“You got stuck talking to that anti-women’s-rights senator.” Georgia erupted into giggles. “I remember. God, you were pissed. I’m sure he was just as pained trying to talk to you. Imagine his horror at being forced into conversation with a professional woman. One who’s happily single at that. I’m surprised he didn’t keel over dead from the shock. I’m more surprised you didn’t say something outrageous just to get a rise out of that old fart.”

“Well, I was surprised he didn’t ask me to make him a sandwich. I was tempted to say something outrageous, believe me. The problem is that Scott’s idea of a good time is cocktails with the Washingtonian in-crowd, whereas I just want a dinner that isn’t so fancy I can’t pronounce it. Who knows what he’ll plan this time? Especially since it’s our anniversary.”

“It’s your anniversary? That’s so nice. How long have you guys been dating?”

“Three years. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long.”

They reached the door to treatment room 5. Penny peeked in through the glass square on the door. Mr. Eisenberg saw her and wiggled his thick, bushy eyebrows and leered back. Penny sighed. It was going to be a long hour of trying to avoid him pinching her on the bottom. She knew he wasn’t really aware of what he was doing half the time, but it made for an extremely uncomfortable session.

“Three years. Wait, he said it was going to be a special night? Whoa.” Georgia slapped a hand in front of her to prevent Penny from entering the treatment room. Her brown eyes widened and her eyebrows shot up so high they almost disappeared into her hairline.

“What? Is there something special about three years? You know I’m oblivious about this kind of thing, so you’ll have to enlighten me.”

“Are you serious?” She held out her left hand and waved her wedding ring in front of Penny’s face.

Penny couldn’t help but snort. “Oh no. There is no way.”

“Helloooo. Did you think you’d just be dating forever? Three years is generally considered shit or get off the pot time.”

Her first instinct was to laugh again but then she thought back to how strange Scott had been acting lately. He’d been talking about how nice it would be to have a bigger place since her house only had two bedrooms and he lived in a condo. He’d also asked if she wanted to take a vacation that summer. They’d never made plans that far in advance before. Ever.

Penny’s stomach dropped until it felt like it was dragging on the linoleum floor.

Georgia nodded, knowingly.

“He’s g

oing to ask you to marry him.”

* * * * *

“WE SHOULD GO after him.” Nick paced back and forth while his mother silently swept the pieces of broken pottery into a pile. They’d eventually cut the cake, revealing the bright pink center. The mood was still somber, however. The cake sat forgotten on the table next to Eli.

Julia shook her head, sadly. “Someone needs to talk to him. It’s obvious he’s hurting, poor thing.”

Nick didn’t disagree, but he was pretty sure his friend’s wounds went a lot deeper than a hand-holding session and a heart-to-heart chat. Matt likely needed help that none of them were qualified to give.