I liked it a lot.
And it looked older than all of the others, but also very well cared for.
I liked old things.
One day I wanted to get an old house like the ones Jo and Chip renovated on Fixer Upper and make it beautiful again.
My dream car was a Pontiac GTO. Fully restored, cherry red, fast and loud.
“I think I want to,” I murmured softly. “If we can get out of here without any of our family noticing that we’re gone.”
Linc laughed. “Honey, I’ve been sneaking out as long as I can remember. I could probably break you out of jail and not be caught at this point.”
I snorted. “Hopefully we never prove that fact, because then it’d mean that I was in jail.”
He grunted in agreement. “They were talking about you before you got here, you know. I was told that you’re not all that innocent. Maybe I should start preparing now for that breaking you out of jail thing.”
My mouth fell open in affront.
“What?” I gasped.
He got on the bike and started to wheel it out of its parking spot between two much flashier motorcycles.
“There’s nowhere to sit,” I said. “And you only have one helmet.”
He handed the single helmet over to me. “We won’t ride far. Just up and down the road. I’ll scoot up enough that you have at least some cushion.”
And he was true to his word.
We only went up and down the road twice before he came to a stop and gestured for me to get off.
I did, albeit very reluctantly, and felt my face stretch into such a wide smile that there was no way that my mother wouldn’t ask about it.
“I want to do that again…” I paused when I felt stiff in places that shouldn’t be stiff. “But only after you get a new seat.”
***
I looked down at the seat that Linc had installed on his bike specifically for me and felt something inside of me warm.
It wasn’t likely that my ass had been the only one to use that seat, but I still felt all warm and fuzzy on the inside that he’d installed it specifically for me so many years ago.
“What?” Linc asked, turning his head to look at me.
I swallowed, winding my arms around his tight abdomen and smiled when it felt like I’d come home again.
“Nothing,” I said. “Just remembering.”
Linc’s grin said it all.
He was remembering right along with me and liked the feelings those memories inspired.Chapter 4I want you to know that someone cares. Not me, but someone.
-Conleigh to Linc
Conleigh
The next day at work, I couldn’t stop thinking about my date with Linc.
“What has that smile on your face?” my coworker asked.
I looked over at the woman who was about the same age as me. We’d gotten hired at the same time and went through hospital orientation together. Now we were good friends.
“Hey, Pru,” I said softly, carefully sidestepping her question. “How’s your sister doing?”
Pru pursed her lips. “Which one?”
I giggled. “The one currently in the military and deployed. Your twin. I know that your other sister, Phoebe, is just fine since I saw her this morning looking bored next to the nurse she was following around today.”
“That was her advisor. She was less than thrilled. Apparently, she had some patient grope her during her clinical last night, and her advisor thought that maybe she should make sure she was okay.” We both paused as we tried not to laugh. “I know, right? Phoebe is so much like my dad it hurts.”
“What did she do to him?” I wondered worriedly.
“I punched him in the throat when his hand went up my scrub top,” came Phoebe’s reply.
I jumped at hearing her explanation directly behind me and whirled. “Holy shit, you scared me.”
Phoebe’s eyes lit up with laughter.
“Why are y’all always talking about me?” she asked.
“Why are you always so paranoid?” Pru countered. “And we started talking about Piper, but we somehow got sidetracked and started talking about how you had someone following you around today, and you look less than thrilled about it.”
“I’m not thrilled,” she grumbled. “I’m a fourth-semester nursing student. I shouldn’t need to be followed around like I’m a first-semester nursing student anymore. They’re treating me like glass because of who Mom is.”
Her mom was now the director of nursing for the entire hospital, and I could see how that would be worrisome for the school since the director of nursing could potentially make it a pain in the ass for the school if she really wanted to.
Not to mention her mom also taught classes at the school that both had graduated from but hadn’t done so in three years since her daughters were there and she had backed away from the teaching aspect of her life until they were all the way through.
“Ladies.”
I inwardly cringed. Outwardly, I smiled congenially at Tyson Threadgill, an emergency room doctor, AKA the man that made me want to wash my hands multiple times when he looked at me weird.