She trailed off and her whole body tightened up again.
He needed to let her know she wasn’t alone in this. “I still have nightmares about the night I got shot. I’ve been doing this job for a long time. I worked as a police officer in New Orleans for years and managed to not get myself shot, but last year I took a bullet right here in Papillon. It was funny because at the time I powered through. I mean it. I barely felt that sucker. I did my job and took down the criminals and everyone talked about what a badass I am. I don’t believe they would think the same about me if they knew how often I wake up in a cold sweat.”
Her eyes wouldn’t quite meet his. “I do understand that. And you’re wrong. They would still think you’re a badass.”
He let the words sit for a moment. If they were going to have any shot at being even friends, they had to get this out of the way. “You don’t like me knowing what happened to you. I’m sorry. I was curious. I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.”
Her eyes glanced away. “It made you think differently of me.”
“Why would you say that?”
She shook her head. “No reason. I’m sorry. I’m tired.”
When she started to stand, he reached out and put his hand on hers. “Lila, I ran over here as fast as I could. I damn near broke my legs trying to get to you. Finding out you survived a man killing your friend and himself in front of you didn’t make me less interested. It made me think about the fact that maybe you don’t need the additional pressure of having a man sniffing around you.”
She stood there for a moment, not taking her hand from his but also not twisting it around so she could hold it. “That’s not what my sister thinks. She thinks I need a man or I’m going to lose my business.”
She sank back down and eased her hand out of his, but her eyes had come back up. It was obvious she wasn’t talking about what she needed to talk about. Or maybe she simply didn’t want to talk to him about it. The upside? She wasn’t kicking him out, and at least she was talking to him about something.
“They’ll settle down. I know today was hard, and Doc didn’t make it easy. I’m going to talk to him about that. He needs to get out and talk to people, make them comfortable with you.” If he could get the man off that boat of his. “They’ll get to know you and things will be normal in no time at all.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“So we’re talking a couple of weeks? Because I’m on the razor’s edge financially according to those books.”
He waved that off. “I’ll talk to Rene for you. He’ll write you a check to keep the clinic going.”
“Does this Rene guy know the town uses him like a checkbook?” She shook her head. “I don’t want to merely keep the place open for emergencies. I want to practice here. I can’t do that if I don’t have patients. I’m uncertain Doctor Hamet has any intention of helping me past cashing the check I wrote him, so I have to consider my sister’s advice.”
“What did Lisa tell you to do?” Armie asked.
“She thinks I should do what worked for her. She said I should go to this Rene guy and ask him to fake date me because if people think I’m interested in one of the town’s guys, that will somehow prove I’m interested in them. Like spending every dime I have on a clinic that helps them and working my ass off isn’t proof. Nope, I need to prove my loyalty by humping one of the guys. It’s typical when you think about it.”
He didn’t see anything at all typical about that, and he was going to have a talk with her sister. “You are not going to prostitute yourself for that clinic.”
“I was going to fake prostitute myself,” she corrected. “And I wasn’t going to fake sleep with anyone. It’s going to be a very old-fashioned fake courtship.”
“That’s the most ridiculous idea I ever heard.”
“I said the same thing,” she agreed. “So you want to do it?”
“What?”
“Fake date me so people will think I’m one of them. Remy thought it should be you and since you already kind of asked me out, it might not be the worst idea. You said you were willing to show me around. Maybe I should wait and see, but I don’t want to waste time. I can’t have too many more days like today. I know I’m supposed to be patient, but that’s not my strong suit. Maybe it’s because it’s late, but the whole fake-dating thing is starting to look like a viable option. We could make a schedule for a week or two and then reevaluate as to whether or not the plan is working.”