“Thanks.” I took a step out of the room before remembering my manners. My dad would be angry with me if I didn't have manners because of him. “Thanks for bringing dinner, Donna. And it was good to see you, Chris.”
“Bye, Hannah. See you tomorrow,” Donna replied, taking a big fork full of salad. I looked back at Jacob one last time and he motioned me to go. I hesitated for just a second before running to my car to get to my father.
Chapter 14
My father was fine.
He and my mother were simply engaged in a discussion on who the actress was on the new TV show they were watching and if she had been on another TV show they also watched.
My father insisted that I would know exactly who they were talking about and that I would prove him right the moment I heard who they were talking about. So, they called me. Repeatedly.
Asking Google or the internet apparently never occurred to them.
After successfully identifying the actress and figuring out that yes, she was on that other show, I went home. I knew Jacob wouldn't stay at the clinic all night waiting for me to come back to discuss our feelings. That didn't stop me from doing a drive-by on my way past, though.
The lights were all off and I felt like an idiot as I sped up and headed the rest of the way back to my house. I justified the drive-by in that it was only four blocks out of my way. Maybe traffic was backed up by a tractor and I'd actually saved time.
I could pretend that was reasonable.
Once home, I thought of calling Jacob. We needed to have a conversation about what just happened. It had felt so right at the time, but I wasn't sure it was the right thing overall. He was my boss. We weren't supposed to have a sexual relationship.
But I didn't have the guts to call him. I knew he wouldn't call me because he thought I was dealing with a medical emergency for my dad. It was up to me to call him, and I was way too chicken to do it.
Instead, I played Solitaire on my phone trying to work up the courage until I passed out on the couch. I woke up with a crick in my neck and a dead phone. At least the sun woke me, so I wasn't late to work.
However, the entire drive there was torture.
What was I going to say to Jacob? We had sex in the break room, and to be honest, I would never look at that room the same way again. But, he was my friend. And my boss. This was suddenly very awkward and as far from professional as we could get.
Donna was parked in the front, but I didn't see Jacob's motorcycle or his car. I checked my watch to see that I was about ten minutes early, but I had been hoping he'd be early too so that we could talk before patients arrived.
I hoped that he wasn't going to be late just to avoid talking to me.
What if he really regretted what we did? What if he pretended it didn't happen?
I wasn't sure what I would do. I knew that we couldn't date. Not in our town. The town wanted the perfect fairy tale of the good doctor dating the town star baker. They didn't want their most eligible bachelor knocking his boots with the nurse that didn't belong here.
He was the bad boy come home triumphant and I was the girl that left and wasn't staying. If anyone in town thought that the two of us were even thinking of dating one another, I'd be destroyed. He was practically married to Katie in the eyes of the town. I would be the other woman. It wouldn't be pretty.
I swallowed hard before getting out of my car and going inside. I'd actually put on makeup this morning and had attempted to tame my curly hair into something that looked nice. I'd mostly managed to look pretty, and I'd hoped it would give me more confidence that it was. I was a nervous, guilty wreck.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that what we did was a bad thing. We weren't a couple and we weren't ever going to be. He was my boss. I was leaving in a year or so. I was going to have a major loss in my life. It just wouldn't work out and I should have stopped it before it got this far.
I didn't even want to think about the part of the night where we didn't use a condom. That was stupid. I blamed the adrenaline and the fact that he was so hot I didn't want to stop. It was just one more thing that told me the whole experience, while amazing, was not something we should repeat.
I said hello to Donna and headed to my office to drop off my things. I needed to restock supplies and make sure that the rooms were cleaned up from the night before. I realized I hadn't done any of my usual closing routines and that patients would be here any minute.
I ran to exam room four and threw open the door, expecting to see dried blood and birthing goop. Instead, the room was spotless and everything restocked. I stared at it for a moment before going to the next room to find that it too was cleaned and ready for the day.
I went back to room four just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Every exam room was clean and ready. Someone had done my job for me last night after I took off to take care of my dad.
“Oh, Dr. Matthews cleaned up last night,” Donna informed me, peeking over my shoulder at the clean room. “I can honestly say I've never seen Dr. Taggert do that. This new generation of doctors is something else.”
I knew it had nothing to do with what generation of doctors Jacob was part of. It was because of me. He had cleaned up to help me out.
He was too good to be true.
“That Katie sure is a lucky woman,” Donna continued. “I heard his mother is planning on performing the ceremony herself. The whole town will be invited.”