I wondered if I was in that deep already. “I know. I know you’re right.” I raked my hands across my tight bun, wishing I could run my fingers through my hair. “He keeps texting and wanting to see me.”
“He’s hooked. You know most men don’t do that. Getting one to call back is like pulling teeth. Usually, I’d say if you had one so interested that you should hold onto him, but I have a bad feeling, Lexa. This is going to end badly. You’d do better to be honest, tell him who you are, and then leave him be.”
“But you can see why it makes it hard. I want to see him, too. He’s all I think about. Him and this damned lie.”
“Honey, you’re going to have to stop it cold turkey. It will be hard at first, but you’ll be glad you did.” She pulled me in for a hug and patted my back. “You hang in there, kid.” Then she walked away to get back to work. I knew I should, too, but I couldn’t seem to focus.
Would I give in and talk to Aiden? Maybe if I were honest, he’d be okay with things. And maybe I was having a hard time letting go.
When I saw Dr. Rob later in the break room, the temptation for a man’s point of view got the best of me. I sat at a table alone, looking at Aiden’s last text when he approached.
“There’s the prettiest nurse in the whole hospital.” He always waited until I was the only woman around to say such things, and he earned a look from one of the male orderlies who was having lunch next to me. I gave him a shy smile and shifted in my seat to face the chair the good doctor had chosen.
“Dr. Rob. How’s it going?”
He slid his chair forward and popped a small tomato from his salad into his mouth. “You know you don’t have to call me Dr. Rob. Rob is perfectly fine.”
“But what would the others think about that?” If anyone knew we were talking about more than medicine, we’d be in a whole world of problems.
“I have nothing to hide.” His warm smile lifted the corners of his mouth in a mischievous way.
“No, but you’ll make me the most hated person in the ER. If you only knew how many would give their right eye for a little of your attention, you’d have an ego the size of a blimp.
“So, you’re saying we should sacrifice our happiness in order to protect the feelings of people I have no relationship with? People who are nothing more than strangers to me? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I can’t help but wonder if that’s what’s been bothering you. I know you’ve seemed a bit unlike yourself since I stepped up my game.”
“That was you stepping up your game?” I gave him a nudge, and we shared a laugh.
“I mean, when I finally had the courage to flirt. I don’t want it to be weird or something you’re worried about.” He was so genuine that I couldn’t help but like him, but I didn’t think he was my type at all and knew with every breath in me that I couldn’t love him.
“No, it’s not that. It’s personal stuff.” I turned off my phone and lay it face-down on the table.
“The lawsuit? You know you can talk to me about anything.” He leaned in closer, resting his hand atop mine. “I’m a good listener.”
“I don’t know. There are a few things. I have this friend who’s seeing a guy and hasn’t told him who she really is. Like, that he knows her from somewhere. She’s upset that she lied because now she’s falling for him, but there’s no way out of it. She could end it, of course, but he’s most likely going to find out, anyway. I mean, the possibility is there.” He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “She’s asked me what she should do, and I don’t know what to tell her. We’ve been friends since we were kids.”
“Well, she has to either keep lying and end it or tell him the truth and hope for the best. But I think you see the answer as plain as I do. It won’t work out. He’s going to resent her if he finds out. I think if it were me, I’d end the relationship and hope he never finds out the truth, especially if there’s a sliver of hope that he won’t.”
“There’s a sliver.”
“Well, it’s like I tell my patients: sometimes a sliver of hope is all we have to cling to, but it beats no hope at all.” His hand left mine. “You’ll figure it out, Lexa.”
“I hope so — for my friend.” He gave me a nod, but somehow I think he knew I meant me. If anything, at least it might slow him down a bit.
As he walked away, my phone vibrated against the table. I peeked to see that Aiden was saying hello again. I decided at that moment to take the sliver of hope and let it go. And though my heart was breaking, I knew it was the right thing to do for the both of us.
Chapter Seventeen
Aiden
It was right after four when I went to the bar to see Glen. I hadn’t heard from Lexa all week and already gone through a few phases of denial, grief, and anger. I’d even trimmed my beard much shorter. I held out hope that she was busy, but deep in my heart, I knew I should face the facts.
I took my usual seat, and Glen was behind the bar getting ready for his five o’clock rush.
“You’ve shown up a different time all week, and now you come in looking so trimmed up and sophisticated, I’m scared I’ll never see you in my little dive again.”
I scrubbed my fingers through my beard and then smoothed it out. It was cropped short with slightly longer goatee around the chin. “Yeah, I thought I’d clean it up a bit, but it’ll take more than that to get rid of me.”
“Now, I didn’t say I wanted to lose you. You’re one of my most loyal customers, with the exception of Smitty, and between the two of us, I’m not sure how much longer his liver’s going to let him hang around.” He spoke loud enough for Smitty to hear, but the old man was nursing his long neck and watching the weather on the TV.