Don’t Fall for the Doctor by Lacey Bolt
Chapter 18
The sound of the front door slamming shut echoed in Michael’s ears. Michael and Kelly stared at each other. Even across the distance of the room, he could feel the heat radiating from her eyes. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and motioned to the kitchen. “Time to eat?”
“What did you say to her last night?” Kelly’s voice cut through him like a knife.
“I didn’t do anything.” Michael shifted his feet and stared at the decorative cat pillow on Kelly’s couch.
“I’m not stupid. She looked like she saw a ghost when you first got here, and you looked even worse. Not to mention that you looked at the doorway every time she walked by.”
“I had a hard day and I’m hungry. Why does she cook for you, anyway?”
“Don’t change the topic.” Kelly stared at him.
He scratched his neck. His own mother didn’t make him squirm as much as she did. Even when he was little, living next door, she instinctively knew when he misbehaved. Like the time he was three years old and tried to take a dead bird home from her yard. Or the time he and her youngest son stole the cookies from her kitchen. Or the time they made a skateboard ramp that went from the door of the treehouse, eight feet in the air, to the ground. She didn’t even give them a chance to try the ramp before taking it apart. Too bad she didn’t stop them in time the next day when they rebuilt the ramp. Michael’s leg throbbed at the memory of the fracture he got that day.
Kelly had perfected the art of the parental glare.
“Fine.” Michael let out a loud sigh. “She got mad at me last night at the hospital. We fought. We both went back to work. The End.”
“You and I both know that is not the end of the story. Why did you fight?”
“It was nothing, really.” He held his breath.
She remained silent. Seriously, she should have taken a job as a military interrogator.
“Fine. She was mad because I tried to hit on her at a bar but acted like I’d never met her before.”
Kelly frowned and narrowed her eyes. “And . . .?”
“And then I tried to kiss her last night.” He couldn’t look at Kelly anymore but still felt the weight of her glare.
“Don’t tell me that you two are acting like a bunch of middle-schoolers because you have crushes on each other.”
“Ouch.” He flinched.
“Do you like her?” Her words were clipped but with a gentle edge.
He paused. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. She got under his skin and played the lead role in his daydreams. He needed to be near her, but he also needed to stay focused on work.
“No.”
Kelly let out a puff of air. “Hmph. You can’t lie to save your life.”
“I don’t have time for dating. You know that.”
“There’s never enough time for everything. That’s why you make time for the things that are important.”
He shrugged and pointed to the doorway. “Dinner’s going to be cold. Ready to eat?”
“I can’t help you if you don’t know what you want.”
“Fine.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I like her, but she’s made it clear that she doesn’t like me.”
Kelly waved her hand dismissively. “She’s slow to get close to people. But once she does, once you earn her trust, she’s a friend for life.”
Michael thought over what she said. “What if she decides she can’t trust someone?”
Kelly shrugged. “She’s been through a lot. I think you still have time to win her over. But don’t mess up. I don’t think she gives people second chances.”
Kelly stood up. Michael’s lips burned with questions. Why didn’t Ashley trust easily? Why didn’t she give people second chances? Did he already waste his one and only chance with her? What would it take to win her over? And what had she gone through to make her so cautious?
He followed Kelly to the kitchen, where an enticing aroma filled the air. Two bowls of steaming soup were on the table, with a basket of bread and water glasses.
His stomach twisted. She spent all that time making the food, and he’d made her so uncomfortable that she ran away. He glanced at Kelly.
She smiled as if she could read his mind.
“I’m going to run to my car to get . . . something.”
Kelly raised her eyebrows.
“Fine. I’m going to see if Ashley is still here so I can apologize and convince her to join us. If she won’t, I’ll leave so you two can eat together.”
She grunted her approval. “Don’t take too long. I’m hungry.”
Michael turned and walked until he passed the front door and stepped onto the porch. The cool, damp porch stung his feet, but that didn’t matter because unless he was hallucinating, her car sat in the driveway.
He barely dared to blink for fear that her car would disappear from sight. It wasn’t even running yet. He thanked the universe that she had to make a phone call or something before she left Kelly’s house.
He inched over the damp gravel driveway to the driver-side window and tapped gently.