by Holly Rayner
“No, I’ll pull up a chair,” she said. Brittany disappeared around the corner and came back dragging a metal chair behind her, the legs screeching against the stone. “I can’t believe you two are still here. Especially you, Dr. Hunt. You’re usually an ‘early to bed, early to rise’ kind of guy.”
“It’s been a fun night, and I have a babysitter for Jamie, so I’m making the most of my free evening,” he said.
Brittany began regaling us with tales from her many years of babysitting and nannying in high school and college, and I was starting to feel tired, but the idea of leaving her alone with Spencer bothered me. I didn’t want to go home and then wonder what would happen between the two of them.
“Isn’t that funny?” Brittany asked, laughing.
Spencer looked up at me, eyes wide, and then we both began nodding and agreeing, even though we clearly had not been paying attention in the slightest.
“I’m exhausted. I need to get home and get to bed,” she said, grabbing her coat and dropping a tip on the bar. “I’m sure you’re just as tired as I am, Jess. We had a lot of patients today.”
“Yeah, it was a busy day,” I said, making no move to grab my things.
“We can share a cab, if you want?” she asked. “I don’t know that I feel good enough to drive.”
“I think I’d like to walk, but thanks,” I said.
Brittany was right; it had been a very long day. My feet were killing me, but I also didn’t want to sit in a cab with her. I wanted time to clear my head, and the evening was cool and crisp, the perfect walking weather.
“Okay,” she said, standing up slowly. “What about you, Dr. Hunt? Care to share a cab?”
He looked from her to me, and seemed to think about something for a moment. “Actually, I’d like a walk, as well. Would you mind if I joined you, Jess?”
“No, of course not,” I said, trying hard to keep my face neutral. I didn’t want Brittany to see me smile.
Brittany crossed her arms. “Okay. Well, goodnight, then.” She hesitated for a minute before walking away, looking awkward.
“Goodnight, Brittany. See you Monday,” Spencer said. “Are you ready, Jess?”
We followed Brittany through the bar and to the sidewalk out front, but when she stopped to hail a cab, we took a right and headed towards my house.
“You don’t have to walk me home,” I said when we were at the end of the block. “I have pepper spray in my purse.”
“Really?” he asked, eyes wide.
I nodded. “I bought it online.”
“Remind me to never sneak up on you in a dark alley,” he joked. “It’s a great night for a walk, regardless of me wanting to ensure you’re safe. The cool air will help me clear my head.”
“Do you have a lot on your mind?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“I do. Jamie’s mum was supposed to be coming to town in two weeks, but she just called and postponed.”
“Oh, no, that’s too bad,” I said. “I’m sure Jamie is disappointed. Did he know she was planning to visit him?”
He nodded. “She only comes back twice a year and he keeps it marked on the calendar all year. I need to tell him soon, but I haven’t exactly worked out how I’m going to do that.”
“Just do it,” I suggested. “Rip the band-aid off.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. It will hurt, but it will be better than lying to him. Tell him and then take him out to do something fun.”
“What do you like to do for fun?” Spencer asked. His arms were swinging loosely at his sides and his hand kept brushing the back of my own. I wondered whether he was doing it on purpose. Whether he realized that he was sending jolts of electricity up my arm with each brush of our skin.
“I’m embarrassed to admit that I mostly hang out with my brother. My schedule was so crazy for so long, and he was always available. It became easy to just tag along when he decided to go do something.”
Spencer laughed. “Well, what does Greg like to do for fun, then?”
“Tomorrow, he’s dragging me to an arcade,” I said, covering my face with my hand and shaking my head. “I know it’s childish, but there will be laser tag and bumper cars and go-karts. It will probably be a blast, even though I’m going to feel very immature.”
“I would love to see you decked out in laser-tag gear,” he said, throwing his head back to laugh.
“What are you trying to say, that I won’t be a serious threat on the battlefield?” I teased.
“Hey, I would never say that. You carry pepper spray around, so clearly you’re not a woman to be messed with.” He held up both hands in surrender.
I pointed at him, my eyes narrowed. “And don’t you forget it.”
Much too soon, we were standing outside of my house. I stopped walking and Spencer carried on for a few more steps before realizing.
“This is me,” I said, hitching a thumb over my shoulder towards my brownstone.
“That was a fast walk,” he said, even though it had actually taken twenty minutes for us to walk the twelve blocks to my house.
“Time flies,” I agreed.
He slipped his hands into the pockets of his dark gray trousers, rolling back on his heels for a moment. “It was nice to spend some more time with you, Jess.” God, I loved the way my name sounded in his accent.
I nodded. “Yes, definitely. You too.”
Internally, I mulled over the statement. Did he mean personally or professionally? Nice? He could have said “great” or “wonderful,” and then I would have had some security. But nice? I told my mom it was nice to talk with her most times she called to talk about Greg, and it was never nice. I tolerated it. Was Spencer tolerating his time with me?
He took a step towards me and I held my breath. We were standing on the same square of cement, less than a foot apart. I looked up at him. His blue eyes looked gray in the darkness. His hair was inky black like the sky and his skin seemed to glow in the moonlight. He looked like the attractive vampire in every horror movie, out prowling the streets for his victim. I wondered if any of the victims ever volunteered, because I felt tempted.
“I’ll see you Monday, then,” he said, his voice low and alluring.
I swallowed and hummed in assent.
He leaned towards me and it was an out-of-body experience. I could see myself as if I was on a movie screen. I could see myself stretching up on my tip-toes, tilting my head back, letting my eyes flutter. And, in the moment, I was too excited at the prospect of kissing Spencer to think about the consequences. I’d worry about all of that later.
Right now, I wanted to enjoy myself.
His hands touched my waist and then slid around to my back. It was happening. I finally let my eyes close, unable to believe this was happening.
And then, he hugged me to his chest.
My eyes popped open and I realized I was looking over Spencer’s shoulder. He had pulled me in for a hug. I quickly made to return the hug, hoping I could play off the most embarrassing moment of my life.
Spencer pulled away and smiled at me. “Goodnight, Jess.”
I was beaming, I just knew it. I was probably smiling so big, I was sending a signal into outer space, confusing satellites.
“Good night, Spencer,” I squeaked.
I lifted my hand in a quick wave and then practically sprinted up the cement walkway to my front door. I didn’t look back.
My trembling fingers fumbled with the key in the lock, and as soon as the door was open, I threw myself behind it and slammed it closed, breathing heavily.
“What was that all about?”
I slammed back into the front door and screamed, hand already digging in my purse.
Greg’s eyes widened and he stepped away from me. “Were you about to use your pepper spray on me?!”
“You scared me. You can’t sneak up on someone like that!”
“I live here,” he said, shaking his head and laughing. “Also, were you trying to kiss him?”
Internally, I groaned. Externally, I screwed up my face and shook my head.
“He’s my boss, Greg. Of course I wasn’t trying to kiss him.”
He shrugged. “Could’ve fooled me.”
“I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
I was halfway across the living room when Greg jogged up behind me and grabbed the sleeve of my shirt. “Wait a minute.”
I was fully prepared to roll my eyes and shrug him off, but when I turned around, his usually lazy smile was gone, replaced with a furrowed brow. The big sister intuition inside of me began firing off warning shots. Something was wrong.
“I know you said that Dr. Dreamy is just your boss,” he said.
“Do not call him that.”
He waved my protest away and continued. “But I want you to be careful.”
“Greg, I told you. Nothing is going—”
“I know what you said, but I still want you to be careful. If you think there’s any chance that a thing between the two of you would end badly, then don’t do it. This is a great job for you. You have been coming home every day with a smile on your face. And it’ll be great when you decide to go to med school. You’ll have a ton of hands-on experience. I just don’t want to see you ruin a good thing because of a reckless decision.”
I knew where Greg was coming from, and part of me even knew he was right. But another part of me, the same part that had almost tried to kiss my boss in front of my house, was embarrassed and upset.
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “If you remember, you’re the reckless one in this family.”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. Greg leaned back as though I’d slapped him and then looked at the floor, his cheeks red.
“I’m sorry,” I said, reaching towards him and then letting my hand fall. “That wasn’t fair.”
“It kind of was.” He shrugged.
This time, I reached out and actually grabbed his elbow. “No, it wasn’t. And I’m sorry.”
He gave me a small smile. “I forgive you.”
“Thank you. Now, I’m going to bed before I can say anything else stupid. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“You better rest up if you want any chance of beating me in laser tag tomorrow!”
“Please, I’ll crush you,” I shouted back.
After I shut my door, I heard Greg laughing from the living room.
Chapter 10
Talking about going to the arcade as a thirty-two-year old turned out to be less embarrassing than actually doing it. Greg and I were the only adults in the room who weren’t there to chaperone preteens, and coming in first in a go-kart race was a lot less satisfying when you realized you were the only person on the track with a driver’s license.
Still, Greg and I had a great time. We hopped on plastic motorcycles and raced through the virtual streets of Tokyo, we rammed into one another over and over again in bumper cars, and we played too many rounds of laser tag to count.
The course was in a huge room at the back of the complex. It was two stories tall and lit only by a black light, the neon graffiti painted all over the half-walls and partitions glowing. The teenager working the game split everyone into two teams—red and blue—which were recognizable by the red or blue lights flashing in a circle on our vests. The first few rounds, Greg and I were on the same team, but the kids playing with us quickly decided that it wasn’t fair and demanded we be split up. We obliged.
I’d pulled my hair back into a ponytail after the third round to keep it from sticking to the back of my sweaty neck. As childish as I felt, running around a dark obstacle course shooting a laser at children, I couldn’t deny how much fun I was having. Ducking behind barriers and rolling across the floor to escape the attacks from the small army of children Greg had wrangled to try to target me felt exhilarating. Plus, I was getting a great workout.
In the fourth round, I was hiding in the bird’s nest of a tower in one of the back corners, sniping kids as they walked past, when suddenly, I felt the rumble of footsteps moving up the ramp behind me. I spun around and held my gun to my chest, trying to hide the red lights flashing on my vest.
As soon as the figure came into view, I lunged forward and shot the center of their flashing chest light with my laser beam.
“Bang! You’re gone!” I shouted, throwing my head back and cackling.
The person shouted in surprise, and I realized the shout was much deeper than that of a child. Much more manly.
“I didn’t know anyone was up here,” he said.
I was about to squeeze past the man and make my escape, but his voice froze me in place.
“Spencer?”
His head jerked up and he smiled, his white teeth glowing in the black light.
“Jess?”
My boss was crouched in front of me, decked out in laser-tag gear. And worse, I’d just shot and then taunted him.
Suddenly, the buzzer ending the round went off and the lights kicked on. I squinted against the brightness, holding a hand to my forehead. Spencer blinked as his eyes adjusted.
“I guess we should head back to the base,” he said.
I crawled out from my hiding spot and walked down the ramp behind him, kids streaming through the course around us on all sides.
“You made the arcade sound like so much fun that I thought I’d take Jamie,” Spencer said, scouring the crowd of kids, looking for his son. “There’s a few different arcades around the city, so I didn’t really expect to run into you and your brother. I didn’t mean to crash your fun.”
“You didn’t crash anything,” I said.
He smiled. “Well, good. Now that we’ve crossed paths, then, maybe we could do something together? I know Jamie would love to have some company other than his old man.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t think of you as his old man,” I said. “I bet you’re a cool dad.”
“A cool dad who can’t play laser tag. I don’t think I landed a single shot in there. But you seemed like you were having fun.”
I lifted my shoulders and scrunched up my face in embarrassment. “I might have let myself get carried away in the excitement.”
He laughed and then suddenly, a small boy was standing in front of him, talking faster than his mouth could move.
“I was hiding behind a barrier and someone came up from behind me and tried to shoot, but I dove the other way and shot him mid-roll. I was like a superhero or something. And he was a big kid, probably like, twelve.” When he finally stopped to take a breath, he looked up at me, studying my face. Then, he smiled. “I know you.”
“It’s good to see you again, Jamie,” I said, reaching down to shake his hand.
He shook mine back, puffing out his chest as he did so. One thing I’d learned about kids in all my years as a nurse was that they loved to be treated like adults.
We walked outside together, Jamie sharing more stories of his escapades inside the course.
“And there was an older guy who threw himself in front of me to shield me from a laser. I didn’t see it coming, but then he darted in front of me and pretended to be dead after he was shot. It was awesome.”
“An older guy?” I asked. “Did this older guy have curly brown hair?”
Jamie nodded just as my curly-headed brother walked up to meet me.
“Have you checked the scoreboard?” Greg asked. “If you don’t want to ruin your day, I’d consider you avoid it. Because I crushed you in there.”
Suddenly, he seemed to notice who I was with and took a small step back. He gave me a quick knowing look and then extended a hand to Dr. Hunt. As they shook and exchanged quick introductions, I only prayed Greg wouldn’t slip up and call him Dr. Dreamy or something like that. Thankfully, he didn’t.
“If it’s okay with you, my son and I are going to crash in on your day,” Spencer said, pulling Jamie to his side.
“Fine by me. I’m thinking it’s time for greasy pizza and soda, yeah?” Greg raised his eyebrows at
all three of us.
“Sure, I’ll buy,” Spencer said, digging his wallet out of his back pocket.
“No way, doc. I got this one,” Greg said. “Want to help me pick out toppings, Jamie?”
Jamie looked at his dad for permission and, after he got the nod of approval, trailed after Greg all the way to the order counter.
Spencer and I found a table in the food court. It was birthday parties galore. Screaming kids and choruses of “Happy Birthday” provided a perfect wall of sound that offered the closest thing to privacy sitting in the center of a public space could provide.
“I meant it when I said I didn’t know this is where you and your brother were going to be,” Spencer said, leaning across the table to talk, though it wasn’t necessary. I had no doubt the couple sitting at the table next to us couldn’t pick our conversation out of the chaos.
I smiled. “And I believed you.”
“I can’t say I’m not pleased, though.” He looked at me with a smile, blue eyes blazing. I bit my lip and wished I had a drink in my hands. Anything to keep my fingers busy. “You and your brother look a lot alike.”
He’d changed the subject, and I was glad.
“Same hair, same nose. He’s more fun than I am, though,” I said.
“I think you’re very fun. A great conversationalist,” Spencer replied.
“Thank you, but that’s the same as saying someone has a great personality. It usually means they look like a dog.”
Spencer threw his head back and laughed the laugh that I loved. The one I wanted to hear all the time.
“I absolutely am not saying you look like a dog. You’re beautiful, Jess. The opposite of a dog.”
My face reddened. “I wasn’t fishing for a compliment.”
“And I wasn’t taking any bait,” he said, suddenly a bit more serious. The smile had left his lips and was in his eyes, now. “I meant it.”
Jamie and Greg strolled up with two pizzas—greasy, just as Greg had predicted—and four paper cups of soda. We ate and rehashed war stories from the laser tag course. Spencer talked a lot with Greg, discussing soccer matches and the latest tech news, neither of which I knew a thing about, but during the conversation, I couldn’t help but notice how often Spencer’s eyes cut to me.