D is for Doctor (ABCs of Love Sweet Romance Book 4)

by Brenna Jacobs

  “Oh. No, she, she just moved in. Way on the . . .” David motioned with his hand toward the back side of the complex. “Back there. She doesn’t know anyone yet.”

  “I bet she doesn’t,” Tucker said.

  David took a step backward. “I guess I should, um, get back to the hospital.”

  “I thought you were going on a date,” Jessica said. She frowned, as if she felt genuine sadness he was going to work instead.

  “Nope, nope. Got to work tonight.” Man, he was spinning lies fast. “I’m on call, so I thought I might be able to go out, but I just got called in. So. Life of a doctor, right? It was great seeing you though.” He clicked his key fob to unlock his car then moved to the driver side door.

  David pulled out of the parking lot, his heart hammering in his chest. He breathed in through his nose then out through his mouth wondering if he might need to pull over so he could throw up. What had he been thinking? How on earth had he ever thought himself capable of actually setting up some sort of entrapment? He wasn’t James Bond. He didn’t know how to be stealthy or secretive. And he lied about as well as he talked to women.

  He pulled back into the Velvet Undergrounds parking lot and parked, dropping his head onto the steering wheel. He was an idiot.

  He liked Avery.

  He really liked Avery.

  But he was pretty sure she knew that. And she was still choosing to be with Tucker. Whether he was able to ruin Avery’s relationship or not, would it actually matter? Maybe he’d prove Tucker was a jerk and then Avery still wouldn’t want to date David. There were no guarantees.

  And if history was an indication, no matter how much Lucy insisted it was possible, women like Avery never dated men like him.

  “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” he muttered, banging his forehead against the wheel.

  David drove home in silence, shame coursing through him hot and thick. It was time to move on. He couldn’t keep acting like this, couldn’t keep spending so many hours thinking about Avery.

  He pulled into his driveway and sighed. How could he not think about Avery when she lived right next door? He watched as she walked up the pathway from the beach in a swimsuit and a pair of cutoffs, a paddle board under her arm. When she saw him climbing out of his car, she dropped her board onto the grass and changed her course, crossing to where he stood.

  “Hey,” she said, dusting sand from her palms.

  David looked toward the beach. “How was the water?”

  “Warm,” Avery said. “And calm.” She pulled her phone out of her back pocket. “There was a school of dolphins just of the shore and they let me get really close.” She held out her phone. “Look.”

  David scrolled through several pictures Avery had taken of the dolphins swimming around her paddle board. “That’s amazing.”

  “Have you ever done it?”

  “No, not yet. I’d like to try though. My friend Lucy loves it.”

  Avery smiled. “It’s so fun. There’s a place over by the yacht club where it’s easier to launch because you don’t have to deal with the waves. Tucker and I used to go all the time, but we haven’t . . .” She shook her head, her words trailing off.

  “You haven’t what?” He handed her phone back.

  “It’s nothing. You and I should go sometime.”

  David’s stomach tightened. He’d love to go with her sometime. But, maybe that wasn’t the best choice if he truly wanted to stop thinking about Avery so much. If he was going to get over her, spending more time with her was the worst thing he could do.

  “Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you for some ideas about things I could do around town.” He cleared his throat. “Um, date ideas.”

  Avery stilled. “Oh.” She tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear, a trace of hesitation in her voice. “Sure. I can help with that.”

  Had he made her uncomfortable by asking? David suddenly wanted to back-pedal, tell her he’d love to go paddle boarding with her. He’d love to do all the things, everywhere, with only her.

  But Lucy was right. Dating someone else might be the best thing to do to get Avery—and Tucker—out of his mind. “I just figure it’s time. I’m settled at work, I’m mostly unpacked. Why not try dating?”

  Avery nodded. “It’s a good idea.”

  Neither of them said anything for a long moment. “So I guess I’ll text you a list of ideas,” Avery finally said, breaking the awkward silence.

  “That would be great,” David said. “Really great.”

  Avery said goodbye and David watched as she walked across the yard to her house, stopping on the way to grab her paddle board from the grass at the edge of his driveway. He watched the muscles tighten along her back as she hoisted the board, carrying it over her head to her back porch where she stored her beach things.

  He could tell himself he’d date other people. He could even pretend he wanted to. But how was any other woman ever going to compare when Avery was the standard?

  Chapter 11

  Avery stared at her phone, unsure how to respond. She’d known David was thinking about dating, but this felt so . . . proactive.

  You mentioned a friend at work once a few weeks back. Someone you thought I could possibly take out on a date? Could that still happen?

  She and David texted a lot. Not every day. But several times a week. He’d ask questions about his house or where to get the best sushi. She’d asked him weird medical questions or text him random pictures of baby sea animals. And they’d talk about life stuff. About his relationship with his sisters, or how much her parents wished she’d leave the island and move upstate to be closer to them.

  It was the kind of chatter that made it easy for her to keep David strictly in the friend zone, even as she grew more and more certain that he had feelings for her. Subtlety wasn’t exactly his strong suit, but as long as they kept their conversation topics light, and veered away from anything that got too personal, she didn’t feel like she needed to stop texting him. She was always completely transparent about Tucker, and they were adults. There was no reason why they weren’t perfectly capable of being friends, without any kind of romantic attachment.

  For all those reasons, it shouldn’t have annoyed her that David had asked her to set him up on a date. And yet, the idea made her feel . . . unhappy? Unhappy wasn’t the right word. Unsettled, maybe?

  Why shouldn’t he date, though? She certainly didn’t have the right to tell him he shouldn’t. And Shelley had asked more than once about Avery’s “cute doctor neighbor.”

  She picked up her phone, chewing on her lip as she keyed out a response.

  Sure, she texted. I can send you Shelley’s number. I’ll let her know to expect your call.

  There. Sent. Why had that felt so hard?

  David’s response popped onto her screen. You never did send over any dating ideas. Can you tell me where to take her? Dinner? A movie? I don’t have a lot of practice dating.

  Avery smiled, despite her earlier hesitation. She’d meant to send dating ideas to David and half-wondered if her subconscious brain was trying to tell her something about why she didn’t. But there was no way she could put him off now. He’d asked for specific help.

  No movie. Not on the first date, Avery responded. Dinner is good. Pick a place downtown, then if it goes well, you can walk to the pineapple fountain in Waterfront Park. You might pick a seafood place. Shelley likes good seafood.

  Avery sent the text, then reread it, making sure she hadn’t missed anything. A thought suddenly occurred to her and she keyed out another message. Seafood . . . but no oysters. Avery didn’t actually know if Shelley liked oysters or not. But she’d had oysters with David. And he’d loved them. She kind of liked the idea of oysters being their thing.

  Got it, David replied. Thanks for the help.

  Avery was home three days later when she saw David leaving for his date. She’d heard enough about it at work that day from Shelley, she was certain that’s where he was headed. Without thin
king, she pushed open her screen door and stepped onto her front porch. “Hey,” she called.

  He looked up and smiled.

  Avery padded barefoot down her steps and across the drive, instantly wishing she’d slipped on the flip flops she’d left by the front door. The ground was hot, the crushed shells in the driveway sharp against her skin. She crossed all the way to the grass that separated her property from David’s, just for a cooler place to stand.

  “You look nice,” Avery said. “You excited?”

  “Yes. No. I mean, yes, I think.” David pinched the space between his eyes. “Just nervous, I guess. I’m not very good at this.”

  “You’re going to do great,” Avery said. And he would. He’d been nervous around her when they first got to know each other, but he’d relaxed soon enough and was always great company. Shelley was going to love him.

  David studied his reflection in the window of his car. “What do you think? Leave the button undone on this one, too?”

  Avery nodded. He wore a polo shirt this time. “Leave it undone,” Avery said. “This is Charleston. It’s not really a buttoned-up kind of city.” It was one of the things she’d always loved about the place. Everything just moved a little slower.

  “Right. Got it.” He took a deep, intentional breath. “Any last-minute pointers?”

  Avery shrugged. “Don’t try too hard? Just relax and be yourself?”

  “Challenging when myself isn’t very relaxed and tends to always try too hard.”

  “It’ll be fine.” Avery took a step closer and reached up to smooth a piece of David’s hair back into place. “You’ve got a lot more going for you than you think you do.” She held his gaze for an extra-long moment, until her heart twitched and she bit her lip, looking away. What was wrong with her?

  “What are you up to tonight?” David asked, his voice softer, gentler than before.

  “I, um, I don’t know yet. Tucker’s coming over, I think. He said something about going up to the food truck festival in Summerville.”

  Avery saw David’s jaw tighten and her defenses immediately went up. But then David relaxed his features and he smiled. “Sounds fun.”

  “Yeah, it should be.”

  In truth, Avery wasn’t super thrilled by the idea of driving all the way up to Summerville. At first, she’d loved this new, more relaxed version of Tucker. No more traditional yacht club Tuesday night dinners or fancy charity events that demanded she wear dresses she couldn’t actually afford and wouldn’t ever wear again. It was the only bright spot in the months following their break-up—the morning she’d taken all those fancy dresses to consignment. What she didn’t understand was why Tucker resisted going to any of the places they’d loved going before.

  “I just want a fresh start,” he’d told her when she brought it up the last time they were together. “Let’s find new favorite places to eat. Make new memories.”

  It was a nice thought, but good sushi was good sushi. Why find a new place when you already knew where to get the best super crunch roll?

  “Well, wish me luck,” David said.

  “You won’t need it,” Avery said. “If I’m up when you get home, come over and tell me about it?”

  David nodded. “Okay.”

  Avery only just resisted the impulse to reach out and give him a hug, but that hardly felt like the right thing to do, especially when sending him off on a date with a friend. But she did spend more than a minute thinking, as she walked back to the cool relief of her air conditioning, what it might feel like to have David’s arms wrapped around her. It was a surprising thought, but those little surprising thoughts seemed to be springing into her mind with greater and greater frequency, with a particular surge right around the time she’d set David up with Shelley.

  Which was totally ridiculous. Because she didn’t have feelings for David.

  When Avery got back into the house, there was a text from Tucker. Sorry, babe. Something came up and I’m not free until later. Can I come by around 11?

  Avery heaved a sigh. No dinner, no time together, but he still wanted to come by at eleven? It was a Thursday night. She had to work in the morning. I’ve got an early start tomorrow. Rain check? she typed out.

  Please? I miss you. I promise not to keep you up too late, his response read, followed by a winking emoji.

  Avery rolled her eyes. So far she’d held her ground with Tucker. She didn’t want to jump back into things too quick. But her defenses were weakening. The day before, he’d shown up at her house with two boxes of chocolate covered elephant ears from the bakery. She hadn’t had one in ages and the fact that he’d remembered they were her favorites was sweet. He really did seem like he had changed.

  Avery thought back to the conversations they’d had when they broke up. Avery suspected Tucker hadn’t actually wanted to end things but felt pressured by his family to cut ties. She didn’t exactly fit the mold of the perfect politician’s wife his father believed Tucker needed. Her father worked in construction and her mom was a librarian. They didn’t qualify as Charleston elite. But maybe Tucker had finally broken free of all that—the family pressure, the expectations.

  She could let Tucker come over. She maybe even wanted to. But then she thought of David getting back from his date, and the invitation she’d issued for him to come over and tell her about it. Knowing David, he’d for sure come. And Avery didn’t want to be otherwise occupied if he did.

  I miss you too, she texted Tucker. But I really need to get some sleep. Tomorrow night?

  It was several hours later when he finally responded. I’ve got a work dinner, but I can come over after. It might be late.

  Avery thought about the implication of his words. If he came late, it was almost inevitable where the night might lead. Was she ready to take their relationship back to that place? She wandered into the kitchen and pulled an elephant ear out of the cardboard packaging that sat on her counter. She took a big bite, then set it down, licking the chocolate frosting from her fingers. Tucker had been nothing but charming and attentive and solicitous of her feelings for weeks. He’d more than earned a second chance.

  She went back to her phone to respond when the lights of David’s car flashed through her front window. Avery glanced at her watch. Just after ten. Not too bad for a first date. She watched through her window as David climbed out of his car then hesitated in his driveway, looking from his house then back to hers. She tried not to think about what it meant when he stepped toward her house and her heart jumped in her chest.

  She swung open her front door before he’d made it all the way up the steps. “Hey,” she said. The night air was cool, so rather than inviting him in, she motioned to the wicker couch that sat at the end of the porch. “Want to sit out here?”

  He nodded, his face still unreadable in the dim light.

  She lowered herself beside him, turning her body sideways and pulling her legs up under her. “So? How was it?”

  David looked at her and grimaced. “I . . . don’t think we will go out again.”

  “Oh, no,” Avery said. “Why not? Is she not your type?”

  “No, she was fine. Great. I just don’t think we really hit it off.”

  Avery narrowed her eyes. There was something he wasn’t saying, but she didn’t want to push it. She’d get the whole story from Shelley at work the next day anyway.

  “That’s too bad. But you have to start somewhere, right? You’re new in town, so dating at all is a big step. I’m proud of you for jumping in the pool.” She nudged him with her arm, referencing back to the conversation they’d had about his hesitance to get in the water at pool parties when he was a kid.

  He shook his head and heaved a deep sigh. “This didn’t really feel like jumping in.”

  “Why not?” Avery asked. “You did it. You went. You jumped.”

  He scrubbed a hand across his face, clearly frustrated by something. “I know, but . . . the pool, it was something I really wanted to do. And this—” He leaned
forward on his elbows, nervous energy radiating off of him in waves. “Shelley is nice, but she’s not what I want.”

  Avery stilled, the words he wasn’t saying hanging in the air between them. She swallowed. “Well, that’s what dating is, right? It’s just a way to help us figure out what we do want.”

  He looked at her then, his eyes clear and intense. “I already know what I want.”

  Avery closed her eyes. If she kept them open, kept her gaze trained on David, she might lean in and kiss him and that was absolutely not what she needed to do.

  She opened her eyes.

  He leaned forward, just slightly, enough for her to know he felt the same pull. She moved toward him, her resistance all but completely crumbled. “David—” she whispered, her lips just inches away from his.

  “I don’t think you should be dating Tucker,” he said, cutting her off.

  Avery frowned, the magic of the moment wilting in the thick, humid air. She sat back on the couch, her cheeks red from their almost kiss. “What? Why?”

  David stood up and moved to the porch railing. He was silent for a long moment before he turned around and spoke, his voice soft. “He’s not good enough for you, Avery. He’s an entitled jerk that . . . I don’t know. I just don’t think he’s right for you.”

  Avery folded her arms across her chest, immediately defensive. Who did David think he was? He didn’t even know Tucker. They’d spoken two times and not for longer than five minutes. “You don’t get to be the one to make that call. Even if I did want the opinions of my friends, you don’t know him well enough to offer one.”

  David scoffed. “I know. . .”

  “You know what?” Avery said, suddenly wondering if David did know something she didn’t.

  He turned away, shaking his head in obvious frustration. “Nothing. I know I don’t know him. I just . . .”

  When he didn’t finish his sentence, it was Avery’s turn to scoff. “You just what, David? You can’t leave that hanging over my head like it’s perfectly normal for you to have such a strong opinion about a guy you’ve spent less than ten minutes with. I don’t know what your problem is with him, but you’ve got to back off. I thought we already talked about this.”