“You are nothing like I thought,” she said without thinking, then groaned. “What I mean is I thought you’d be more, ah, formal.”
“I can be. I usually am.” He frowned. “For some reason, I’m more comfortable around you.”
“You are?”
“Yes. You’re easy to talk to.” He gave her a sheepish smile. “I like that I can make you laugh.”
“Oh.” Her heart gave a little hop. “I like that, too.”
They stared at each other for a couple of heartbeats, then Abby told herself she had to move things along or she would say something dumb and spoil the moment.
She motioned to the chair. “Go forth and do crafts.”
He chuckled. “My first time. I’m very excited.”
“Then you need to get out more.”
“I probably do.”
She retrieved her laptop and opened her graphics program. She needed to pick a design, then upload all the words of wisdom. She started playing with different options, not sure what would look the best on two-foot-by-three-foot pieces of cardboard.
Something easy to read, she thought, searching through her favorite fonts. Border or no border? Did she want flowers in the corners or would that be too busy?
She lost herself in her work, loading several possibilities before deleting them and starting over. She wanted the cards to look nice, but not steal attention from the words. The message was important, not the delivery system.
Eventually she decided on something simple. Just a pretty italicized font with interlocked rings at the top of the card. She printed out a sample and studied it, only to realize it had been at least an hour and what about Joaquin.
“Sorry,” she said, turning to him. “I got lost in what I was doing.”
“You were focused. Now that you’re taking a break, is this what you were looking for?”
She walked over and glanced at the cards he’d finished. The beads were perfectly placed. As she watched, he picked up a flower bead, dabbed on some glue and set it into place.
“You have really steady hands,” she said.
He looked at her. “I have some training in that.”
“Oh, no!” She stared at him. “You’re a fancy surgeon guy. I shouldn’t be asking you to do something like this.”
“Why not? It’s my brother’s wedding. I told you, Abby. I want to help.”
“Still. What a waste.”
Humor brightened his eyes. “Did you have some surgery you wanted me to perform instead of this? A patient waiting in a back room?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Then let it go. This is oddly relaxing. Now what have you been working on?”
She showed him the design she’d decided on. “I want it to be clean but pretty. The message is important, not the graphics.” She hesitated. “Is it too plain?”
“They’re going to like it very much.”
“I’m glad. I hope so. I want them to be thrilled with the surprise.” She looked at the sheet of paper. “Okay, I’m going to upload all the advice and email it to the graphics place. Then I’ll help you finish the place cards and then we’ll start on the birdseed.”
Joaquin’s eyebrows drew together. “Birdseed?”
“To throw on the bride and groom.”
“Not rice?”
“Rice hurts birds. They’re not supposed to eat it. Birdseed is safe.”
He looked at her and smiled. “Because we like birds?”
“All nature.”
“Even snakes and spiders?”
“We keep our distance from them but we still like them.”
“You’re very fair.”
“I try to be.”
She returned to her computer. Joaquin was kind of a great guy. Not that it meant anything, she told herself. Spending time with him was the right thing to do. If she happened to be enjoying herself, that was simply a bonus.
CHAPTER FOUR
JOAQUIN HAD ASSUMED a morning doing crafts would be torture, but he found he’d actually enjoyed the experience. The repetitive task had quieted his mind, and seeing the growing stack of completed name cards had been oddly satisfying. Just being in the same room as Abby was an added bonus. He liked being around her. As he’d worked, he’d kept glancing at her, studying the changing expressions on her face as she completed her project.
She was beautiful, but her appeal was more than external, his mind circling around to what he’d thought before. There was something about her energy. She drew him in.
“We should go to Jo’s Bar for lunch,” Abby told him a little after noon. “It’s unique.”
“Vegan?” he asked.
She laughed. “No. You’ll find meat and dairy on the menu. They have the best nachos. And margaritas, but it’s a little early in the day for that. Is that okay?”
He wasn’t sure if she was asking about going to Jo’s Bar, the nachos or not having a margarita, and he found he didn’t care. Making her laugh or smile was its own reward. Besides, food had never been that important to him. Like many things in life, it was a means to an end. He needed fuel to keep functioning. As a rule, he ate healthy food because his body preferred it.
“Sounds perfect,” he told her.
“Good.”
“Should we invite your mother?” Not that he had any interest in dining with Liz, but maybe there would be a way to mention Simon.
Abby shook her head. “No. When she’s in her office, we leave her alone. Once she gets on a roll, any interruption breaks her concentration. She’ll be fine.”
They stepped out into the warm, sunny day. The neighborhood was pleasant enough, he supposed. There were houses on both sides of the streets, green lawns, bikes left on porches. He supposed this was how most people grew up—in neighborhoods of some kind. While he preferred his high-rise condo, he could see the appeal. If one had children, a yard would be nice. His parents’ house had a yard—not that he’d ever been one to play outside. He hadn’t seen the point. Nor did he now. He exercised because being fit made him a better surgeon but he didn’t like the outdoors. It was too unpredictable.
“You’re looking intense about something,” Abby told him.
“Wondering what it was like to grow up in a place like this.”
“Where did you grow up?”
“In schools and universities.”
“So no Little League?”
“No.”
“I want to say that must have been hard, but you can’t miss what you didn’t know. Did you have friends in school or were you too much younger?”
“I’m not a friend kind of person.”
“I don’t believe that for a second. Everyone needs friends.” She studied him. “What about at work? There have to be people you like.”
“Some more than others.”
The conversation made him uncomfortable, yet he didn’t try to change the subject. Mostly, he supposed, because he wanted to know what Abby was thinking. She had a unique perspective he enjoyed.
“Are people afraid of you?” she asked.
“Some.”
“Do you yell or are you quietly disdainful?”
He hesitated. “Why would you ask if I’m disdainful?”
“Because you wouldn’t suffer fools gladly. Is that the right expression? Plus, you obviously care about your work and your patients, so you’d be mad at anyone who wasn’t perfect.” She smiled. “I am jumping to many conclusions here. Feel free to stop me.”
He thought about the nurses who avoided his rotations and how people quieted when he approached. More than once he’d heard a muttered “asshole” as he’d walked by.
“I am not the most popular surgeon in the hospital.”
“Are you the best?”
“Sometimes, but not always.”
“It must be hard when you lose
someone,” she said quietly.
“It is.”
“I’m sorry.”
He nodded, thinking that for so many people the phrase “I’m sorry” was meaningless—almost conversational punctuation. But Abby was different—he knew she genuinely was sorry.
For a second he thought about telling her about the burn patient he’d lost. How helpless he’d felt, how he hadn’t known what to do to save her. Only he didn’t because getting too close to the truth was dangerous. She couldn’t know why he was in town.
He realized then he was deceiving her. He had been from the beginning, but suddenly he minded. She deserved better.
“I can be a jerk,” he said without thinking. “I’m impatient and thoughtless when it comes to how I treat people. If someone makes a mistake, I’m rarely understanding.”
He looked away, not wanting to see the smile go out of her eyes.
“Because you don’t make mistakes?”
“I make them. I try not to, but they happen.” Rarely. And never the same one twice.
“So you get frustrated and you react. It’s not uncommon, but it’s not very likable. You should change that.”
He glanced at her. “Just like that?”
“Why not? If you’re so very smart, it shouldn’t be hard, should it?”
The corners of her mouth turned up as she spoke. She was stating a fact, not making a judgment. There was no contempt in her eyes, no scorn. He supposed that was what he’d sensed from the first. That she was one of those very rare people who accepted people for who they were.
“You are going to be an extraordinary teacher.”
She smiled. “I think I could be a good teacher, but extraordinary is asking a lot. Still, I appreciate you saying that.”
“I mean it.”
Her smile widened.
Standing there on the sidewalk, in some ridiculous town, Joaquin had the sudden urge to lean in and kiss her. Really kiss her. He wanted to feel her lips on his and then maybe pull her close. Yes, definitely pull her close because he needed to experience what it felt like to hold Abby.
The wanting was more powerful than he’d ever felt before and the intensity shocked him.
She started walking again. He fell into step with her, not sure what had just happened.
They reached the center of town quickly.
“It’s over there,” Abby said, pointing to a storefront with a sign that said Jo’s Bar. “It’s kind of different, so brace yourself.”
“I am fully braced.”
They went inside.
Joaquin had expected the place to be a bar, but it wasn’t. Not in the traditional sense. For one thing, the colors were all wrong. The walls were a pale lavender and there was too much light.
There was an actual bar, but there was also a play area with several small children stacking blocks together. The televisions were off and most of the clientele seemed to be female.
Nearly everyone turned to watch them walk in. Several of them called out a greeting. Joaquin had the brief thought that he should have researched Simon’s wife, so he would recognize her if he saw her. As it was, he found himself being introduced as Melissa’s future brother-in-law and a doctor.
They found a small table in the corner. Once they were seated, Abby looked at him. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Just like that? Aren’t you going to ask me why I want to know or what I have planned?”
“I have no reason not to trust you.”
“Great. Then I’ll order.”
Their server appeared. Abby smiled. “Chicken nachos and the lemonade of the day.”
“You got it.”
Abby smiled. “You will be amazed by your lunch.”
“I’m not sure I’ve had nachos before.”
“What? Aren’t you from California? How is that possible?”
“I just never have.”
“But nachos are a football-game-watching tradition. What about Super Bowl parties or Cinco de Mayo? What about—” Her teasing voice quieted. “Oh, no. This is another ‘because you’re brilliant’ thing, isn’t it? We should make a list and work through as much of it as we can while you’re in town.”
Not an offer he thought he should turn down, he told himself, wondering how he could add a few kisses onto that list.
A pair of old ladies walked over to the table. The one wearing a bright red velour tracksuit eyed him.
“Are you really a doctor?” she asked.
Abby sighed. “Joaquin, these two are Eddie and Gladys. This is Joaquin. He’s new. Be nice.”
“I’m perfectly nice,” Eddie said, never taking her gaze off Joaquin. “So the doctor thing. It’s real?”
“Yes.”
“Married?”
Joaquin withdrew slightly. “No.”
Eddie turned to Abby. “You could do worse, missy. It’s time you had a serious boyfriend.”
Gladys’s gaze turned speculative. “She’s right. This one could qualify for our butt show.”
Joaquin had no idea what they were talking about but he knew it wasn’t good. Abby waved them away.
“Stop,” she said firmly. “You’ll scare him. It’s not nice.”
“You didn’t used to be so bossy,” Eddie told her with a sniff.
“I am now, so you’re going to have to get used to it.”
“I might have to talk to your mother.”
Abby grinned unrepentantly. “Mom will take my side and you know it.”
The two old ladies walked away. Joaquin watched them go. “Do I want to know about the butt show?”
“Probably not, but it is a compliment.” She drew in a breath. “They have a cable access show. They feature the naked butts of different men in town.” She waved her hand. “It’s kind of their thing. So it’s flattering that you were asked.”
“They’re fairly old.”
“Yes, but you might not want to mention that to them.”
He thought about what else they’d said. “Why are they concerned you don’t have a boyfriend?”
“They want to see everyone paired up and married. I want that, too. For myself, I mean, not for everyone. Eventually.”
There was a wistful quality to her voice.
“You want to get married.”
She held up both hands. “Let’s not put it like that. Getting married isn’t the goal, it’s the result. I want to meet someone special and fall in love and then get married and have kids. I probably should have done it while I was in college.”
“It?” She couldn’t mean...
“Fall in love. There were a lot of guys on campus. You’d think I could have found one or two, but I never got beyond liking someone a fair amount. Now I’m going to suffer from a lack of appropriate guys.”
“Fool’s Gold doesn’t have single men?”
“Oh, there are a few, but I know most of them. I’m not going to meet anyone through work.” She held up one finger. “No dating where you work. It’s messy if things go wrong.”
“Agreed.”
She held up a second finger. “Chances are the parent of a student is married, and even if he isn’t, it’s still wrong because his kid is in my class. I don’t know where else am I going to meet a single guy, unless there’s one in my apartment building.”
She sounded hopeful. Joaquin wasn’t sure he liked the idea of her falling for her neighbor. “It would still be a problem if you broke up. You’d run into him all the time.”
“You’re right. See? I should have done it in college. What about you? Did you do it in college?”
There was something suggestive about the way she asked the question. No, he told himself. He was reading it all wrong.
“You mean did I fall in love?”
“Uh-huh.”
> “I was twelve in college.”
“Oh, right. So no.” She looked at him. “Why do you and Davis look so different? He looks a lot like your parents. Is there a distant aunt who’s tall and blonde?”
“You don’t know?”
Abby shook her head.
“I’m adopted. My parents thought they couldn’t have children and they adopted me. Two years later, Mom got pregnant.” He’d often wondered if her body had done that in self-defense when she’d realized how difficult he was going to be. Not a sound biological theory but one he couldn’t shake.
“I didn’t know that. No one told me. We have that in common. Only you were a baby and didn’t know any different. I knew my biological parents. At least my dad. I don’t remember my mom. But now I have Liz and Ethan and they’re great.”
“And the forty-plus other relatives.”
“There is that. Did I tell you Ethan has triplet sisters? How on earth would anyone handle triplet babies? I can’t begin to imagine. Oh!” She smiled. “I totally forgot. So one of my aunts is married to a surgeon. Simon Bradley. I don’t know if you’ve heard of him or not. Anyway, he and his wife, Montana, want to take us to dinner. If you’re interested. I thought you’d have a lot in common with Simon.”
And there it was, Joaquin thought. With zero work on his part. For a second, he felt a flash of guilt, as if he was doing something wrong. But how could he be, he told himself. Abby was asking him to dinner with her uncle. It would be rude not to accept the invitation.
“Sounds like fun,” he told her.
“Great. I’ll get something set up.”
Just then their server returned with two glasses and a huge plate of what he assumed were nachos.
“You’re going to love this,” Abby told him.
He smiled. “I’m sure I am.”
* * *
I totally forgot I have a workout class this morning, so I can’t pick you up until after that.
ABBY PUSHED SEND on her phone, then rolled onto her back. She’d gotten a slow start that morning—mostly because she hadn’t slept well the night before. Thoughts of Joaquin had kept her awake long past her bedtime.
She wasn’t usually the type to lie awake, thinking about a guy, so her reaction confused her. Yes, he was funny and really good-looking and she liked being around him, but so what? She had a wedding to deal with and a summer to enjoy and...
A Fool's Gold Wedding Page 4