His mom came close and cupped his face. “When you called last night, there was something in your voice.”
Yes, because he’d been pretty sure he’d been about to die a terrible, horrible death.
“You had love in it,” she whispered. “I could tell you were deeply moved. Clearly, Jane did that for you. I want to meet her, Levi. I want to hug her and thank her. And feed her. At my anniversary dinner.”
Yeah, he was a selfish idiot. “Mom, that’s weeks from now. By then I’ll be back in the city. You and Dad usually go out, just the two of you.”
“Not this year. This year I’m having a dinner party with my family, and that means you. And you can’t leave and come back. Mateo said you’ll have to rest for several weeks at least. So see, you will be here for the dinner.”
“That is not anything close to what he said.”
“That’s what I heard.” His mom looked at Levi’s dad. “Tell him, Hank.”
Levi’s dad turned to him. “You should do what you want, son. You always did.”
There was a lot to unpack with that statement, but Levi’s head was throbbing and his vision was blurry and all he wanted was to close his eyes. “I can take care of myself while I heal.”
“Levi Anthony Cutler, we’re perfectly qualified to help you and care for you even if you’re smarter than the rest of us put together!”
“Hey,” Tess complained, then shrugged. “Okay, maybe. But probably the concussion killed some of his brain cells, right? It might’ve knocked his high IQ down a few points and evened the playing field.”
“You’ll stay,” his mom said to him.
Resistance was futile. “For as long as medically advised,” he said—as much as he was willing to concede.
His mom beamed from ear to ear. “I’ll cook, you’ll eat. And . . . we’re going to get to meet Jane!”
Welp, he’d walked right into that one. Which actually put his so-called high IQ in question. “I’ll still need to work,” he reminded her.
“You’re your own CEO. You can work from anywhere.”
That might be true, but unlike everyone else who shared his last name, he needed his own space to function. A quiet space, and order.
And possibly a lobotomy.
Daisy came in, took one look at Levi, and shook her head. “Everyone out,” she said. “My patient needs quiet.”
Levi nearly asked her to marry him on the spot. When the room was blessedly empty, he gave her a look of gratitude. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. They won’t go far.”
Didn’t he know it. He ran his thumb over Jane’s locket. She’d want it back, he knew that much. Pretend girlfriend or not, he was going to have to find her. And why that gave him his first real smile of the day, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
Chapter 6
Charlotte walked through the hospital, realizing that even after ten straight hours of being on her feet, she was feeling good. Even cheerful. Weird as it might be to anyone not in the field, she loved her life here. Loved everything about what she did. Helping people. Healing people.
It distracted her from her own life.
As for why she needed that distraction in the first place—well, she wasn’t one to dwell, so she didn’t go there.
Realizing her stomach was grumbling and that she hadn’t eaten in far too long, she headed toward the staff room. Surely it was someone’s birthday and there would be goodies.
She loved goodies.
As she entered, the large room went silent. Interesting. They weren’t a silent bunch. They were highly educated know-it-alls with a social immaturity that came from being in college for half of their lives. She narrowed her eyes. “What?”
It was dinnertime, so the room was fuller than normal. There were staff on the two couches, at the two tables, standing in the small kitchenette area.
All looking at her.
“Did I miss a call?” she asked.
“You won the pool.” This from Mateo. His voice was its usual husky tone, the one that tended to give her goose bumps. Goose bumps she pretended meant he grated on her nerves.
A big fat lie. “Which pool?”
Valid question. Important too. There were at any given time ten to twenty different pools going on at the hospital. Yes, the staff members were swamped and run ragged almost every minute of the day. But in those rare seconds they could socialize, it was almost always about their ongoing wagers.
Could Lonny make it through his shift without one of his four-year-old twins calling 911 to talk to their “daddy.”
Could Rae keep herself from pranking anyone.
Could Mateo manage to not get hit on by a patient or patient’s family member.
Could Charlotte keep herself from going in on a new bet for a whole shift.
Note that the last one had been the only bet she’d failed so far.
“You won for the most compliments in a twenty-four-hour period from non-hospital staff,” Mateo said. “Which I had to double- and triple-check because I still don’t get how your patients and patients’ families never fail to make sure everyone in the hospital knows how amazing you are.”
“You doubt the compliments are genuine?”
His eyes darkened. “No. Because I know exactly how amazing you are.”
The parts of herself she’d closed off squirmed. She ignored those parts. “Then what’s the problem?”
“You’ve won every pool this week.”
“And?” she asked.
“And you’re getting rich off us.”
She laughed and held out her hand for the envelope of cash, not a single regret in her mind because everyone in this room made enough money. “So I’m a little competitive, so what?”
Mateo snorted. “A little? You still haven’t forgiven Montana for beating you out on the number of surgeries you performed in a twenty-four-hour period last week.”
“That’s because she cheated.”
“I did not!” Montana pointed at her with a soda can. “It’s not my fault I got called onto the floor for one last surgery before the end of shift.”
“It was fifteen seconds until the end of your shift. It shouldn’t have counted. In fact, let’s just have a redo.”
Montana suddenly beamed. “Yes, let’s.”
Charlotte nodded her head.
“Ha!” Montana practically bounced up and down as she clapped. “You just lost today’s bet, the one where you promised not to go in a pool today.”
Well, damn.
“Your hot streak is over,” Montana said.
“Temporarily only,” she said.
The crowd went back to talking and eating. Well, everyone except Mateo, who was just watching her, slowly shaking his head.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“It’s something,” she insisted. “Let’s hear it.”
He looked at her for a long moment. Then he smiled with his eyes. “Maybe another time.”
“Why?”
“You’re not ready.”
And then he walked off. She found herself watching him go. “When will I be ready?”