His expression grew troubled from my probing, and I gnawed on my inner cheek diligently. My heart did a little flip as excitement trilled in my ears faintly, but knowing Carl was essentially jeopardizing his job to date me... well, it put a damper on things.
"We haven't done anything wrong..."
"I want to."
My lips parted in an 'o' when Carl spoke up immediately, biting the affirmation through his teeth. His bare chest rippled powerfully when he inhaled deeply, and my eyes slid down before I caught myself. The ropes of muscles in his arms strained slightly under his skin, his arm hairs bristling, and I gulped down the lump in my throat.
"It's not unethical unless I use your medical information illegally, like looking up your phone number or where you live in your file for personal contact. If I refer you out, you won't be my patient anymore. There's no set time in my contract that I have to wait. You just can't be a current patient."
"Yeah..." I couldn't even imagine the struggle Carl was enduring, and all because he thought I was attractive and vice versa. "Ha— have you ever had a crush on a patient before?"
"Not beyond very brief admiration of their looks. Most of my patients during my residency came to me because they had cancer or COPD or had destroyed themselves from decades of smoking."
Despite the heaviness of the conversation, the gentle sea breeze carried away the dense atmosphere. Suddenly, the awkwardness seeped down the bench legs, and I leaned forward to pick up my almost forgotten taco with a small nod.
"Did you go to college, Mel?"
"Yeah. I just did two years at the community college in Warwick for business. I figured it was the most versatile thing I could do, and also it'd help me with my money. It's a lot easier having a grasp of how it all works. I definitely wouldn't say I'm talented— average at best."
"You've just been living off it?"
Nodding again, I took a bite of my shrimp taco.
Carl hummed softly. He took a deep gulp of his iced tea, a thoughtfulness in his eyes over the rim of his cup. "Did you invest in anything?"
"When my mom decided to leave my dad, she bought shares at a real estate investment startup. I live off the returns. I guess, technically, I don't actually have all that money, since almost all of it was put into the startup. The real estate agency sends me a bottle of wine every year on the day my mom died. I still try to keep my expenses low, anyway. My mom may have given me the money, but it really was my dad who showed me exactly what I didn't want to end up happening with it." I swallowed my bite before I spoke up, and I frowned a little sourly at my own words. "I don't know what to do. He hasn't tried to call me or anything, which... I don't know if that's a good thing or not."
"It's a good thing. My mom recently got a boyfriend, and she never stops talking about him. Somehow, all conversation becomes about him. I could be dying, and she'd lament that he never got to know me or something."
I snorted a little in amusement, but Carl was clearly miffed about the situation.
"She can't see he's using her, and it's infuriating."
"I know I'm bias, but I can't think anyone is dumb enough to date my dad and not see him for the green monster he is. I mean, it's one thing if the woman wants to spend on him, but... ugh. Just ugh." Shaking my head at my own words, I scrunched up my nose in disgust. "My dad really let himself go. I get it. He's fifty-nine in October, but..."
"Yeah. That's my only saving grace is that this guy is around the same age as my mom. I don't know what I would do if she was dating someone my age."
A bark of uncomfortable laughter escaped me at the notion of my dad doing exactly that— dating some insipid woman my age, and goosebumps swept down my back. "My mom was married to her second husband longer than she'd even known the first. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I think she got married the first time because her own parents made her. They divorced amicably when I was two, and then my mom married her second husband, and they had Laurie when I was almost eleven. He died of heart issues right before I graduated medical school. My sister was devastated. I didn't invest in the guy much, but he was her idol. They definitely had a better relationship than her and my mom."
"I don't know if my mom was going to divorce my dad when he cheated on her the second time, but she was going to cut him out of her will. She died before she could, though, so he got a little of her money and blew through it in a year." Our topics were so personal, but I felt so comfortable sharing with Carl. He'd been through the same thing, almost, just in reverse. Shrugging lightly as I took another bite of my taco, I glanced over as he wiped his mouth to frown at his empty taco boat.
"It's stressing me out like crazy."
My lips twitched in sympathies, and he inhaled a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair to sigh heavily. He was so handsome, and I sucked in my cheeks as I scanned him over the curved edge of my hard shell. He didn't have any tattoos, and he obviously kept himself very well.
"I'm gonna get more tacos. Do you want any more, Mel?"
"Oh, no, I'm good. Thank you, though."
Chapter 13
Carl
"Hey, Mandy." Mandy's blonde head popped up, and a huge smile stretched her lips as relief slumped her shoulders. "Today is going to be a great day. I can feel it."
"You're back! I was terrified I'd get sent back to the ER, Carl. What happened with HR?" Swiveling around as I leaned on the door frame, I waved a hand in dismissal, and Mandy's smile widened even more. "You're in the clear?"
"Yes, and Eva was transferred out to Boston. According to HR, she left on Saturday. I'm guessing they gave her an ultimatum to run away as fast as she could before they dug deeper into my allegations. She transferred, they closed the case and don't have to deal with the fallout." Honestly, I knew that Eva would get off light, but that didn't mean it didn't bother me. If the roles were reversed, I'd be in jail, my credentials gone, my whole life wasted... but because she was a woman, it wasn't as serious to sexually assault someone? I wasn't sure, and I sure as shit wasn't going to dwell on it.
Eva was gone, and I was grateful for that.
"I'm sorry it's like that, but at least she's not here. Plus, Boston isn't like this sleepy town. I bet she's spent so long not being a real pediatrician that she'll get fired for negligence eventually, or she'll be so miserable actually doing her job that she'll quit."
Nodding firmly, I frowned when Mandy's blue eyes narrowed on me quizzically.
"Are you gonna sue her for what she did?"
"I thought about it, but considering how things played out... I just want to forget about her. If I never see Eva again, it'll be too soon. It's good I've been to Boston before because I'm never going back."
Mandy laughed.
I smiled a little as I nodded at her. "I need you to contact Dr. Sahper in Providence for me. Can you send him an email asking for his availability for a referral?"
"Yeah. I'll do that once I'm done digitizing these." She patted her stack of files lightly, and I was grateful Mandy wasn't actually a nurse but a medical coding specialist. She couldn't ask about patients, didn't care, just did her job, and went home with a nice paycheck for a little work. "I'm glad you got out of that unscathed, Carl. I mean, I knew you would, but it's like... you don't deserve that crap."