Chapter 5 – Aston
ASTON
The predawn air is heavy and frozen, my breath pluming out in thick white clouds of vapor.
It has me shoving my hands deeper into my pockets and missing the warmth of LA.
Nine years there have thinned my blood. But as I navigate the quiet streets, I can’t stop wondering if uprooting our lives was the right call after all.
Mom: Zoey wants to say good morning. Do you have a minute?
I smile, typing back quickly.
Me: Absolutely.
I check the time and see that I’ve got thirty minutes before I need to meet with my new boss.
The thought of Zoey in her new bedroom, surrounded by half-unpacked boxes, makes my chest tighten.
She’d been brave about the move. Braver than I was, but I caught her yesterday staring at a picture of her old preschool class with a trembling lower lip.
“It’s just us, Zo-Zo,” I told her, smoothing her blonde curls away from her forehead. “Team Hughes against the world, remember? Boston will be fun. An adventure. And we have Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Alden here.”
She’d nodded solemnly, her eyes looking far too wise for a five-year-old.
I suppose that happens when you lose one parent at the age of four and a half years old.
I tried to keep us in California, but it got to be too hard to do by myself, and Zoey deserves better than that.
Better than all the bad memories that plagued us both.
I want her to have a family. I want her to have light. Not simply a dad who works too many hours and most days still feels like he’s learning how to be a dad.
My phone rings in my hand. “Morning, Zo.”
“Morning.” She yawns loudly.
“What are you doing up so early?”
“I wanted to see you before you left.”
Guilt slams me in the chest like a two-by-four. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I didn’t want to wake you that early. I’ll be home in time to take you to the preschool meet and greet later.”
“Okay.” A pause. “Do you think the other kids are nice?”
“I’m sure they are. You’ll make tons of friends.” I hope. I seriously fucking hope. “You’ll love it as much as you did your last one. Even more so when you start kindergarten this fall. It’ll be so much fun.”
“I guess. Is Skylar here?”
“I don’t know, sweetie. She could be working today too.”
“At your new hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Will she have dinner with us?” There’s no mistaking the hope in her voice.
Great. One five-minute meeting and she’s already getting attached. “I don’t know. I doubt it. I’m not sure how long Skylar is going to be living with us.”
“Oh. Is it because you were mean to her? Because maybe you should say sorry, and then she’ll stay.”
Seriously? What on earth do I do with this? “Skylar has her own adult life going on. It might just be you and me, and that’s okay.”
She’s silent for a beat. “I guess. I’m gonna go have breakfast.”
“Sounds good, sweetie. Have a good day. I love you.”
“Love you. Bye.”
“All done?” my mother says in the background just as Zoey hangs up, and for a moment, it’s so hard to breathe, I feel like I could die.
She misses her mother. I know that. It’s a hole for her that will never close, and a large part of me worries that with time, she’ll forget her, and the hurt will be worse.
She’s simply forming attachments to any female she encounters.
That’s probably normal, but we’ll see what her new therapist thinks.
Forcing one foot in front of the other, I walk myself into the hospital. I’m only working a half day today, and once she’s back in preschool and all settled in, everything will be easier for both of us.
I feel like crap about Skylar.
I haven’t seen her since our blowout in the kitchen yesterday. I moved Zoey’s and my things in, and I didn’t hear when Skylar left. I just know she did and that she didn’t come home last night, which shouldn’t bother me, but it does. Micha told me to keep an eye on her.
He thinks it’s great for all of us if we live together.
And if I weren’t attracted to his sister, maybe it would be.
But that kiss… that stupid surprise kiss.
It left an imprint on my brain in indelible ink.
Every fine detail is glued to my memory.
For reasons I can’t comprehend, it knocked me sideways and scrambled my brain, and I haven’t been right since.
The way her hands felt on my skin and the little sounds she made, and the way she tasted and pressed against me, so small and cute as she stood on her tiptoes and moved her mouth and tongue with mine like kissing me was all she’d ever wanted.
But it was Skylar. Not some random, sexy-as-all-sin woman. Skylar!
I told myself it was just a byproduct of everything. That I was drunk and sad and lonely that night, and that the latter two haven’t changed so much for me. That Skylar was the first person I’d kissed or flirted with since my divorce. But I know better.
My memory of her was tiny, awkward, shy, too young, and too innocent.
The girl had three beers at a college party and threw up.
But that’s not who she is anymore. She’s curves and confidence, with shoulder-length messy blonde hair and green eyes that miss nothing.
And the way she talks to me? I wish I didn’t like her sassy fucking mouth as much as I do.
Would I even have noticed her if it weren’t for the kiss? Would I have thought twice about her? I don’t know. But now I don’t know how to stop.
My first thought when I realized it was her Saturday night was how pretty she was. I couldn’t look away, and she even called me out on my staring, but who could blame me? Then to overhear how she’s never had an orgasm?
What’s the story with that anyway, because there has to be one?
I can’t imagine a world where men aren’t lined up to make her come.
I can’t exactly ask Micha either. It shouldn’t have piqued my curiosity, and she definitely shouldn’t have tickled my interest again.
I’m not dating women right now. I have too much on my plate as it is, and I have to focus on my daughter and my new job in that order.
Plus, she works with me, is ten years younger than I am, and is my best friend’s little sister. She’s in her mid-fucking-twenties, which practically makes me an old man compared to her.
Oh, and she hates my guts because I was a moron and called her a drunken mistake and said she was immature. She can never know the truth. Skylar Davenport is completely off-limits to me. Which is why she has to move out.
The sooner the better.
The hospital looms ahead, and I plow through, ready for the fresh start being handed to me.
After meeting with my boss and talking with the OR and PACU staff, I make my way to the MSICU.
The place I’ve been most anxious to get to today and a place I’ll likely spend just as much time as I will in the OR.
Skylar was not excited to have me work here.
Truth be told, I don’t love the idea of working with her either.
“Dr. Hughes.” A no-bullshit-looking woman greets me as I step onto the floor. “I’m Suzanne, the nurse manager for the MSICU. Welcome.”
“Thanks. I’m happy to be here.”
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do or if you have any questions.”
I glance to my right and find the hallway lined with nurses, all watching me and whispering, some blushing and giggling.
I smile at them while I search. It doesn’t take me long.
Four nurses in, I find a short blonde cocking a hip and folding her arms with a pissed-off scowl on her face as she talks to the redhead next to her.
Now my smile grows, and I wink at her, causing a tittering among the other nurses.
I turn back to the nurse manager. “I was hoping Skylar Davenport could give me a tour of the floor so I have a good lay of the land. I always like to know where things are so I can be prepared should I require an instrument or piece of equipment emergently.”
If she’s surprised I’m asking for Skylar specifically, she isn’t letting on.
Then again, I’m positive everyone in this hospital knows that Skylar is part of the Fritz family the way they know I’m a Hughes, which means they likely know how our families are aligned.
We both come from famous billionaire families, though the Fritzes are a far larger family than ours and thankfully a hell of a lot more famous.
“Absolutely. It’s perfect timing. Her patient was just moved to a floor bed, so she’s awaiting her next, which is currently in the OR for at least another hour.”
“Great.”
I look back at the nurses and don’t see Skylar still among them.
She walked off, and I can’t help my private smile.
She hates that I’m here. I shouldn’t be playing with this fire.
I need to be polite and professional and indifferent.
And I will be. I don’t want to start off on the wrong foot with any of the nurses, her included.
I simply want to clear the air between us and apologize.
At least that’s what I’m telling myself I’m doing.
Even if getting under her skin so she’ll mouth off to me seems to be my new favorite hobby. Clearly, I’m just missing excitement in my life.
“I’ll go find her.”
Without waiting for Suzanne to direct me, I head down the hall only to hit the wall of nurses.
“Hi, I’m Lacy,” one introduces herself.
“I’m Aspira,” another comes.
They go on from there until I reach the last one. The redhead Skylar was talking to. Her name is Michaela, and she’s smiling at me the way the rest of them are.
“Can you help me?” I ask her. “I’m looking for Skylar. She’s supposed to show me around the floor.”
“I can do that,” one of them offers. “My patient has a procedure in fifteen minutes, so he’ll be off the floor.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that, but Suzanne told me to find Skylar for this.”
The redhead is looking at me with new eyes, sizing me up the way good friends do when they’re unsure about a man’s intentions.
“Follow me, Doctor.”