Chapter 10
Brooke strode down the hallway of the hospital, nearing the end of her shift.
Her feet ached and head throbbed. The late concert from the night before meant she was running on pure adrenaline.
Her mind replayed the conversation she’d had with Logan on the train.
As much as she wanted to jump at the chance to date him, her head told her to hold up.
She saw how Logan looked at Shelby. The tension between them could’ve been cut with a knife.
No, it was better this way. He needed to close that chapter of his life before they’d ever have a shot at starting something.
She rounded the corner to the nurses’ station where she found Aubrey shoving a granola bar into her mouth.
“Hey.” Brooke set down the files in her hands on top of the station. “Are you almost off or only beginning?”
Aubrey swallowed. “Halfway.” She ate another bite and chewed. Once done she asked, “How about you?”
“Only,” she double checked her wrist watch, “twenty minutes left.” She opened the top file folder. “I’m tired. I went to a concert last night with Logan. I didn’t get back until after midnight.”
“Logan, you say.” Aubrey shoveled the last bite of granola bar into her mouth then tossed the wrapper into the trash can. “How is that going?” She waggled her brows.
“We’re only friends.” Brooke made a note on the patient file then tossed it into the bin to be entered into the computer. “We like to spend time together.” She shrugged and shot her a what can you do expression.
“I see.” Aubrey snatched the file from the bin then slugged herself into the chair behind the computer. She wiggled her mouse around. “Friends—”
“Yes,” Brooke hissed as she made a note on the next patient file.
Then out of nowhere, Logan landed beside her. “I thought that was you.” With a smirk, he casually leaned his hip against the nurses’ station desk. His body was intimately close to hers. Close enough, she smelled the scent of soap. “It’s nice to see you again so soon.”
“Oh, hi.” Brooke nearly dropped her pen but straightened it in the nick of time. “Are you following me?” she teased.
“I mean I can if you want me to.” His curious gaze made his eyes flicker. When she didn’t respond, he glanced at Aubrey behind the desk and dipped his chin at her. “Hey, Aubrey. It’s good to see you. How are the wedding plans going?”
Aubrey smiled, leaning forward. “Brooke went with me to my final wedding dress fitting. According to the wedding planner, everything is set to go.”
“They say as long as you have a dress, a groom, and a date, that’s all you need.”
“I think I have heard that before.” Aubrey continued to type on her keyboard. “You’re still good to come with Brooke, right?” She finished typing and placed the closed file into the outgoing bin.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” Logan shifted to face Brooke and winked, “for the world.”
Heat splashed Brooke’s cheeks. If she didn’t know better, she’d think Logan was flirting with her instead of being friendly. A part of her might even believe he wanted to spend the evening as her actual date. But she knew better. Their arrangement kept the lines of fake and real plain as day.
Suddenly a buzzer went off, Aubrey tapped the flashing button and stood. “That’s me. I’ll see you both later.” She wagged her fingers at them.
Brooke watched Aubrey disappear down the hallway before she twisted to face Logan. “I’m off in fifteen minutes, you?” She clicked her pen closed and pushed it into the front of her lab coat pocket.
“I’m done. I came from my last surgery.” He hesitated for a second, looked down at his feet then back up at her. “Want to grab dinner at the sandwich shop around the corner?”
Dinner. This eerily sounded like dating, but then she reminded herself last night she had told him to date Shelby first and then they could talk. One dinner with a friend couldn’t hurt, right?
But she knew she was in deep. She could admit to herself that her feelings for Logan were one hundred percent real.
Her heart picked up speed anytime he came near.
Friends, yeah, she didn’t want to be friends.
She wanted to kiss him in the rain or in the moonlight, or anywhere for that matter.
Brooke wanted to go with him to Sunday dinners at his parents, babysit the twins to give Danielle and Michael a night off.
Geez, the list went on and on. But it didn’t matter what she wanted, she had to live in the reality of what was.
“Sure.” Brooke plunged one hand into her lab coat. Luckily, she had on a nice dress and cardigan underneath her lab coat. It didn’t fall into date attire, but it also didn’t lean into disheveled either. “I’d love that.”
Logan grinned. Then he slapped the top of the nurses’ desk. “I’ll go change out of these scrubs and meet you in the hospital lobby. See you soon.” Then he pivoted and left.
Her simmering blood pressure slowly subsided as he slipped into the elevator at the end of the hallway.
Then she placed the completed files into the bin that needed to be entered into the computer.
A few minutes later, she ended her shift.
After a trip to the locker room, she removed her lab coat, touched up her makeup, and gathered up her coat and purse.
Twenty minutes later, she arrived in the lobby.
She spotted Logan waiting in one of the chairs with a phone glued to his ear.
As she approached, he said into his phone, “She’s right here, let me ask her.
” He covered the phone’s mouthpiece with one hand and lowered it from his ear.
“It’s my mom. Does Sunday night work for dinner? ”
“Dinner?” Brooke didn’t have it in her to truck it outside of the city to sit in that lovely home and lie to those people yet again. “Again?”
Logan leaned in closer and whispered, “My parents wanted to come here with Michael and Danielle to have dinner in the city with us, remember?”
“Oh,” Brooke adjusted the jacket slung over her arm.
“Right. Let me check my schedule. I think I work the morning shift, but I should be off by six or seven.” She plunged her hand into her purse to fetch her phone.
Logan chatted with his mom as she pulled up her calendar. “I’m off at six,” she announced.
Logan gave her a thumbs up as he listened a bit more. Finally, he said, “Mom, Brooke said she’s off at six.” His gaze caught hers as he listened to his mom’s reply.
Brooke patiently waited as he wrapped up his conversation, putting on her jacket.
He hung up and slipped his phone into his pocket. “We’re set. Danielle is insistent on some restaurant she heard had good reviews.”
“I don’t care where we go.” Brooke adjusted her purse strap. “I’m more worried about faking it again as your girlfriend for the evening. I hate leading your family on.”
“If it was up to me, I’d be dating you for real.”
The words landed in the tight space between them. He shot her a challenging stare, like your turn.
She pinched the sleeve of his jacket. “Come on.” Brooke led him toward the sliding glass doors. “You promised me food, and I get a bit testy when I haven’t been fed.”
“I like testy women.” Logan laughed. “But I guess I have my marching orders. Let’s get out of here.”
They walked for a minute down the sidewalk, weaving between the people walking past. Winter wind seeped through her jacket. The L train rolled on by over the track above them.
“What will you tell them once we, quote, break up?” Brooke gnawed on her bottom lip.
He slowed his pace then halted in front of the tiny deli. “Maybe,” he held the door open for her and motioned for her to enter, “we won’t have anything to tell.”
They slipped inside. The deli had a few two top tables. A short line formed behind the cash register to place their order. They joined the end of the line.
“Like I said last night, go out with Shelby and then we can talk.”
“I’m not going out with her,” he practically growled.
Brooke shrugged. “Fine, then we’ll continue to fake this thing.”
“I don’t need to go out with Shelby, because,” he placed a hand at her waist and gently directed her closer.
Close enough, her hand naturally landed in the middle of his rock-hard chest. Logan cleared his throat, “I feel something real when I’m with you.
I haven’t stopped thinking about you since last night, and you can’t tell me that doesn’t mean anything. ”
Her throat was constricted. She forgot how to think because of the intensity of his stare which made her stomach swim. Sweat gathered at the small of her back.
When she didn’t reply, he squeezed her waist, “Tell me you don’t feel this too.”
“I—I—” Brooke stammered.
“Next,” the voice behind the cash registered announced so loud it made her flinch.
The people in front of them in line had already paid and left.
Logan dropped his hand from her waist but let his hand trail down her arm finally interweaving his fingers with hers.
He drew her forward to the register. Her body complied like she was in a daze.
They ordered some turkey sandwiches, chips, and sodas.
After Logan paid, they sat down at one of the two top tables with their food.
He didn’t hesitate to peel back the paper wrapper of his sandwich and take a bite. Her hand shook, and Brooke fumbled with the package of her chips. Logan appeared unfazed by his confession while she reeled with the desire to date him but was hesitant due to his unfinished business with Shelby.
“I do feel something when I’m around you,” Brooke confessed as she opened her bag of chips. “And, if I’m being honest, it terrifies me.” She hesitated then popped a chip into her mouth.
“I know.” Logan ate another bite of his sandwich then washed it down with a long sip of his drink. “But you can trust me.”
“What about Shelby?” She retrieved another chip from her bag.
He set his half-eaten sandwich back down on his wrapper and wiped his face with his napkin. “I’m here with you, aren’t I?”