Chapter 3
THREE
Dana couldn’t believe the way her day had turned around.
The little dog had pulled through surgery like a champ.
Dana checked on her one last time before she left, and the pup was resting peacefully.
Her status had been elevated from critical to fair, and her care had been paid for by the generous woman Dana was about to meet for drinks.
She was on her way home to make herself presentable, because right now, she suspected she looked as world-weary as she felt.
She’d been so sure she’d be dragging herself home for a good long cry, and now…
now she felt a bubble of hope in her chest, a tiny, delicate thing that could burst at any moment, but for now, it lifted her, carrying her forward on feet that felt lighter than they had in days.
When she reached her apartment, she rushed straight to the bathroom for a five-minute revitalizing shower.
Dana scrubbed the remnants of the day from her skin, careful not to wet her hair, then wrapped herself in a towel and began to rummage through her closet.
Would Laurel still be in that red dress?
It had been several hours since she walked into the animal hospital.
She might have gone home and changed. But maybe… maybe she hadn’t.
Dana hoped like hell she hadn’t, because that dress…
Her skin flushed at the memory. Yes, she’d thought they shared a moment in the exam room, but it was hard to be sure.
Dana kept things professional at work. She never flirted with the people who brought their pets in to be treated, which was probably one of the reasons it had been entirely too long since she’d been on a date.
But Laurel wasn’t the dog’s owner. She had no reason to ever set foot in Dana’s hospital again.
And she’d sounded so flirty on the phone.
Dana might never know what had come over her, why she’d invited her for drinks since that was something she never did.
Maybe she should regret her impulsive decision, but she didn’t.
She’d asked the universe to give her a win, and perhaps it had, not only with the dog Laurel brought into her hospital but also with Laurel herself.
Dana selected fitted black slacks and a shimmery silver top.
If Laurel was still in the red dress, they ought to complement each other nicely.
She even put on her sexiest black underwear… just in case.
She wasn’t a one-night stand kind of woman, but tonight seemed to be about breaking her rules. In all likelihood, no one would see her underwear but her, but she felt sexy knowing that she looked good from the skin out.
Dana rubbed a bit of her favorite perfume behind her ears and on her wrists, then spent more time on her hair and makeup than she had in months.
With a final glance in the mirror, she was ready.
And she had just enough time to walk to the bar she’d suggested, a gay bar in her neighborhood that was her absolute favorite place to unwind after a long shift.
She spent so much time there, she was on a first-name basis with the owner. The drinks were wonderful, and the ambiance was even better. Dana felt her mood buoyed as she left her apartment and set off down the street.
Staying in after the kind of day she’d had…
well, lately she’d noticed that if she went to bed in a dark mood, she woke feeling just as low.
It was a dangerous pattern. So she’d been trying to do things to boost her mood before bed, even if that meant having a solo drink at her favorite bar or spending an hour that she should have been sleeping with a book, because escaping into a fictional world was a great way to forget about reality.
Up ahead, Dragonfly’s lavender logo came into view, and Dana felt her footsteps quickening.
She hustled down the block and gripped the heavy wooden door, swinging it open.
Inside, soft jazz music played as twinkling white fairy lights set a festive mood.
There were a good number of people here, but it wasn’t crowded. The noise level was low.
She clocked that her favorite bartender, Adam, was working before her gaze caught on a familiar red dress at a table for two along the back wall.
Dana walked to her, loving the way her heart sped as Laurel watched her approach.
Laurel looked more relaxed now, slightly softer and less intimidating, not that Dana had been intimidated by her, but she imagined other people were.
“Hi,” Laurel said with a smile. “I got us a round of drinks to start.”
“You did?” Ballsy of her, ordering for Dana. She usually disliked it, had even ended dates when a woman ordered for her, but tonight…well, she was willing to see how this played out.
Laurel gestured to two matching glasses in front of her, and Dana immediately recognized the drink, one of the specialty cocktails at this bar. She smiled at its significance. Laurel had made an excellent choice.
“I couldn’t resist a drink called Midnight in Manhattan,” Laurel said, “since I was meeting you here at midnight. It seemed like something we just had to try.”
“I approve. It’s a good drink, although I don’t think I’ve had one right at midnight before.” Dana settled herself on the stool opposite Laurel and picked up her glass.
“You come here often, then?” Laurel lifted her own, and they clinked them together. She sipped her drink, hollows appearing in her cheeks as she registered the tartness of the flavor.
The Midnight in Manhattan was a combination of rum, mint, lemon juice, and something else Dana couldn’t remember off the top of her head.
When she was in the right mood, she loved a sour drink.
She sipped hers, sighing as the alcohol traveled down to her stomach.
“That’s good, and yes, I come here often. ”
“It’s a gay bar?” Laurel asked, sweeping her gaze around the room. Her chestnut brown hair was down, hanging just past her shoulders, and her lipstick was as red as her dress. It was a bold look and an incredibly sexy one.
Dana had the impression that Laurel was making a statement with her outfit today. A “fuck you” to her ex? If so, that was hot. “It is.”
“Hmm.” Laurel looked around again, her expression openly curious as she took in the progress pride flag hanging behind the bar. Had she never been to a gay bar before?
Dana stared into her drink, hoping she hadn’t misread the situation. She felt suddenly flustered, her mood plummeting. She had an awful track record when it came to lusting after straight women, but she’d been so sure Laurel was flirting with her earlier…
“I like it,” Laurel said after a few moments. “You live near here, then?”
“I do.” And that was as specific as Dana planned to get until they knew each other better.
Laurel regarded her for a moment in silence, her gaze sliding over Dana’s silver top in a way that certainly didn’t feel platonic, before returning to her face. “You look like you had a long day.”
Dana straightened on her stool, narrowing her eyes at Laurel. “Is that a polite way of saying I look terrible?”
“On the contrary, you look even more beautiful now than you did when we met at the animal hospital, and I found you absolutely captivating even then.”
Oh. Dana’s cheeks warmed. Maybe not so straight after all.
“I merely meant that, as one doctor to another, I recognize the look of someone who’s been on their feet for too many hours, who perhaps had a difficult patient—or in your case, probably a difficult owner of a patient.
You look like you were rushing around all day and probably haven’t had a proper meal since breakfast.”
“Now you’re saying I look tired and hungry?” Dana raised her eyebrows, but the defensiveness had gone out of her tone because Laurel’s assessment was spot on, and “one doctor to another” had done the trick.
Dana got prickly when people acted as if her job was lesser than doctors who treated humans.
She’d encountered it too many times, especially from MDs.
But here was this doctor—this neurosurgeon—regarding her out of kind eyes that held nothing but understanding as she attempted to forge a connection between them, and, well, Dana was swooning.
“Am I wrong?” Laurel pressed, brown eyes sparkling. “I know the look of a doctor who’s powered through on sheer adrenaline for more hours than she should have.”
“I had a protein bar…I forget how many hours ago.” That felt like an oversight now, as the alcohol hit her system. Dana wouldn’t last long, drinking on an empty stomach.
“As much as I’m enjoying this bar you suggested, I fear we’ve come to the wrong place, because they don’t seem to serve food, and you need something more substantial in you than a protein bar consumed too many hours ago.”
“The neighboring restaurants deliver here if we want to order food. Have you eaten?”
“I was at dinner when you called, remember?”
“Right.” Dana was tired, hungry, and not on her A game tonight, apparently. But she wasn’t going to sit here and eat in front of this woman she was trying to impress. “I’m fine.”
“Dana, please order some food. I was in your shoes yesterday, and the day before. Hell, I performed two surgeries this morning before my appointment at the attorney’s office.
I was running on adrenaline when we met earlier too.
I’ve just had a few hours since then to relax and refuel, and you haven’t. ”
Dana’s cheeks were even warmer now, and there was an unexpected lump in her throat.
Why did this woman’s compassion affect her so deeply?
She’d waited a long time to have a woman look at her the way Laurel was right now…
like Dana was beautiful and sexy, like her dedication to her career was admirable.
Laurel looked at her like Dana was her intellectual equal, and she liked that a whole fucking lot.
“I think that bartender is headed our way,” Laurel said. “I didn’t realize they offered table service here.”
“They don’t. I know him.” Dana shrugged. “I know the owner too.”
“You really do come here a lot.” Laurel flicked her gaze to her left, smiling at Adam as he approached their table.
“Hey, Dana,” he said with a warm smile. “You ladies need anything?”
“She’d like to order some food,” Laurel said, giving Dana a meaningful look.
“Fine, yes,” Dana relented. “I’ll have the Mediterranean pasta dish that I usually get from the place next door.”
“You got it,” Adam said. “Any more drinks?”
“Not yet,” Dana told him. “Got any new Stella pictures to share?”
Adam’s expression instantly morphed into giddy excitement. “You know I do.” He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen, revealing a photo of himself holding a smiling baby in a pink dress who gazed adoringly at him out of big brown eyes. He was beaming, both in the photo and in real life.
“She gets cuter every day,” Dana told him honestly.
“Impossibly cute, and smart too. Eve said—” He cut himself off, then mimed zipping his lips. “Sorry, I’m totally intruding on your date. Carry on, ladies. Your food will be here soon.”
Dana laughed quietly as he headed back to the bar.
“His daughter?” Laurel asked.
“Biologically, yes, but he’s Uncle Adam to Stella. Josie and Eve are her moms. They live upstairs. Josie owns this bar.”
“Ah.” Laurel looked thoughtful. “An unusual arrangement, perhaps, but he certainly seems happy with it.”
“He didn’t want kids, but he loves being an uncle,” Dana said. “I relate…as an aunt who never wanted to be a mom.”
Laurel chuckled. “No motherhood genes here either. I’m much too attached to my independence, and my career.”
“Same.”
“Do you have pets, though?” Laurel asked. “I mean, I assume most veterinarians have a bunch of animals waiting at home.”
“Do you also assume most pediatricians have a houseful of kids?”
“Well, yes.” Laurel lifted her hands, palms up. “But point taken.”
Dana sipped her drink. “I have two cats, Edith and Palmer. You?”
“Nothing waiting for me at home except a few half-dead houseplants.”
Dana raised her eyebrows. “Think there might be room for a dog in your life? Perhaps a small, brown one with a broken leg?”
Laurel exhaled, looking unsure for the first time since Dana met her. “The thought did cross my mind, but I’m not sure it would be practical with my long hours. I also don’t know if my building allows pets.”
“Both good points.” Dana picked up her drink, surprised to realize it was nearly empty. Then again, she felt the hazy sense of contentment that generally came with being tipsy. “Did you read the lore about this drink before you ordered it?”
“No, why? What lore?”
Dana nodded toward the drink menu posted on the wall. “Rumor has it, if you drink one at midnight, you’ll fall in love before the end of the year.”
Laurel made a sound of disbelief. “Please don’t tell me you believe that.”
“Of course not, but it’s a romantic drink.
That’s all.” And Laurel had made a romantic choice by ordering it, intentional or not.
Recently, Dana had been thinking more often about the what-ifs in her life.
She’d always loved her independence, but she’d never intended to make it halfway through her forties without settling down.
Lately, her apartment felt lonely. Hell, everything in her life felt lonely.
“Well, I didn’t pick it for that reason,” Laurel said. “And tonight of all nights, love is the last thing on my mind.”
“Tonight of all nights?” Dana felt herself bristling slightly, again wondering if Laurel had meant for this to be a date or if she was just blowing off steam with a fellow medical professional. Usually, Dana had excellent gaydar, but she was having trouble reading Laurel.
Laurel patted the bag slung over the back of her chair, drawing Dana’s attention to her arms, which were deliciously toned.
Her forearms were corded with an impressive—and impressively sexy—amount of muscle, perhaps from the many hours she spent in the OR, performing delicate surgeries.
“My divorce papers are in there, Dana. The ink is barely dry.”
“Oh. Right.” She’d forgotten about that part of Laurel’s day.
“You could say I’m a bit sour on love right now. But romance?” Laurel reached across the table, letting her fingers brush against Dana’s. “It’s been a long time since anyone’s romanced me properly, and yes, I’m definitely interested.”
Dana gulped, her throat gone dry. That answered that question. “Good to know.”