Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Leo
“I’d thought Quinton’s New Year’s party couldn’t be beaten—what with Foster and Arnav getting engaged.
” Dr. Lucia Maroni patted her dark hair as we sat across from each other in the cafeteria.
“But I have to say Rayne proposing to Everett was pretty amazing. Or was that Everett proposing to Rayne? It got a little muddled at the end.”
“Rayne and Everett.” There can’t be two guys with the same names. “Everett Williams?”
“Yes. Rayne’s a private investigator in Mission City. He and Everett, a lawyer, teamed up on a big case. Made the papers. Real heroic stuff.” She eyed her egg salad sandwich with some skepticism.
Okay, well, that answers that question. I’d performed surgery on Everett early last month after he’d been in a bad car accident. Now he and Rayne were engaged. Go figure. “Two engagements?”
She nodded. “Quinton has a way of getting people together.” She leaned in.
“Both couples hooked up at the Halloween party. I was Barbie and Quinton was Ken. We were super adorable. Meanwhile, two couples were upstairs getting on with things.” She toyed with the crust. “And I probably shouldn’t have said anything to you. ”
“I don’t know any of these people—” Well. “—so you’re hardly breaking confidences. Well, unless they asked you to be silent about the matters.” I’d opted for a ham sandwich and, after three bites, had decided the thing was quite good.
“Nope.” She poked at her sandwich.
“Would you like half of mine?” I attempted to slide my plate toward her.
She shook her head. “I think I’m just a bit more tired than I expected. I wound up being called in yesterday for a complex referral. A young woman who couldn’t wait until today. I’m glad the ER doc made the call, and I was able to get in here.”
“Not hungover?” I dipped a carrot into some creamy dressing and bit it.
“I didn’t drink at the party. I knew I was on call this weekend. In fact, there’s never a ton of drinking at Quinton’s parties. He’s got wine and beer, but most people stick to some kind of soda. And eggnog at Christmas.”
I licked my lips. “I love eggnog.”
“Eggnog is the best.” Quinton slid into a chair next to Lucia. “How’s your patient doing?”
“Dialysis seems to be working. What she really needs is a new kidney.”
“Yikes.”
“Right?” She eyed his hot dog and fries. “How can you eat like that and still stay slender?”
“Twenty-six.” He patted his stomach. “Well, Mama’s still slender.” He nudged his plate toward her.
She grabbed a fry.
“Are you telling Leo about my party?” He grinned. “Another engagement.”
A pang resounded through me. “Yes, she was.”
Lucia grabbed another fry. “Hey, who were those two guys? I didn’t recognize them.”
Quinton’s gaze flew to me.
What the hell? No doubt in my mind—guilt. Plain and simple.
“Oh, you know…” He tried to meet Lucia’s gaze.
“No, I don’t know—that’s why I’m asking.” She nabbed another fry. “You need ketchup.”
“Right. Let me just go get that.” He leapt up and was gone in a heartbeat.
I dipped my carrot into what was truly a wonderful dressing. “What did they look like?” I already knew, but I wanted to play this out.
“One was tall. Long blond hair and dark-gray eyes. Like, he could’ve been a model.”
My gut clenched.
“The other guy was slightly shorter. Brown hair, light-brown eyes. Slender.” She eyed Quinton’s hot dog—almost like she was calculating if she could get it before he returned.
“Oh?”
“They came with Maddox and Ravi. I should’ve introduced myself, but they kind of kept to themselves and after the proposal, things got a little chaotic. When I looked for them, they were gone. Oh, here’s my ketchup.”
Quinton slid back into his seat. “I live to serve.”
“I believe their names were Archer and Gideon.” I met Lucia’s gaze before flicking it to Quinton.
Who had the decency to flush. “Yeah. I sort of wondered…” He poured ketchup on his plate.
Lucia dunked her fry in it.
“Wondered…” I prompted him.
“I thought maybe you knew them.”
I arched an eyebrow. “You thought maybe they were my ex-husband and his new lover?” Watch the sarcasm.
“Oh dear.” Lucia laughed. “On that note, I’m out of here. Anyone want my sandwich?” She rose.
Quinton continued to hold my gaze as we both shook our heads.
“Fair enough. Compost, it is. Later.” A heartbeat later, she was gone.
Quinton slid into her seat so he was directly across from me.
“Ravi, a pediatric nurse in the hospital—and a good friend—invited them. And forgot to tell me. But my parties are like that and, of course, I didn’t mind.
Yes, things got awkward when I realized who they were. But I wasn’t going to kick them out.”
“Do they know you know me?”
“I…sort of implied I’d met the new Dr. Rodgers.”
“Not that he’d—” I glanced around. “—had his cock up your ass?”
Quinton burst out laughing. “Uh, that would be a hard no. No one knows that.”
“Except Lucia.” I took another bite of my sandwich.
Again, with the blush. He poured ketchup onto his hot dog. “Damn, I forgot mustard.”
“I’m certain you’ll survive.” I attempted to pin him with my gaze. “Lucia knows.”
“She might’ve been with me the morning after the, uh, you know.”
Best sex of my life? Yeah, I know.
Oh, sorry, Gideon.
We’d had a great sex life—but it had been comfortable. We’d known each other so well that there’d never been any mystery. With Quinton—
“Having flashbacks? Leo…are you blushing?” He grinned.
“You still should’ve told me.”
“Told you what? That your ex-husband turned up at my party? I didn’t say anything to him, Leo. I mean, if they become part of my circle of friends, word might get back to them that we know each other. Lucia’s never going to say anything about that night. I haven’t. I doubt very much you will—”
“I won’t.”
“Then we have nothing to worry about. French fry?”
I eyed the plate. Ham was unhealthy enough—fried food? As someone who worked with diseased hearts, I did my best not to wind up like my patients. “I’ll pass.”
“It’s not something I do often.” He picked up his hot dog. “Well, too often.” He took a bite.
And I remembered what it felt like to have that mouth around my cock that night in our hotel room during our one-night stand. Before I’d made a jackass of myself. Completely inappropriate, but there it was.
He waggled his eyebrows—almost like he knew what I was thinking.
“I need to get going.”
For just a moment, his face fell, and his brow knitted.
“Charts.”
He swallowed. “Yeah, of course.” He wiped ketchup off the corner of his mouth. “How was your weekend with the kids?”
He remembered.
Of course he remembered—Gideon and Archer were at his house. Which I was still struggling to reconcile. “Fine. Lovely. Melodie is excited about the snow today. Apparently Gideon’s dog loves playing in it.”
“And Trevor?”
“He’s more like me—not a fan of the cold.”
Quinton rolled his eyes. “It’s hardly cold—it’s barely below zero.”
“If it’s cold enough to snow, then it’s cold enough to stay inside where it’s toasty warm.”
“Curling up by the fire?” Again, he waggled his eyebrows.
“Fires are bad for the environment. Gas means fracking and using clean water. Wood puts particulates in the environment.”
Now, he arched one of his eyebrows.
I did my best not to squirm. “I want to leave the best world possible for my children. That means being aware of environmental issues. I drive an electric SUV and can do that because power in British Columbia is powered by water. Hydroelectric is the cleanest form of energy. Well, except wind and solar. My house has solar panels. Ugliest things I’ve ever seen, but at least they’re on the back side of the house.
And because I’m never home, I’m often feeding power back into the grid. Which saves me money.”
“Is money an issue?” He held up his hand. “Sorry—very personal question.”
I shrugged. “My student loans and my SUV are paid off. I have a huge mortgage and want to save for the kids’ education.” I laughed ruefully. “Their future stepfather is, well, very well-off.” I was a doctor and making a good salary, but I could never match Archer’s wealth.
“Oh.”
“Yeah. By my standards, at least, he’s rich. He can definitely pay for my kids to go to any school they want. But I don’t want that. They’re my kids—I should be responsible for paying their way in the world.”
Quinton held my gaze. “I’m going to say something that’s out of line.”
I pursed my lips.
“Archer loves those kids. It’s so clear in the way he talks about them. The way he smiles. Not all stepparents—”
“Future stepparents.”
“—future stepparents. Not all are as enthusiastic.”
I sighed. “Gideon let it slip that Archer wanted kids. I was under the impression there might’ve been a physical reason why he and his wife couldn’t have kids.
I don’t think Gideon even realized how much he was revealing.
He just wanted to assure me that Archer would love the kids as much as we do. ”
“From what I witnessed, I’d say he does. Are you worried he’ll try to replace you?”
“Well, I wasn’t until you suggested it.”
He held my gaze.
I caved. “Yes, that’s crossed my mind. They have the kids all week.
That’s a lot of time. And yes, they have to do the harder parenting stuff—but I agreed I would maintain the level of discipline.
Although discipline is the wrong word. That I would—” I flailed.
“—keep the same rules. That there’d be consistency.
That I wouldn’t try to bribe their affection. ”
“Something you would never do.”
“Yeah. But it’s damn tempting. To be the fun or cool parent.”
“Leo.”
I scrunched my nose. “If the shoe were on the other foot, I’d lose it completely. So I do what I can to be consistent while still being fun. I just hope the snow stays until the weekend. I have a slight slope in my backyard. I want to take the kids sledding.”
“With helmets.”