Chapter 12 #2
A simple, navy blue baseball hat with a fire company insignia stitched across the front. And along the back, the name ‘Adler’ is embroidered thick and strong just like its owner.
Half an hour later, Rae and I are walking into our favorite coffee shop of choice that’s a few blocks down from my apartment.
My hair is pulled back into a messy bun at the nape of my neck and I’ve thrown on my favorite pair of oversized overalls that used to be my dad’s.
They swallow my hardly five foot three frame but on days where I’m feeling less than my best, they’re the comfort clothes I reach for.
My signature circle wire frames are perched on my nose to help me see.
“One medium iced honey vanilla latte for Hanna,” the barista calls out, prompting me to step forward.
Taking the drink between my lips, I sip the delicious liquid that makes me feel a little more myself.
It’s been awhile since Rae and I had gone out like we did last night, causing my body to be a little slower to recover from all the alcohol I put into it.
“So, you gonna text the sexy fireman back or what?” Rae poses the question when I go to stand next to her while we wait for her drink.
“You gonna call your future husband or what?” I shoot back. “I remember how he slipped you his number last night.”
“Pshh, you need to leave that alone.” She waves a hand at me with an eye roll.
“You’re one to talk.” We pass an annoyed glance between us that only best friends can share.
When they call her name, she takes a step forward to grab her drink.
Following her with my eyes, I catch a group of men walking in and feel my heart nearly fall out of my ass.
Almost the same way I watched him walk into the bar last night as I belted out the lyrics to “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” Miles steps inside the coffee shop, holding the door open for the people behind him.
Because of course he would come to the same coffee shop I’m in while I’m still reeling from my drunken embarrassment.
“Alrighty, you ready to go?” Rae asks, coming back with her drink in hand. Snapping out of the shock of seeing him here, I let out a startled ‘eep!’ and duck in front of her before he sees me.
“Girl, what are you doing?” She frowns as she looks at me. Holding onto her arms, I move quickly and turn her around so my back is to the door. With the way the coffee shop is oriented, we’ll have to walk right by them to leave.
“He’s here,” I say with an overflow of panic in my voice. My preliminary plan was to ignore his texts and professionally apologize for my behavior once I saw him at his next appointment. I have zero idea how I’m going to deal with this now that he’s in the same tiny coffee shop that I am.
“Who?” she asks, craning her neck around my face to look for whoever it is that I’m hiding from.
“Miles, from last night. The fireman,” I explain under my breath. “Would you stop looking? He’s going to see you.”
“So let him,” she exclaims. “We aren’t doing anything wrong and this isn’t the first time you’ve seen a patient outside of the office.”
“Yes, but it’s the first time I’ve seen one outside of the office after unintentionally flirting with them while I was drunk the night before. I can’t see him now, I’m not ready.”
“Well our only option is to leave and kindly say hello or hide in the bathroom until we think he and his hot friends have left like we’re two fourteen year old girls.”
“I like the second option, let’s do that.
” I look hopefully at my friend and realize she’s not having it.
Forcing out a breath I drop her arm and brush my hair out of my face before swallowing hard.
“Okay, let’s just try and get out of here without him seeing us.
I’ll keep my head down and walk behind you.
Stop for nothing until we hit the street. Got it?”
She nods her head in agreement but I can tell she thinks I’m being ridiculous.
I huff out a breath and hold her hand, keeping my eyes glued on the floor as she guides us towards the exit.
The space we have to walk through to get to the door narrows with the shape of the building and because of the way the tables are arranged.
Passing the register, I tip my head away towards the opposite wall but right as we’re about to hit the door I hear his voice call out the nickname he’s given me.
“Doc, is that you?”
Rae freezes and turns around to face me, eyes wide but with a growing smirk across her lips.
“I told you to stop for nothing,” I hiss as a growing panic builds behind my chest.
“Well I wasn’t going to let you ignore him,” she hisses back.
We argue incoherently under our breath until I feel the presence of him at my back.
Her eyes lift and a friendly smile blooms on her face.
Reluctantly, I turn around to face him. Sporting damp hair and a fresh navy tee with the Charleston Fire Department insignia on it, I can’t help but notice how the cotton fabric stretches over his arms. I lick my lips and try to collect myself.
“H–hey, Miles,” I greet him, trying to keep my voice even. “Good morning, how’s it going?”
Good. Simple questions. Keeping things professional.
“How am I doing? I should be asking how you’re doing. You had quite the night last night. Both of you did, seems like you had fun though.” He looks at Rae and gives her a friendly smile before taking a step forward. “I didn’t get to introduce myself last night, I’m Miles.”
“Rae,” she responds cordially, shaking his hand. The two other men he was with step up behind him and look at Rae and I.
“Miles, who’s your friend?” one of them asks. While he isn’t wearing a T-shirt, he is wearing a jacket with the same firehouse insignia on it.
“This is Hanna,” he explains, pausing for a beat. “My therapist.”
“Ohhh, you’re the one who’s shrinking my brother here,” the same man says. “Lord knows he needs it.”
Miles elbows him in the ribs before looking back at me.
“I don’t like to see my job as ‘shrinking’ someone so much as teaching them ways to live a bigger life regardless of what they’ve been through,” I explain politely. One of my biggest pet peeves is being called a ‘shrink.’
“I think that’s an excellent way of looking at it,” the third man finally speaks, leaning in and offering me his hand. “I’m Cooper, nice to meet you. And thank you for what you do, we need more people like you out there. I see that every day on the job.”
My head tips to the side. “And what is it that you do, exactly?”
“I work as a police officer with Charleston PD. I can’t tell you the number of calls we get each week that I wish we had an on staff mental health professional. Or a social worker,” Cooper adds. This gets Rae’s ears to perk up.
“Call me, beep me, honey, and I’m there,” she says flirtatiously which is her default setting with any attractive man. While the relationship I have with Miles is nothing but professional, I wouldn’t disagree that he and his friends are an incredibly good looking bunch.
“You’re a social worker? No kidding.”
“I work mostly with family services but I’m serious, if you ever need someone to come out to a call, here’s my card.” Reaching into her bag she pulls out a business card and hands it to Miles’s friend who nods in thanks.
“Well, we really should get going,” I finally cut in, finding my voice.
“Got any fun plans for today?” Miles asks, stealing my attention back to him with one glance of his soft brown eyes.
“Uhh–umm,” I stammer.
“Just girl stuff, you know,” Rae butts in to save me as I choke on my own tongue.
I can’t figure out why I am acting like this with him now.
It wasn’t like I struggled to form words with him last week when he came to my office.
The lingering feelings of my flirty drunken text session still have their barbs in my heart and no matter how hard I try I can’t shake them.
“Ahh, I see.” He nods his head at her. Noticing we’re clogging up the entryway, we all take a collective step back to let people in.
“It was nice seeing you and meeting you both,” I say to Miles then to his friends.
The two of them nod politely as Rae and I step out into the open air.
I feel my lungs expand completely for the first time since seeing him step inside the tiny coffee shop.
The feeling doesn’t last long when I hear his voice behind me again.
“Hey, doc.” I turn around to look at him and god does he look good with wet hair. “Like I texted you before, don’t forget to drink lots of water. It’ll help with the hangover.”
I force a smile and wave. He would bring up our texts. “Thanks for the reminder.”
“See you Thursday?”
I want to tell him no or come up with an excuse to reschedule. To find a reason to give myself more time to let my heart forget how he looked at me last night while I was wearing his hat or how protective he was with the Uber driver. I need a little time away from him, that’s all.
But instead of doing any of that, I hear myself say, “Yep, see you Thursday!” and confirm our appointment.
Alone.
Just the two of us.
For forty-five minutes.
In my tiny office.
Great.