Chapter 13
STAY IN HER LANE
“Mom, is that Dr. Blaze?”
Arden swiveled her head to where her daughter was pointing. Gracie was riding her bike around the development and they were past their home and circling back when her daughter noticed the man who had been on her mind more than he should be.
“It is.”
She looked at her watch and saw it was a little after seven. Guess he got out of work on time, which surprised her since it was July Fourth.
Or maybe they had more than one doctor on for the weekend. She knew that there were more PAs working on the weekend, so that would move things along for minor issues.
“Can we go say hi?” Gracie asked, pedaling faster and away from her. That was a first in years for her daughter to want to approach any adult.
“Slow down.”
Her daughter wasn’t listening and Blaze had just gotten out of his SUV and turned his head, then waved.
She couldn’t be rude and not wave back.
Looked like he was waiting there for her daughter to arrive.
Don’t be embarrassed. Don’t be embarrassed.
Only it was hard even with the chanting in her head. She didn’t even have the excuse of alcohol making her spill her guts.
One can of hard cider wouldn’t do that and she never let herself drink much more than one of anything. Too many years of being scared by her ex and what happened to him under the influence kept her limited.
“Hi, Gracie,” Blaze said. “Look at you go. You’ve got that mastered.”
“She’s always on the run,” Arden said, coming to a stop after she’d picked up her pace to catch up to her runaway daughter.
Maybe she didn’t feel so bad that she’d opened up to the sexy doctor with a soothing presence. Seemed he had the same effect on Gracie, who hadn’t let any man get close to her in almost two years.
“I like my bike,” Gracie said. “I can go fast, but Mom says no.”
“That’s no fun,” he said. “But I’m sure she doesn’t want you to get hurt. There are still cars around.”
“I know,” Gracie said. “I’m careful.”
“Mild day?” Arden asked. “I thought for sure for the holiday it’d be nuts.”
“I went in at five,” he said. “They are overlapping everyone, so I still got out at seven since my replacement came in at five too.”
“Do they normally do that for holidays?”
“Sometimes. Depends on when they fall and the time of year, weather, et cetera. Nice day like this with the holiday over the weekend, they put more on. I’d say it’s about normal for a summer Saturday but glad I don’t have the night shift. Though I’ve got to go in at five tomorrow again.”
“I’m sure you’re used to not getting much sleep.”
“I catch up if I need to on my days off.”
She laughed. “From what I’ve seen that isn’t many.”
She cringed after those words escaped her mouth. He might think she was watching him.
She wasn’t. Not really. Or not that much.
“I’ve got a lot of years ahead of me. I’ll slow down when I need to.”
“I had that mentality too.” But having a child and a failing marriage forced her hand sooner than she would have liked.
Didn’t seem as if Blaze had much going on in his life other than work.
Not that she was watching too closely, but she had seen no other cars at his place, so if he was seeing anyone, she’d think they’d stop over at some point.
“We have sparklers,” Gracie said.
“You do?” he said. “Those were my favorite as a kid.”
“I wanted to watch fireworks, but Mom said I’m too young and have to be in bed.”
He smiled and looked down at her daughter. “There will be a lot of fireworks shows in your life to come. Maybe Mom can show you some on TV.”
She hadn’t thought of that. “Good idea.”
“I get to stay up later so I can see the sparklers, but it still won’t be dark.”
“Why don’t we let Dr. Blaze get in his house. He’s had a long day and he’s probably tired and hungry.”
“Both,” he said. “But not too tired to check out your sparklers if you’re in the backyard.”
“Please, Mom. Can he?”
“I suppose if you want to make your way down. I told her at eight and then it’s off to bed.”
“Plenty of time. See you soon.”
He turned to go up the stairs, her eyes not on his ass.
Liar!
Scrubs gave little away.
“Let’s go home, Gracie.”
“One more lap, please? You can jog, you’ve got sneakers on.”
She heard Blaze laugh even though he didn’t turn his head to acknowledge her daughter’s comment. “Sure. Let’s go. Just don’t make me run too hard.”
Her daughter turned and took off, Arden slowly jogging behind, more like a speed walk, then they returned to their house and Gracie left her bike off to the side on the porch.
Once they were inside she ushered her daughter up the stairs and turned the water on in the hall bath to fill the tub. It’d been the plan all along for Gracie to be in her jammies on the patio so that she could see the sparklers, then go right to bed.
Her daughter’s hair was washed, half dried and put in a braid, her favorite princess nightgown on. Then she raced down the stairs.
“Is he here yet?” Gracie asked.
“I doubt it.” She looked at her watch. Still fifteen minutes until eight. “Do you want your snack?”
“Can I have cookies and milk?”
“You can.”
She poured a cup of milk and then pulled three chocolate chip cookies from the package. One of these days she’d have more time to make them homemade like she used to.
When she had another hand in the house to help with chores and running errands.
Could be a long time for that, if ever. Or maybe when Gracie was older and could help.
They moved to the patio where Gracie was sitting on her little plastic picnic table enjoying her snack when the chills spread up her back and over her arms. Not the scary kind but the anticipation ones.
She turned her head, and there was Blaze strutting around the two links of white fencing.
“Guess what I found?” he asked.
“You’re here,” Gracie said, milk dribbling down her chin.
“Wipe your face,” she said. “Or you’ll need another bath.”
“What did you find?” her daughter asked after her mouth was clean.
“A video of the fireworks show over Lake George last year. Do you want to see it?”
“Yes,” Gracie said, nodding her head up and down.
Blaze moved over and put his phone flat on the table next to Gracie’s glass and hit play. Arden stood up and moved closer to watch it with them.
The strong fresh scent of his shower filling her senses and swirling around her head in a daze had her losing focus of the bangs and bright lights on the small screen in front of her.
Her daughter’s laughter pulled her back though, as she lectured herself to stay in her lane.
He was being nice to her and her daughter.
Had they admitted they were flirting with each other?
Yep, they had. And it was the embarrassment that rode high along with her confession days ago.
When the last flash was on the screen, Gracie was clapping her hands. It was only a four-minute video and something she should have done for her daughter and was glad that Blaze thought of it.
“How about we light your sparklers now?” she asked, grabbing the box of them. Just a box of six.
“Can we each have one?” Gracie asked.
“I think that’d be nice.” She pulled out three and handed them over, then picked up the lighter and lit her daughter’s first, making sure it was held away from her body as far as her arms could reach, Blaze touching his to Gracie’s, then to hers.
“Yay!” Gracie was jumping up and down with hers.
“Keep it out in front of you.” Arden was staying close to grab it if she had to, but didn’t think there’d be too much harm in letting her hold it.
Once those three burned down, she pulled out the last and handed one to Blaze, but he gave it to Gracie. “I think it’s better when you’ve got one in each hand.”
Her daughter’s eyes were lit up almost as much as the show they’d just watched on Blaze’s phone.
She got all three lit, then held one while her daughter had two.
“I want a picture,” Gracie said.
“Stand behind Gracie,” Blaze said, picking his phone up and squatting down to get eye level while she was bent close to her daughter’s face, her sparkler out far next to her daughter’s. “Smile and hold it.”
She didn’t know how long she was supposed to hold it. “Are you still taking pictures?”
“Video now,” he said.
“I’m going to dance then,” Gracie said.
Her daughter moved away and started to shake her body with her stiff arms out wide following orders, putting on a cute show for them until the last spark was gone.
Blaze put his phone down and clapped. “That was wonderful.”
“I want to take dance lessons. Mom told me I could after the summer.”
“On the list of things to look into.” The summer would be crazy enough and she was more worried that recitals would fall on Billy’s visitation days and didn’t want that headache with everything else they were going through.
“Can I stay up later, Mom?”
“Sorry, Gracie. It’s already past your bedtime. I expect you to sleep in tomorrow.”
“But I don’t want to leave with Dr. Blaze here.”
“Then I guess I should go,” he said.
She didn’t want him to. Not yet. But it might be for the best. One, if it got her daughter in bed faster, and two, to calm her hormones down.
“I’m glad you could stop down.”
“Thanks for asking,” he said. “Sleep well, Gracie.”
“Bye.” Her daughter was waving excitedly as Blaze walked past the fence and out of sight.
Not out of sight of her mind though.
And when her daughter was in bed, the lights out, and Arden in the living room with the TV playing mindless cooking shows, her phone went off with a text.
She reached for it to see the picture of her and her daughter smiling, then the video after and hit play.
There was her daughter putting on a show, coming out of the shell she’d been hiding behind for way too long and acting like she always used to.
For that alone, she’d be thankful for Blaze and asked herself if it was worth the risk of hoping for more if it could hurt her daughter in the end... again.