Chapter 1 #2
I waited; seeing a grown man at a loss for words was always enjoyable, but I was on the clock.
I decided to speed things up. If we got the explanation done, maybe I could get a coffee date out of this.
Henry was more delicious in three dimensions than I’d expected, and his left ring finger was bare.
“Thank you.” I held out my hand for the box and smiled warmly.
He tried to pass me the box, but it all went wrong. The lid flipped up and off. Unbalanced in Henry’s grip, it tipped sideways, both shoes tumbling to the ground. I ended up holding the empty shoebox, and Henry dropped once more to his knees.
“This box and I have a history.” He scooped up the shoes and extended them toward me.
I was smitten. And not with the man. With the shoes. They were perfection.
“Oh, my goodness. They’re gorgeous.” My new silver lace-like ballet flats encrusted with hundreds of crystals sparkled brighter than a disco ball. The pointed toe was so freaking cute I almost squealed. The pictures online had been great, but in real life, holy cow! Adorable.
I lifted one foot and pointed my toes at Henry. When he didn’t immediately slip the shoe on, I wiggled my foot invitingly. “Please?”
“Right. Yes.” He cleared his throat and set one shoe down, focusing on putting the other on me.
He slid a hand up my foot and around my ankle, pushing up my green hospital-style scrubs.
His touch was solid, and his hands warm.
My pulse rate shot into overdrive. While I was a devoted shoe shopper, I wasn’t a foot girl.
Yet this moment had gone from silly to sexy faster than a pair of Louboutins flies off the sale rack at Nordstrom.
I used the back of the nearby chair to remain steady as he maneuvered my foot into the shoe.
He held my gaze. A feeling of warmth, like melting butter, oozed up my leg from where his fingers circled my ankle.
I had to fight to keep my knees from buckling when he stroked his knuckle over my arch as he let go of my foot.
Wow, shoe foreplay—new fetish unlocked.
Had I been the kind of woman who believed in fairy tales, I’d have called it a Cinderella moment. But I wasn’t. I was a forty-two-year-old veterinarian who was going to be late for her shift at the all-night emergency vet clinic if I didn’t get moving.
“They fit.” I breathed the words into the fraught tension between us as I set my foot on the floor.
“They do.” He didn’t look at the shoe; his gaze was locked on my face.
Our smoldering staring contest lasted a few hot and heavy heartbeats. Had I left the heat on in here? Talk about a thermodynamic reaction. Imagine what a kiss might spark— Boom!
“What happened to the box?” My question broke the spell.
Henry stood and gave me an embarrassed half-smile. “I killed it. I thought it contained a crime against men’s fashion, not your shoes. And in apology, please accept this peace offering.” He pulled a gourmet chocolate bar from the pocket of his gray sweatpants.
I took the chocolate and toed off the gorgeous shoe.
As a decent woman, I should have tried harder not to notice what his clingy heathered cotton pants barely hid. But I was too old to lie to myself. I looked. Henry was doing all the sweatpants fantasies I had of him during COVID justice.
“Box murder. Interesting. I need to hear the whole story.” I congratulated myself on setting Henry up with the easiest dating pitch in history. Even a White Sox batter could hit this meatball—all he had to do was take a swing and suggest we meet so he could tell me everything. Home run.
“It’s so embarrassing.”
I glanced at my watch, a subtle reminder that right now wasn’t the time for a long story.
I suppressed an eye roll and a sigh. Men were such wimps when it came to dating, but for those eye wrinkles, I’d do the hard work. “Maybe you could tell me over coffee?”
“Yes, that’s a fabulous idea. What’s your number?” He pulled out his phone. His face transformed into a blend of relief and excitement.
“Three-one-two—”
Henry
“Meow!” The cat’s screech cut through the room like something from a Stephen King book.
A ball of black fur and claws raced over the back of the couch and pounced on the giant dog. The dog shot to its feet, knocking into Cindy and a side table that rattled violently but amazingly stayed up.
“Midnight. No.” Cindy snagged an armful of speeding feline from the floor. In a move that would have made a ninja proud, she wrangled the hissing cat into an oversized fishbowl.
“Do you add water now?” I asked, pointing at the annoyed cat in the clear, bubble-shaped container.
“Ha, ha. No, it’s a kitty backpack. Very chic. All the rage at fashion week.” She hoisted the carrier onto her back and adjusted the straps, spinning so I could see the cat inside the plastic globe. It hissed at me, and I took a step back.
Cindy wore hospital scrubs printed with tiny dog bones and a fleece jacket.
An elastic band held her tightly braided hair in place.
The no-nonsense style highlighted her high cheekbones and narrow nose.
She had an elegant face. Or possibly arresting.
There was no way I’d seen her in the building before; she was a woman you didn’t forget.
“High fashion indeed.” I wiggled my phone at her and smiled, waiting for the rest of her info. I was getting her digits, hell yeah.
She rattled off the rest of her phone number; about halfway through, the cat let rip a howl worthy of a demonic choir. I had to ask her twice to repeat the numbers so I could hear over the noise.
“Sorry about Midnight. She’s a terror when I first put her in the backpack, but once I start walking, she settles right in.” Cindy bounced on her feet a few times, trying to calm the cat.
“Quite a set of lungs on her.”
Even Cindy’s massive dog looked annoyed with the screeching. I tried to hide my wince; the note the cat hit was piercing enough to shatter crystal.
“She has a rare blood type. I’m a vet. We put up with a lot from her because she saves lives by donating to patients in need.”
That explained the scrubs and her cat-wrangling abilities.
“Well, I guess I should let you get to…”
“Work. Yeah, we’re going to be late for our shift at the emergency vet clinic over on Ogden Avenue if we don’t get moving. Midnight and I have a long night ahead of us.” Cindy scooped up a shoulder bag and shoved her feet into a pair of plastic clogs.
“You’re like those vets on TV working on any case that walks in the door?”
“Yep, you name it, we get it. Every species and every kind of emergency. But mostly it's dogs and cats.” She ushered me toward the door and out into the hall. I waited while she locked her door.
“Cool. I’m an accountant.” Could I make my job sound less exciting?
I wasn’t in tip-top dating form, but once upon a time, I had better game. The situation had caught me off guard—a gorgeous woman, a shredded parcel, and me standing there like an idiot. But I’d make it up to her when I took her out.
There was a new wine bar across the street from the Perrault. It would make a great first date. I’d even tell her about my brother’s ridiculous Texas wedding and bring a picture of the hideous bow tie.
I’d rally like a true champion. Maybe I could go from a wine date to an actual meal.
Did people our age still do old-school dating, or had apps and Netflix-and-chill replaced all that?
Ugh. I’d been out of the dating pool for too long.
My divorce was years ago, but I’d never jumped back in with both feet.
“This is your busy time of year, right?”
“Yes, the joy of tax season. Only a few days left.”
We both pressed the elevator call buttons—hers for down, mine for up.
“But isn’t being busy better? I hate shifts at the clinic when we’re quiet. Time drags so slowly.” She bounced on the balls of her feet to keep Midnight happy. It reminded me of a mom with a fussy baby.
“The last two weeks of the season are killers. Not just busy—frantic. Everything comes down to the wire. It’s like midnight on April fifteenth is a massive cliff, and we’re all hurtling toward it. Unless we get the last return filed, we crash and burn.”
“I never knew taxes were so stressful.” She shrugged.
The bell of an arriving elevator dinged.
“This is me.” She leaned toward me and placed a whisper of a kiss near my cheek. “Thanks for the shoes and the chocolate, Henry.”
“You’re welcome, Cindy.”
Our gazes locked, and I had to resist the urge to follow her into the elevator. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to kiss her for real or just prolong the moment. She stirred up the most peculiar feelings.
The doors slid closed, and she was gone. I squeezed my phone. I’d call her tomorrow—maybe midday. She’d obviously work late tonight. At eleven, she’d be awake by then… or maybe I’d better text.
The chemistry between us hadn’t been my imagination.
It had been instant and off the charts. The moment I touched her, something flared—almost supernatural, preordained.
I’d had to force myself to let go of her ankle.
Every molecule of my being had been clamoring to touch more of her.
I’d settled for dragging one knuckle over the top of her foot. It had been nowhere near enough.
I got on the elevator to go up one floor, whistling. For the first time in ages, I was excited to swan dive into the deep end of the dating pool.
Cindy
I yawned and stretched. The clock on my bedside table said it was two in the afternoon.
I’d needed the sleep. Last night had been a rough night at work.
There were so many patients that my memories blurred together.
Working emergency veterinary medicine was equal parts saving animals and easing suffering.
Between the patients and their distraught owners, it took a special kind of person to handle it long-term.
After a shift like last night, I wasn’t so sure I was still one of those vets.