4. Kate
Elias handed Kate a glass of champagne, and she accepted it, smiling. It was going to be her last alcoholic drink for some time, and she almost revealed that fact to Elias—but telling a guy you barely knew that you were about to embark on a solo pregnancy wasn’t exactly appropriate conversation material.
When she’d last seen him, he’d been her patient in the emergency room. He’d been covered in blood and bruising, and while she’d found his flirting cute, it had been a little annoying to watch how overtly the other staff responded to his charms. She wasn’t going to be one of his many groupies. And the fact he was Levi’s little brother had put her off even more. She’d had a decent professional relationship with Levi, so she couldn’t be caught fawning over his brother while she was on duty. She would have never lived it down.
But now… this was a surprise. Elias was an artist, and a very talented one. Why hadn’t she looked up his bio before attending the event? That way, she wouldn’t have been caught so off-guard.
She continued to look at the statue in front of her. Florence Nightingale. She loved it. The centrepiece of this whole event featured a female doctor like her. And one with the same hair and eye colour. It felt like a sign that she was meant to be here tonight.
‘What inspired this piece?’ she asked, tilting her head upwards.
He didn’t respond for a moment.
‘It came to me in a dream,’ he said eventually.
‘Really? That’s very surrealist of you.’
Elias laughed. ‘As you can see, I’m not exactly a surrealist artist, but I suppose I draw inspiration from all movements.’
‘Is she for sale?’
‘Uh, yes and no. Everything is available for a price, but I kind of want to hold on to her for a while.’
The way Elias said that made goosebumps rise on her arms.
They made eye contact, and her heart started pounding. Damn, the guy was good looking. His face had long recovered from the injuries he’d sustained the night she’d last seen him. She loved his hair. And the scruff on his face.
Was this some weird celebrity effect she was experiencing? Is this why rockstars were never short of people wanting to sleep with them?
Wait. Did she want to sleep with Elias?
‘How old are you?’ she blurted out.
He smiled, amused. ‘Why is everyone talking about age tonight?’
‘Who else was talking about age?’
‘Levi. He was teasing me about still being a kid. Six years’ difference shouldn’t give him that right.’
Six years. Kate was the same age as Levi. That was a big difference when Elias was the younger one.
‘I guess that’s what older brothers do,’ Kate said. ‘I have a sister who always calls me a brat, and I’m in my mid-thirties now. She’s only two years older.’
He chuckled. ‘Older siblings, huh? They’ll forever annoy us.’
Kate really liked how he said the word us.
She downed the rest of her wine and held the empty glass awkwardly, wondering if she could put it down somewhere. Elias reached out to take it, and their fingers brushed in the process, sending shivers through her belly. Why was this man so attractive?
She waved her hand around the room. ‘I… I should probably let you mingle with the other guests. I don’t want to monopolise your time.’
Elias pressed his lips together, and his eyes sparkled. ‘I’m more than happy for you to monopolise my time.’
There was that charm again. She knew he did it with everyone, but her body responded anyway. It turned out that yes, she did want to sleep with him.
But she was starting her health plan tomorrow. She couldn’t afford any distractions.
‘Still. It’s your event. I might take a look around at your other stuff. Don’t worry about me.’
He looked like he was going to say something else but decided against it. He nodded. ‘Thank you for coming. I’m really glad you saw the ad online.’
‘Thank you for being so accommodating.’
She slowly backed away before turning and making her way to another part of the gallery.
It wasn’t until she was more than ten metres away from him physically that she realised she’d barely breathed during their entire exchange.
And then it hit her. She hadn’t slept with anyone for well over a year. Her body was just reacting to that. A hot guy showing her attention would do that to any heterosexual woman in the same situation.
Hormones.
As a doctor, she knew how they operated, but it didn’t stop her from falling victim to them like everyone else.
She tried to focus on another sculpture nearby, but it was all a blur.
A waiter passed with a tray of wine, so Kate picked one up.
She had until midnight until her new routine officially began.
Another glass wouldn’t make any difference.
* * *
Kate wanderedthe gallery for another half hour, drinking two more glasses of wine in the meantime. But when she noticed it becoming harder and harder to walk in a straight line, she knew she had to leave for fear of falling on her face in front of Elias.
She unsteadily made her way to the exit, where she noticed two women talking. One of them was Alexis, who had been with Levi earlier. Kate thought the other woman looked vaguely familiar too, but she couldn’t quite place her.
Alexis waved Kate over. ‘You’re leaving already?’
‘Yeah, I think I overindulged a little with the wine, and I haven’t had dinner. I should probably go home before I make an even bigger mistake than not recognising the artist.’
Alexis smiled kindly. ‘It was a very easy thing not to know.’ She gestured to the woman next to her. ‘This is Sarah. She’s dating Levi’s friend Theo.’
‘Oh, right. Theo Park! The model and actor. I actually remember Levi talking about him back when we studied together before he became famous. I thought it was cool to see him make it big.’
‘It was a bit tricky at the beginning, but we’ve figured out how to manage the fans and media now,’ Sarah explained.
‘Yeah, I can imagine it would be an adjustment. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Sarah. Maybe I’ll see you both around sometime…’
‘Wait. Why don’t you come and eat with us? We were just about to sneak out for pizza.’
‘Oh, I don’t know…’
‘Come on. You don’t want to be going home tipsy and then have to think about making dinner.’
Kate hesitated. ‘I guess.’ She was worried that the longer she stayed, the more likely she would be to run into Elias again—and then she might say or do something she’d regret. But she also didn’t have a lot of friends. Her colleagues were acquaintances, but they didn’t socialise outside of work. And she really only hung out with her sister when she had spare time. If she was about to spend a month not working, maybe she could use a few more women in her life.
‘Okay. Thank you. I’d love to have pizza with you.’ It would be her last junk food for the foreseeable future.
‘Excellent.’ Alexis pulled her gently by the arm, and the three went outside. The exhibition was in a small lane off Eagle Street in the city, and there was a pizza chain a few doors down.
‘Any requests?’ Alexis asked.
‘No pineapple,’ Sarah said.
‘Uh, yeah, I don’t love pineapple on pizza either,’ Kate said.
‘Okay. How about one with the lot—minus the pineapple—and then a four-cheese pizza?’
‘You think we’ll eat more than one between the three of us?’ Kate asked.
‘Yes. Yes, I do.’
Kate laughed. ‘All right, then.’
She opened her purse and pulled out a couple of bills, handing them to Alexis.
‘Thanks.’ Sarah handed her some cash as well, and Alexis went up to the counter to order.
‘When did you meet Theo?’ Kate asked Sarah.
‘Uh… I’m not exactly sure. We sort of had a one-nighter before he went overseas for a while, and then it was a bit on and off for a while.’
‘Oh. Because of that “trickiness” you mentioned before?’
‘Yeah, that. And another woman got in the way. I’m sure you would have read about it in the news.’
‘I stay away from tabloids. I prefer to listen to audiobooks and podcasts.’
‘That sounds very sensible. But anyway, that all feels like a lifetime ago now.’ She held up her hand, showing off a sparkly ring. ‘We’ve been engaged for eight months now.’
‘Oh, that’s lovely.’
Alexis returned to the table. ‘The pizza is on its way. I also texted Levi to let him know where we were. He and Theo are going to join us in half an hour. I told them they’ll have to order their own pizza.’
Kate smiled. She liked this. Even in high school she’d never really had any close friends and had spent most of her lunchtimes in the library.
She wondered if these women would mind having her in their life a little more permanently.
And then she wondered what they’d think if she told them she was about to undergo IVF on her own.
Would they still accept her?