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Tiffani regarded him with expectation.
He was going to have to tell her about his dirty laundry as well. She shouldn’t have to hear it but it was part of his story. “When I was a kid I lived in a world of affluence. My family lived in the nicest neighborhood, had the best cars. Even traded each year for the newest model. I wore the best brands from the best stores in town. We were members of the most renowned country club. I attended the most prestigious private school. We were in the ‘in crowd.’”
“So that’s where the great manners came from,” Tiffani commented.
“That had a lot to do with it. I attend cotillion classes and there were dances all the time. At home, the social graces were required. It was important to always look and act correctly. My mother was very particular. To her, manners were a reflection of breeding. Appearance was everything.”
He took a sip of his now-cold tea. “I was a senior in high school when I found out that all my family lived on was nothing but a house of cards. I discovered that only when it collapsed. Big time. My father and mother had had us living a lie. They were living far beyond their means. We had been part of a lifestyle they couldn’t afford and it finally caught up with them. My dad had to file for bankruptcy. Gone were the house, the cars, the clothes and the friends. Do you have any idea how fast so-called friends can disappear when you embarrass them?”
Tiffani didn’t answer. Just looked at him with steady, almost unreadable eyes. Thankfully her gaze didn’t hold pity. If it had, he might have left.
Shaking his head and focusing on his tea mug, he forced himself to continue. “The country-club life was over. We moved across town to a three-bedroom apartment in an area our old friends wouldn’t even drive through. Mr. Royster wouldn’t take my father’s calls. My girlfriend, the one I foolishly hoped to marry, told me she couldn’t associate with a penniless person. She had to think about the repercussions of even being seen with me.”
Tiffani hissed in a manner that reminded him of the sound a mother might make when her child was in danger. Her knuckles were white from where she now gripped her mug.
“What we didn’t do was change schools. The year was already paid for. It would have been better if we had. Those last few months for me and my brother were horrible.
“I came out of the experience promising myself that I’d never put on the pretense of being more important than anyone else. I swore to myself I’d never use my job, my house, clothes or what I drive to create a façade of self-importance. I was going to be me and no one else.”
“So the long hair, jeans and calling you by your first name comes from that.” Tiffani was speaking more to herself as if she at last had found answers to her questions.
“Yep, what you see is what you get. Like it or not.”
“So how did you afford to go to medical school?”
He shrugged. “I had good grades. I was always good at math and got great experience working in the nursing home. I received some scholarships, took out some loans and worked like hell. I was determined not to give up my dreams because my parents had selfishly pretended to be different people without considering the consequences if the truth came out. I like knowing I earned what I had.” He sighed. “Anyway, Mr. Royster just showed up in my OR. When I had to go out and tell Mrs. Royster and her daughter, my old girlfriend, that he had passed away, I hadn’t seen them in over fifteen years. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t a happy reunion.”
“I can only imagine.”
“They couldn’t accept his death was natural. Couldn’t accept he’d not been taking good care of himself or that he should have seen a doctor sooner. They blamed me for his death. They had the money and status to bring the lawsuit. At one point, they even accused me of letting Mr. Royster die on purpose because I wanted revenge for how he’d turned his back on my family when I was a kid. I think that will hurt more than anything for a very long time. These were people who had known me for a significant portion of my life and yet they actually thought I was low enough to let him die out of revenge.”
Rex shook his head. He was almost done. “With the lawsuit involving both me and the hospital, I wasn’t able to say anything. I was told to keep my mouth shut. But the Roysters could say anything they wanted, and took every opportunity to do so. Even airing my own mother and father’s bankruptcy and fall from high social grace all those years ago.”
“Oh, no,” Tiffani said.
“I didn’t agree with what my parents did but I certainly didn’t want to see them dragged through the mud because of me.”
“I’m sorry all of that happened to you.” He hated the sad look that now filled her eyes.
“Yeah, but it’s over and done now. I’ve moved on.”
She gave him a dubious look but didn’t question him further, for which he was grateful.
* * *
Tiffani’s heart hurt for him. He’d suffered. In her opinion, he still was, but he couldn’t see that about himself. She stood and went behind him. Putting her arm around his neck, she put her hands over his heart. It beat strong and hard, just like he was. He was a survivor who could still give to others. She pushed back his hair and kissed his temple. “You know, you’re the biggest-hearted person I know. I love you because you care.” She realized what she’d said too late. “Uh, you know what I mean.”
Rex clasped her hands just as she started to withdraw. “I know what you mean,” he said, sounding profoundly grateful. “Thank you for being here for me. Listening.” He turned in his chair and pulled her down to sit in his lap.
Her arm went around his shoulders and she kissed him.
Sometime later he whispered against her ear, “I know I probably don’t deserve it, but I’d like to stay tonight if you’ll let me.”
Tiffani stood. Taking his hand, she led him toward the stairs. “Come on. You need your rest.”
* * *
The sun was high in the sky when she awoke. Rex’s head rested on her shoulder. When they had come to bed he’d just held her. It had been as if he’d needed to feel someone was there for him. She was glad he had picked her.
Although she needed to call work, she wasn’t willing to take the chance she might wake Rex to do so. Running her hand over his hair, she marveled that he lay in her arms. Rex was fast becoming important to her. Too much so. Forever with him was easy to imagine. If it was only that simple. Their lives were here and now, only for the moment. They had no real tomorrows, were on two different paths.
She’d had such a negative view of doctors all her life. Rex had learned to mistrust people. Her job was to make people look better. He despised any pretense. She was buttoned up and he was let your hair down. She was leaving and he was staying. It was impossible. All she could do was enjoy this all-too-brief interlude.
The fingertips of his hand skimmed across the skin of her waist. Her pulse quickened. Rex was waking up. He rolled over and kissed
the top of one breast before looking up at her to murmur, “Softest pillow I’ve ever had.”
“I need to call work. I’m late.” Tiffani moved to untangle herself from him.
“Don’t go in today. Let’s do something fun. Laugh.” He gave her an imploring look as his fingers brushed over her skin.
“I can’t, I have to work.” Tiffani hated telling him no.
“You can call it a day of work. I’ll let you take pictures. I’ll even help an old lady across the street so you’ll have something for social media.” He grinned, the one that could get her to do almost anything.
She returned it. “You’re a funny man so early in the morning.”
“Come on, Tiff, live on the wild side a little bit.” He was serious.
This was another area where they were so different. He didn’t take his life too seriously. Knew how to laugh at himself. Enjoy living. “Okay, funny man. What do you think we ought to do?”
He sat up and looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. “How about a visit to Elvis’s house? Ever been there?”
“Yes, but it’s been a long time.” This was the last suggestion she would have expected from him.
“Then Graceland here we come.” He popped out of bed. “Shower, my place for a change of clothes and breakfast, then we’re on our way.”
Tiffani couldn’t help but laugh. He was a completely different person from the one who had shown up on her doorstep the night before. She liked both sides of Rex. The tough, hardened one and the one who reminded her of a kid looking in a toy store window.
Pulling on her hand, he gave her a wolfish grin and raised his brows up and down. “Let’s share the shower. Save time.”
Twenty minutes later Tiffani stepped out on shaky knees from the most satisfying shower she had ever taken. Rex had sent her to the summit of ecstasy before he’d carefully bathed her then wrapped her in a towel. She was still floating on pleasure when she followed him in her car to his place.
“Let me get on something besides these day-old scrubs and I’ll fix us something to eat.” Rex was gone before she could answer.
