“I suppose,” she agreed. “On the plus side of mistakes I’m not making, I did do something cool for a Heme-Onc patient. I introduced her to her favorite band.”
“I was unaware that was a service offered by the Child Life Department at MetroGen,” he said, though pediatrics did operate its own child-centric support activities no one else in the hospital had.
“Actually, my friend Lillian, the pediatric attending—has an in with this heavy metal band, Valkyrie StormFlyght. Familiar with them?” When he shook his head, Clarissa expanded. “They’re a big deal, and Lillian hooked us up with a video chat.”
“Hm, Lillian is Dr. Hernandez, right?” he said. Other than her roommates, he recalled Clarissa mentioning Lillian on occasion. “She’s a first-year attending?”
“Yeah. Other than getting on Steadman’s bad side, she got tied up in her office by the guy who went after me. She’s dating the cop who saved her. They’re engaged, actually. I haven’t met him yet.”
“Good for her,” he said. He couldn’t throw stones at a cop hooking up with a cute pediatrician that he’d rescued.
Clarissa seemed to be thinking about something as they continued to drive down streets, which weren’t too snowy. “And?” he asked.
“Well, I’d like to meet him and maybe have time with her and her new fiancé. Maybe like a couples’ thing. My birthday’s coming up.”
Finally, she was giving him another tidbit that he could actually do to brighten her day. He needed to take more steps beyond the sexy stuff, given she had such a gauntlet to run. Adjusting his schedule to have extra time for her and the small changes at his house weren’t going to be enough.
“How about I host a birthday party at my place for your friends. When’s your birthday?” A better boyfriend ought to have known the date, but he’d settle for rectifying this failure.
“I turn twenty-seven April 18th.” She frowned. “I’ll be on call in the NICU for it.”
She sounded pretty mournful about it. “Then I’ll have it post-call. Give me the names and numbers of your friends.”
“Seriously?”
The fact that she sounded surprised showed he had a lot of ground to make up in the boyfriend department. “How else would I get ahold of them?”
“No one who wasn’t related to me has ever thrown me a birthday party, let alone my semi-secret boyfriend. Last year, Simone gave me a cupcake from the hospital cafeteria.”
They stopped at a light near his house, and Roan wondered if he had failed to clue her in on where they stood in their relationship. “There is no secret-boyfriend except from Tank. We aren’t hiding from the hospital. I’m generally a private person, so not making a huge announcement isn’t a reflection of you or us.”
“All true, especially since you’re getting flak from my roomies about our sexy times.” She glanced over at him. “Speaking of private, when is your birthday?”
“May second,” he said and added a second key fact, “I’m turning forty.”
“You old dirty dog,” she giggled. “I’ll have to make sure I plan a good surprise for you.”
“Don’t worry about it. Seeing you should be enough.” He pulled into his garage and got out, holding her hand. “I did a little redecorating. Hope you approve.”
CHAPTER 12
He took her hand and led her through the side door. They entered his eat-in kitchen, and he helped her take her jacket off before directing her toward the living room.
She shrieked. “Colors!”
True to his word, he had ordered pillows, blankets, and something he presumed to be accent art in her favorite turquoise and pink colors to contrast with the cool gray of his furnishings.
He could feel himself starting to beam as she danced around his living room, cooing and running her hand across the pillows with the velveteen edges. “Omg. No more OR sterile vibes. It pops. Depth. Contrast.”
He caught her hands and spun her around. “You are easy to please, buttercup. Wait till you see the master suite.”
She twisted her lips teasingly. “You painted the walls so it was something less neutral and put up fairy lights?”
“How about I got a fluffy comforter and matching towels with pillowcases and your very own pink electric toothbrush?”
She squealed, and her enthusiastic kiss was definitely worth every penny he had spent. “The bad daddy has done good, and he’ll be getting an epic blow job tonight from his good girl.”
She made like she was going to drag him to the bedroom, but he stopped her. “Simone made me promise I would feed you. So, there’s food. Which I cooked.”
