What. The. Hell.
“Jonesy? My Jonesy?”
“Yes, I sent him a message and asked him if he had any military-grade binoculars I could borrow, and he said yeah sure. They’re just on loan though, so be careful.”
She hands me the weighty contraption, and there are more buttons on it than my TV remote. I glance back at this beautiful, surprising, and utterly reckless woman, mouth parting and a trickle of sweat running down my back.
“You told Jonesy about this?”
“Of course not. I said we had gotten into bird watching.”
“And he believed you?”
I don’t know if I should be happy or concerned that Mia has ingratiated herself in my friendship group. The fact that Jonesy hasn’t even mentioned giving hermilitary-gradeequipment for my non-existent bird watching hobby strikes a nerve. Jonesy keeps to himself, sure, but why the hell isn’t he mentioning this to me?
“It’s more believable than stalking your patients on a Saturday morning, isn’t it?” She shrugs.
She has a very good point. I’m sure I could justify my predilection for observing patients from afar to Jonesy. He is in the military after all. He watches people for a living. Even if he is a service personnel psychologist, some form of observation would be a part of that. I doubt he would even judge me for it, given that he knows my history and what happened when I first qualified.
“Don’t think I’m not pissed at you. You promised I could come with you on these things.” She pouts.
She still hasn’t clocked that she is the reason I’m here. Images of the sheer anguish on her face, the quiver of her lip and the tremble of her hand when she found out Nate had been leaving those notes fill my vision. I don’t want her to be frightened anymore than she already has been. I want to protecther. So, I turn her away from Nate and walk toward the café so we can sit down properly.
“I spotted you actually, but I was on a call so I was just finishing up before heading over. Do you mind if I join you?”
Her eyes dip low to my lips like she’s watching the lie spill out, but she doesn't say anything. Just slips the binoculars away and nods. I go to put my hand in hers, but she moves it to swipe a hair behind her ear before I get a chance.
Once we’ve ordered and taken a seat, she heads to the bathroom and I pull out my phone, opening the group chat for the Dinner Club.
Alfie:I need help.
Lottie:What’s wrong?
Katie:Tell her you’re sorry. I asked in advance the other day, she likes peonies. You’re welcome.
I hate that Katie assumes it’s something with Mia, and it’s fucking annoying that she’s right.
Jonesy:If it’s with the binoculars, call me. I can show you how the different settings work.
Christ. Why did he have to bring up the binoculars?
Alfie:Things have progressed with Mia. She freaked out and now things have backtracked.
Caleb:Why did she freak out? Do you do something weird in bed?
Alfie:No Caleb, I haven’t scared her off.
Jonesy:Wow, he didn’t deny they’ve slept together. Did Dr. Angel just kiss and tell?
Alfie:I don’t have time for this. Yes. Things progressed physically. Are you happy?
Katie:PEONIES.
Lottie:Have you tried talking to her about why she freaked out?
Alfie:She doesn’t want a relationship, she wants us to be friends with benefits until she gets a job and then we will call it quits.
Lottie:And you want a relationship. Our little commitmentphobe is ready to go ALL IN with his lady. I can’t believe we’re living in this timeline.
