“Whoa, whoa,whoa.” I clamped my hand over the glass. “Give yourself a breather, Lola.” I jerked my thumb in Harry’s direction. “You don’t want to end up like him.”
Lola craned her neck to peer around me. “Is he okay?” She straightened her glasses and swept a concerned look over him. “What happened?”
“A few too many.” Well,anywas too many for Harry. “He’ll be right once he sleeps it off. He’s had a tough day.” I was playing with fire, but I couldn’t stop my smirk. “He handles cuts almost as well as you do.”
“Careful.” Lola’s eyes narrowed. “I can rip out those stitches quicker than I put them in.”
“If it means you’re putting your little hands on me, you can do anything you want.” I shifted closer to whisper a word that would probably earn me a punch in the gut.“Hon.”
I teased her. I shouldn’t have. But any attention from Lola was better than her pretending I didn’t exist. Hearing her say that sweet term of endearment? That had meant the world to a dumb fool like me. It washope. My heart had rocketed into a beat faster than a teenager talking to his first crush.
Lola pushed her glasses up her nose like she was preparing for battle, but her chest deflated. “You always bring out the worst in me.”
She huffed a defeated sigh and whirled around. There was nothing to stare at except her back until she flagged Bernie’s attention away from the old-timers sitting at the other end of the bar.
He lumbered back with a grin. “Ready for another round, Lola from the City?”
Lola wilted. Bloody hell. She didn’t need to hear that crap on top of everything else she was going through.
“Bernie, come on,” I said. “Don’t call her that.”
His eyes flew to me. “Sorry?”
“You heard me. She’s a part of this town just like you are.”
“Like me? No offence, big fella, but I’ve been here more than forty years—”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean she’s an outsider. She’s part of this place. She patched up your grandson when he came off his bike last week, didn’t she?”
Bernie’s head bowed. He was eating his words now.
“No more of that Lola from the City crap, understand? You call her Dr. Hughes.” I threw a grin in her direction. “Or maybe if she likes you, she’ll let you call her Lola.”
Bernie mumbled something under his breath. I wasn’t sure if it was a reluctant apology to Lola or a giant “Fuck you” to me.
He forced a smile. “So, Doc, you want another?”
A growl rumbled in my chest. Didn’t I just warn him?
“Doc’s okay!” Bernie’s panicked eyes pleaded with Lola. “Doc’s okay! Right?”
Lola giggled and swatted my arm, a playful warning for me to back off. “Yeah, Doc’s okay.”
Mutters trailed behind Bernie on his trip to the old-timers whose necks were about to snap off from all their gawking. I grimaced.Causing a scene hadn’t been part of the equation. I flicked a glance behind me. A bar full of eyes stared back. Oh yeah, they’d heard me. I’d made a declaration I was interested in Lola. Was I bothered about the gossip? Nope.
“Aiden.” My brain stopped the second Lola’s hand touched my arm. “Thank you.”
I dipped my chin. She had nothing to thank me for. “I should’ve made it right a long time ago.”
“Yes. You should have.”
“I should never have done what I did in the first place.”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to make it up to you.”
She grunted an adorable sound. “I don’t think you can.”
