“And who is this hunk?” A man around our age asks. He’s a fellow nurse judging by the uniform.
“Finn, this is Antoine, and no he isn’t gay.”
I take Antoine in. “Huh.”
Antoine flaps his arms up and down in frustration. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Lee. What is it exactly that’s giving off this vibe?”
“Can’t quite pinpoint it. It’s just your genuine sort of…energy?”
He huffs in frustration making Oakleigh laugh.
“Now—” she places a hand on my chest “—what’s this exciting news?”
“I’ll tell you in the car.”
We both wave bye to a frustrated Antoine and hop into my car. I’m so glad that Oakleigh has started letting me drive her to work as well. It means that her little Fiat 500 that I barely fit in can stay at home and I no longer have to leave my car at her house and take a cab to the hospital so I can drive her car back.
“Okay, spill,” she says the moment we’re out the parking lot.
“You remember how Gus mentioned that I bought some land recently?”
“Yeah, I’ve been waiting for you to tell me about this.”
I give her hand a quick squeeze over the center console. “I know, I’m sorry, I just didn’t want to mention it in case the planning permission didn’t go through.”
She smiles up at me. “That’s fine. So, what are you planning on doing with this land? Build something to house your ego?”
“Or your audacity,” I fire back.
My low laugh seems to harmonize with her light one.
“So then what happened with this to get you in such a good mood?”
“The planning request got approved.”
“That’s incredible!” she cries, slapping my shoulder playfully.
I nod, my chest puffing slightly at the sliver of pride that runs along it. “I’m going to build my dream home. Settle down. Hopefully raise a family there one day.”
There’s a moment of silence, but because I’m on a tricky bit of road, I’m unable to look over at Oakleigh and see what she’s feeling.
So, I settle for asking her, hoping that I’ll hear the truth in her voice. “You’ve gone quiet. Everything okay?”
She hums in acknowledgment but otherwise stays silent. Something tells me that I’ve said something wrong, but I retrace my steps and find nothing. Unless…
“Wait, does the thought of me settling down bother you?”
“What?” she snaps. “Hell, no. Why would it?”
We’re past the part that requires most of my attention, so I chance a glance over to her.
“You’re mad.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Tell that to your face.”
Her head snaps away from me to look out the window. If I wasn’t currently so confused about the why, I would laugh at her reaction.
