Page 30 of Brain Damage

Mr. Leroy’s kind brown eyes widen. “Is that so?”

Clark nods. “Great story to tell the grandkids, right?” He leans in to peck me on the cheek. “I’ll go get a seat, Charlotte. I’ll see you inside.”

I want to follow Clark into the restaurant, but I feel like I have to say something to Mr. Leroy. Something to prove to him that I’m not the worst person in the universe, which is sort of how I’m feeling right now.

“Look,” I murmur, “the thing about dating patients…”

“No, I get it,” Mr. Leroy says quickly. “I understand. You don’t have to explain.”

“Oh,” I say, relieved. “Okay.”

“When you said you couldn’t date patients, you just meant that you’re not allowed to date patients who aren’t attractive enough to meet your high standards.” He raises his eyebrows. “That’s it, right?”

Oh God, this really couldn’t be any more awkward.

“Mr. Leroy…” I begin.

He holds up his hand. “No, it’s okay, really.” He shrugs. “The truth is, I don’t think I’d want to spend any time with someone like you anyway.”

Mr. Leroy pushes past me and leaves the restaurant. I just stand there a minute, a lump rising in my throat. What an asshole. No wonder his wife left him. I’ll bet it had nothing to do with groin fungus.

But I still feel like bursting into tears.

I take a deep breath and start to walk into the restaurant to join my fiancé. But before I do, I glance out the door to the diner, and I notice that Mr. Leroy is still standing in front of the restaurant.

Staring at me.

I look away and hurry off to my table.

21

“Dr. McKenna?”

I am nearly at the entrance to the building that houses the dermatology practice where I work when I hear someone calling out my name. I look around for the source of the male voice, and after I swivel my head ninety degrees to the right, that’s when I see him.

Stan Leroy. Groin fungus guy.

I freeze, not sure what to do. When I ran into Leroy yesterday, it was awkward, and that’s putting it mildly. After you reject a man, you don’t really want to ever see him again. You especially don’t want him showing up at your work. I had planned to tell Margo that I was officially discharging him as a patient.

But Leroy holds both hands up in a gesture of peace. Right now, he reminds me of the nice man who thanked me for turning his life around, rather than a jerk who told me he wouldn’t want to ever date somebody like me.

“Hey,” he says. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Um…” Even though he doesn’t look angry, it doesn’t mean things can’t turn on a dime. I wish we were upstairs at the office, where I have back up. “I only have a minute. I’m running late.”

“I’ll keep it quick then.” He pauses meaningfully. “I want to apologize.”

His brown eyes are sincere. He seems like he’s sincere.

“I put you in an awkward position,” he acknowledges. “I shouldn’t have expected you to say yes when I asked you out. You were just trying to do your job, and that was a crummy thing for me to do. I put you on the spot.”

I don’t know what to say. He’s right, but I’m afraid to agree too emphatically. “It was difficult,” I finally say.

“Well, anyway.” He shoves both hands into the pockets of his worn jeans. “That’s all, really. I just wanted to apologize to you for everything.” For a moment, his gaze drops to the engagement ring on my left hand. “And I’m really glad everything worked out for you.”

“Thank you,” I say stiffly. “I… I hope things are going well for you too.”

“Not too bad.” One side of his lips quirk up. “Still single, though.”