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Almost ninety minutes later, Charlie was as fixed up as he was going to get without the help of our orthopedic surgery department, and I was leaving the ER in search of a hot cup of coffee. As much as I loved the work, emergency medicine was exhausting and coffee was my closest companion.
“Dr. Rutledge, there you are!”
Melanie’s voice was sugary sweet, a tone reserved for two things: asking favors and matchmaking. Neither of which I was in the mood for right now, so I kept on walking.
“Can’t talk now, Mel. Got another patient.”
“The ER is in the opposite direction,” she growled.
“I’m taking the circuitous route, gotta get my steps in,” I called over my shoulder. “It’s good for the heart, I hear.”
“Calvin Rutledge, if you make me chase you down this corridor, I swear you will live to regret it. You might as well kiss your precious weekends goodbye.”
Those words stopped me cold, as she knew they would. Many of my weekends were spent outside of the scenic town where I grew up. Jackson’s Ridge was as small-town as they came and twice as gorgeous, but there was an over-abundance of marriage-minded women, which meant I spent my weekends where the women had more casual tendencies. I turned slowly toward Mel, who wore the kind of satisfied smile that likely spelled trouble for me.
“What can I help you with, Nurse Gibbons?”
“That’s better,” she practically purred as she caught up to me. “I have the perfect woman for you, Cal. She’s tall and gorgeous, and best of all, she’s a surgeon just like you—she knows all about crazy schedules and last-minute cancellations.”
This sounded promising, but Melanie’s goal was creating happy endings, not casual hookups. “Where does she live?”
“Salem, though what you have against the women here in town, I’ll never know.”
She wouldn’t find out from me, either. “What makes this woman perfect for me?”
Melanie blinked. “I already told you—she’s a doctor, so she knows what your life is like. She’ll be more understanding of your schedule and less likely to break up with you.”
I smiled. “You’re fishing, Mel.” The last woman I dated semi-seriously broke up with me in a very public way, so the whole town knew I was dumped for canceling on Gina one too many times. “What else?”
“What?” She blinked, looking far too innocent, which was a dead giveaway that she was up to something.
“She’s a gorgeous surgeon who lives in Salem. What else do I need to know about her?”
Mel bit down on her lip, blue gaze looking everywhere but at me as she let out a deep sigh. “She’s divorced. And a mother.”
I let out a low groan and shook my head. “Thanks, Mel, but no thanks. I have no interest in being someone’s father after five dates.” Single mothers weren’t my thing—they came with too many expectations. Expectations I couldn’t live up to.
Melanie’s smile turned into a frown, her shoulders drooping in disappointment. “You’ll have to grow up and settle down sometime, Cal.”
“What makes you think I’m not a grown up? I live alone and pay all of my own bills. I give to charity and I pay my taxes, all recognizably grown-up things to do. Finding a wife doesn’t make me an adult, Mel.” Too many people thought that was the next logical step in life, and more often than not, they lived to regret it.
“No, it doesn’t, but avoiding love at all costs is childish.”
“I’m not avoiding it, I just have no interest in it.”
Truthfully, I’ve never been in love before, not even puppy love. There were women I enjoyed spending time with inside and outside of the bedroom, some I cared about, but none ever rose to the level of love.
“When you find the right woman, you’ll change your mind.”
I smiled at Mel, who had the best of intentions. “Maybe I just haven’t met her yet, then.” It pissed me off that everyone believed I was somehow defective for choosing to be a bachelor.
“Shannon could be the right woman,” she shot back in a sing-song voice.
“No. She’s looking for something serious, single mothers always are. And I get that, I really do. But I don’t want another woman thinking she can change me, or that I’ll change my mind about what I want.”
I never changed my mind. No matter how beautiful the woman, how good the sex or the food, no woman has been able to change my mind about what I want in life—or, more specifically, what I don’t want.
“Says who?”
“Really, Mel?”
“Okay, fine. Maybe that’s her goal, but maybe you’ll fall in love with her and want all that stuff, too.”
I appreciated the hope that sparkled in her deep blue eyes, even if it was misplaced.
“That’s too many maybes for me, Mel. Sorry, but no.” I flashed a small smile, kissed her cheek, and made my escape.
