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I felt Philip shift at my back. “You want to grab a bite?” he asked. “There’s a great cafe in Tucker Point, and I’m heading that way.”
“Sure thing!” I replied.
“Time,” Jacques said and began to turn off and disconnect the various monitors.
“It’s not fancy,” Philip continued, “but the food is good.”
I gave Jacques a smile of thanks as he removed the IV and the last of the other stuff. “Good food works for me.” But my eyes went to Jacques as he returned to stare at the whiteboard. “Everything cool, Jacques?”
His brow furrowed, gaze remaining on the whiteboard for another few seconds, then he moved to the cookie sheet of injectables to check what was there. He finally looked up and gave me a nod. “You can go.”
I stood and stretched to work out the kinks in my back. “Is Dr. Nikas still around?”
“No, he left to meet Mr. Ivanov,” Jacques replied with a tiny smile. “Forgot to tell me he was leaving. Again.”
I snorted, smiled. “I guess that happens often?”
“Often enough over the years,” he replied with a resigned shrug.
“Well, tell him to give me a buzz if he needs anything more from me.”
Jacques gave a distracted nod, brow furrowing as he looked at the whiteboard.
“That was almost a conversation,” Philip said as we headed out.
“I could barely get a word in edgewise.”
We exited the security doors. Philip stuck sunglasses on as soon as we were outside. “So far I’m not sick,” he said. “That’s promising.”
“It’s a good sign,” I agreed. “But if you do get sick, warn me so I can avoid splatter, okay?”
Philip winked. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“I can think of all sorts of things that are more fun without puke splatter,” I shot back. “Where are we going?”
“Nice little café called Top Cow,” he said, and somehow I kept my expression even. That was the first place Marcus and I ever had lunch together, though we hadn’t been toget
her-together at the time.
As if the thought of him had been a summons, my phone rang with the Marcus ringtone.
I glanced at Philip as I pulled it out of my purse. “Hold that thought?” He nodded, and I stepped a few feet away before answering, even though I knew it was silly to be self-conscious about talking to my boyfriend in front of Philip.
“Hey, babe,” I said as I answered. “What’s up?”
“Just checking on my favorite zombie,” Marcus said, a smile in his voice.
“Ooh, do I even outrank your uncle on that scale?”
He laughed. “Well, I know which one I’d rather see naked.”
“Jeez, now I have a mental image.”
“Sorry,” he said, though he didn’t sound sorry at all. “Actually, I was calling to see if you wanted to grab an early supper.”
“Perfect timing.” I winced as soon as I said it. “I mean, I’m leaving the lab right now, and Philip and I were about to head to Top Cow Café since we’re kind of starving. Would you be okay with joining us?”
“Yes, sure thing,” he replied quickly, but I heard the slight catch in his voice. He’d never been to the lab—had never even been invited. I also knew he wasn’t exactly thrilled to pieces about my spending time with Philip. It didn’t even matter that it wasn’t a whole lot of time. Philip was, well, Philip.
