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When it was done, I slathered some antibacterial ointment over the area and applied a bandage. “You probably already know all this, but you’ll need to keep the wound bandaged and dry today. Tomorrow, you can wash around it with water before covering it again with a thin layer of petroleum jelly and a nonstick bandage, replacing it as needed. The stitches can come out in five to ten days, depending on how quickly the wound heals. If you’d like, I could come over on one of my days off and take them out for you.”
“It’s so nice of you to offer.” Her smile was shy. “But I should be able to handle that part.”
I pulled a notepad and pen out of my kit to jot down my number. Tearing the sheet of paper out, I handed it to her. “Feel free to call me if you change your mind.”
“Is that the time?” she asked, pulling my arm closer so she could see the face of my watch more clearly. “Crap! I have to run or else I’ll be late for my clinical.”
I hated the idea of leaving her, but I quickly stowed my supplies back in my kit because I didn’t want to fuck up her day. When she walked over to the door and opened it for me, I paused before walking through it. “I meant what I said. Call me if you want help taking out the stitches. Or for no reason at all.”
Her cheeks filled with heat once again, and I couldn’t help but wonder how far it went down as she expressed her gratitude. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for fixing me up!”
As soon as the door shut, I yanked my phone out of my pocket and called Rand. When he didn’t pick up, I fired off a quick text to him. He hadn’t called back or replied to my message when I made it down to my truck, so I tried again. And again. And again.
An hour later, I was certain that Rand was trying to avoid me because he knew I wanted to bail on the blind date he and Jaelyn had set up for me. He probably thought it was because I had cold feet when I actually had a damn good reason. I’d already met the only woman I was interested in spending time with. “Fuck.”
4
Mia
Between helping Jaelyn move, my clinicals, and study group, my Saturday had been even more hectic than usual. That hadn’t stopped me from daydreaming about Tyler, though. Which just made me even more irritated about this blind date than I already had been.
I tried to get a hold of Jaelyn a couple of times throughout the day, but she hadn’t called me back yet. As I pulled up in front of the restaurant where I was supposed to meet my blind date, I tried one last time. Once again, it rang several times before going through to her voicemail. “I can’t believe you’re avoiding me tonight of all nights! I don’t even know why I let you talk me into this in the first place. It’s not like I have time to date anyway. But just so you know, I met someone today, and this stupid blind date is the only thing preventing me from using the phone number he gave me.”
I wanted nothing more than to go back to my apartment, change into comfy pajamas, and stare at my phone while I worked up the courage to call Tyler. Instead, I was forced to come here. I didn’t want the guy to think that I just stood him up if I didn’t show up, but I also had zero interest in having a drink with him, let alone dinner. My plan was to go in there, find the guy at the bar who was wearing a blue button-down shirt, and let him down quick and easy. Best-case scenario, I figured I could be in and out of there in like five minutes.
“If she’d just given me his phone number, I could’ve texted him or something,” I muttered to myself as I walked into the restaurant.
Although I was right on time, I wasn’t in a rush to find my blind date. Instead of turning left to head into the bar, I went right so I could hit up the ladies’ room first. Looking cute didn’t matter when you had no intention of sticking around and didn’t care about impressing a guy, but that didn’t stop me from heading over to the sinks to fix my hair and swipe on some lip gloss. My intention had been to delay the inevitable, but it turned out to be a really good decision because the first person I spotted when I walked into the bar was Tyler.
With his tall, muscular build and broad shoulders, the paramedic was impossible to miss. His thick, dark hair was tousled as though he hadn’t bothered to run a comb through it since I saw him this morning. He was talking to the bartender, so I only had a side view of his profile. I was dying to know if his deep blue eyes were as gorgeous as I remembered, but I was hesitant to find out because this was the last place I wanted to see him again.
