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Meant To Be
9 Years Later
Braden
“So,yousaidyouwork in pediatrics?” I ask the gorgeous woman sitting across the table from me—Hollie.
I heard her laugh in the cafeteria line in front of me and decided to pay for her lunch. It earned me a genuine smile and an offer to sit with her while she ate. But the zap of electricity I felt when I touched her arm knocked me off my game. Not that I have a ton of game, but I’d like to think I’m relatively smooth. I don’t have a hard time asking women out.
Not that lunch in a hospital cafeteria is much of a date. But with the beautiful siren sitting across from me, I’ll take whatever I can get. Even if it’s only enjoying the ease between us. Sipping coffee, we’ve chatted for the last twenty minutes.
Well, I’ve said a few things. Mostly I’ve hung on every word she’s said and memorized every detail about her. Her hair is blonde with pink highlights that bring out a small smattering of freckles over her nose and cheeks. But it’s her eyes that draw me in. Seafoam green like the ocean on a stormy day. And her laugh. Jesus, the sound is like honey. Sweet with the tiniest bit of tang. Her fingers are delicate but strong, with fingernails cut short and painted a vibrant blue. And I make note of the lack of a ring or even a ring line on her finger. It might be pathetic, but there’s something about her that draws me in. Something that makes me feel a way I haven’t in a very long time.
She’s wearing white scrubs withPaw Patrolcharacters all over them. Though Harper is way too cool for such things these days, she was obsessed with it for a while. The scrubs make sense, given Hollie is a pediatric nurse.
“Yeah, I’m a nurse, studying to be a nurse practitioner. Right now, I work in a pediatrics office upstairs. I used to work on the pediatrics floor, but I wasn’t cut out for that. Seeing kids terminally ill or die—that was way too much.”
The thought makes my stomach flip. Losing Harper has always been my biggest fear.
She looks down at her watch. “Speaking of my job, I need to get back to it.”
“Of course.” I grab a napkin from the nearby holder, pull a pen from my pocket, and scrawl my number on it. “I enjoyed this. I’d love to take you out for dinner sometime.”
She smiles, and my heart does something weird—an unfamiliar shudder.
As she takes the napkin from my hand, her fingers brush mine and I feel the electricity again.
“I’d love that. I’ll let you know when I’m free.”
I stand up as she does.
“Dad!”
I turn to see Harper dashing across the cafeteria toward me.Shit. I was supposed to be back ten minutes ago.
She gets to my side, smiles brightly at Hollie, then looks up at me with urgency in her eyes. “Come on! It’s time. Mom’s having the baby!”
My gaze shifts to Hollie, whose eyes have turned to pure venom. “Are you freaking kidding me? You’re down here flirting with me when your wife is in labor? That’s despicable. You should be ashamed—”
She’s all piss and vinegar, and it’s hot as hell. I’d be worried if this situation wasn’t so funny. She stops talking as Harper and I burst out laughing.
Hands on her hips, she glares at me. “What?”
Attempting to calm myself, I say. “Sorry. It’s just—”
“My parents aren’t married,” Harper interjects. “They never were. They are best friends, though. My mom is having a baby with Bub—my stepdad. See, my dad got my mom pregnant when they were seventeen—”
“Harper,” I hiss, elbowing her in the side.
Her eyes flare, and she scrunches up her lips.
When I look back at Hollie, her face is pale, and her mouth is open wide.
Shit. Hopefully Harper didn’t scare her away before I even get a date with her.
“Braden!”
Harper and I look behind us, where my mother is waving impatiently.
