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And all of a sudden, my amusement about this morning died, and an ugly, unknown ball of something curled up in the pit of my stomach.
It was something that always arrived at the sight or sound of anything that had to do with Tide and a woman.
Something I refused to acknowledge.
“Uh, yeah.”
I looked over to find a blonde bombshell that I’d seen in this very bar last week with another doctor from the hospital, waiting at the bar, hopping from foot to foot in excitement.
I rolled my eyes and got up, looking at Toddy. “You have about five more minutes until it’s time to go. Why don’t you run to the bathroom with me? I’ll go order you some dessert to go before we leave.”
Toddy hopped up and all but clapped her hands, weaving her way through the tables toward the bathroom at the back of the bar.
Reuben looked at the hot blonde with stars in his eyes.
I looked at Alison. “You getting a ride with Dad?”
Tide started talking again with Reuben, but I ignored it.
“I’ll find something,” she said cryptically.
I made a note to tell Dad to keep an eye out for her since I was going home early.
The word ‘date’ and ‘hospital’ and ‘hot’ rolled off of Tide’s lips, and I couldn’t leave fast enough.
When I stopped at the bar to order food, the bartender who was one of my dad’s oldest friends smiled and said, “I’ll have Marcy speed it up. Give me five.”
I gave him a thumb up and did just that, finding Toddy in the bathroom typing texts on her cell phone as she waited for me.
“You ready?” I asked as I washed my hands.
She rolled her eyes and watched as I went to the bathroom—hey, I’d had one too many UTIs in my life. Which was a whole one total, and that was one too many. I washed my hands before I peed. So sue me—then came back out and washed my hands all over again.
“That’s so weird,” she commented as she waited for me to dry my hands for the second time.
“Is it?” I asked, thinking it was perfectly logical to do. “How does one know where they even get a UTI from? I have no clue how to pinpoint the one I got last year, but it was by far the worst thing I’d ever experienced in my life. So if washing my hands before I pee so I don’t infect my urethra is what I have to do to prevent that, then that’s what I’ll do. Also, always…”
“Wipe front to back.” She rolled her eyes again.
Jesus, what was with the eye-rolling from my two sisters lately?
“Don’t do that, or you’ll wind up like Alison,” I teased.
Toddy’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, that was low.”
“Don’t say shit,” I told her as I held the bathroom door open with the paper towel I’d dried my hands off with. “At least, don’t say it in front of me, so I can tell Dad you’re the most perfect child in the world.”
Toddy and I laughed on the way to the bar to grab her dessert.
Which happened to be where the two beautiful people in the bar—Tide and his date—were now standing.
“Move, Dr. McStuffin’s,” I ordered.
Dr. McStuffin’s, aka Tide, didn’t move so much as he pivoted so that he could see me.
“And where would you like me to move to?” he drawled.
“Hell,” I said sweetly before I shouldered between him and his date, leaned over the bar, and caught up the bag that had my name on it. Catching Banger, the bartender’s eye, I mouthed, “Thanks.”
She nodded her head in acknowledgment, then went back to pouring beer from the tap.
Once I had the dessert securely in my hand, I twisted toward Tide and said, “I hope you know that this one is a bit loose. Even for you.”
His startling eyes locked onto mine, and the heat from his body made my nipples pebble.
“Jealous?” he teased.
No. I was grossed out.
“The only difference between her and a rooster is a rooster says ‘cock a doodle-doo’ and she says ‘any cock will do,’” I replied.
Tide looked at me for a few seconds before throwing his head back and laughing.
The bartender, who’d heard my comment, spilled the beer she was pouring all over the bar.
“She’s right though,” I heard a regular down the bar say. “That chick was in here last week with a different doctor.”
I raised my brows up at the man in front of me with a vindicated shrug. His eyes narrowed, and I wondered if it was due to me telling him his date for the night was a slut, or if it was because he didn’t like that I called him out on his shit.
Whatever the reason, I had a sister to take home, and a bed calling my name.
