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He paced toward the nurse’s station, his mind on overload again. He hated feeling this stuffed with thoughts and not being able to grab onto a single one.
“Bottom line,” he told himself. It was an exercise to get him to focus. “The bottom line is…she asked you to pretend to be her boyfriend while Hayes is in town. It’s a yes or no question.”
He turned back to Tam’s cubicle just as she walked out of it. Their eyes met, and he hurried toward her. “Yes,” he said.
“Yes what?” she asked.
“You asked if I’d be your fake boyfriend when Hayes is in town. I’m saying yes.”
Tam smiled up at him. “I thought we already established that.”
“I’m starting from the bottom,” he said.
“Oh, bottom line,” she said. “You think too hard sometimes, Blaine.” She led him to the nurse’s station and asked for the discharge paperwork.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” the woman there said. “It’s not ready yet.”
“Not ready?” Tam asked. “What does it take to get ready?”
“Well, we have to print some stuff, and it takes a few minutes for our system to update with the doctor’s orders,” the nurse started to explain. “So your form hasn’t been unlocked yet.”
Blaine slipped his fingers into Tam’s and squeezed. She looked at him and then back to the nurse. She drew in a deep breath. “How long?” she asked, her voice pitched up slightly.
“Should be soon,” the nurse said with a smile.
“Can we wait in the waiting room?” Blaine asked.
“I’m sorry,” she said, and she had a very good apologetic face. “You’ll have to wait in your assigned room.”
“I’m not—”
“Okay,” Blaine said over Tam. He tugged on her hand to get her to go with him.
“That room is tiny,” she hissed at him. “And it’s so dang hot in here.”
“It’s okay,” Blaine said. “Besides, then we can figure out the next step above me saying yes to be your fake boyfriend.”
“The wedding,” Tam said. “You promised you’d go to the wedding.”
“Can I go with you?” Blaine stepped into the small room and had to pull extra hard to get Tam to come with him.
“No,” she said. “It’s my friend Nita that needs a date. She’s the same age as you, and you guys will get along great. Remember, there’s lobster and steak…”
“Who are you going with?” he asked.
“No one,” Tam said. “I don’t care if I have a date for the wedding. It’s Nita who cares. She dated the groom, Blaine. She has to show him she’s over him.”
“So I’m going to be her fake boyfriend too.”
“Hey, it might be good practice for us.” Tam smiled at him and sat in the chair he’d used earlier. “Although, with the way you keep kissing me, I think we’ve got the essentials in the bag.” She gave him a knowing look, one that was also laced with a lot of questions.
“Yeah,” Blaine said, because he didn’t know what else to say. He needed a new bottom line.
Bottom line, he thought.You like Tam and don’t want this to be fake.He opened his mouth to tell her that—again, as he’d said it once before—but the nurse walked into the room.
“All right, Miss Lennox,” she said. “You sign this, and you’re free to go.”
Tam signed so fast, Blaine barely had time to breathe.
