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“Go ahead. I’ll use the one down the hall.”
Heavenly sat up. “I’ll find you two some breakfast.”
“May not be time,” Beck warned, then pushed his way into the master bathroom.
Seth wasn’t surprised when the doctor slammed the door behind him. He’d gotten Heavenly’s message, too.
“Don’t bother. I’ll feed myself,” Seth told her.
Before she could protest, he left the room. The last thing he saw was her deflated, near-tears expression. By the time he exited the shower, he felt like a heel. She didn’t know what to do; that wasn’t news. And he shouldn’t have expected their week-long chase to clear up her confusion…but he’d thought it had brought them closer.
Twenty minutes later, he and the surgeon met up in the kitchen as Heavenly made a grocery list. They all sipped coffee. No one spoke. He’d give Beck a pass because he was texting the hospital about the incoming accident victim. Seth stayed mute because he feared anything he said would sound like he blamed Heavenly for needing more time to decide her future. And the girl herself probably didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t begin and end with an apology that changed nothing.
Finally, she closed the fridge door, wrote two more things on a piece of paper spread across the island, then put the cap on the pen. “Unless you have any other requests, I’ll be back with groceries shortly.”
“Do you want company?” he offered.
She was about to answer when her phone rang. A glance at the screen had her frowning.
“Who is it, angel?”
“It’s not anyone in my contacts, but the number looks familiar.” She pressed the button to answer the call. “Hello?”
Seth heard the garble of a male voice on the other end sounding stern and slightly combative. He tensed.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “My father passed away and—” The guy on the other end interrupted, barking at her before he finally let her have another word. “I know that. With everything that happened, I just—” The caller broke in again, his voice more of a growl that made Heavenly pale. “By when?”
Seth tossed Beck a raised brow. The surgeon shook his head. Yeah, neither of them liked this. I got it, he mouthed.
Beck nodded and answered another text from the hospital.
“Of course I understand what you’re saying. I didn’t realize—”
When the asshole interrupted again, Seth had heard enough of him disrespecting Heavenly. No one got to talk to her that way. He held out a hand, palm up. “Why don’t you let me talk to him?”
“Excuse me,” she told the man, then muted the call. “It’s okay, I’ve got this.”
Seth shook his head. “He’s being rude and not letting you finish a sentence. I hate when pricks like him think they can bully a woman. I have no problem dealing with pushy people. Let me?”
“Actually, that would be a relief.” She handed him the phone.
“This is Seth Cooper,” he said into her cell. “I’ll be speaking for Ms. Young. Who is this?”
“Will you be paying her past due laboratory bills?”
He cut a stare to Heavenly. Oh, she had some explaining to do…
“What’s the problem?”
The bill collector launched into a spiel about how he represented a lab who had run tests for Abel’s previous neurologist. They hadn’t been paid in over three months, despite sending a last-and-final notice in the mail nearly four weeks ago, so the office had turned the invoice over to a collection agency.
“How much?”
The guy rattled off an amount that Seth thought sounded a lot like gouging. “Well, Ms. Young’s medical consultant happens to be here. I’ll ask him whether that’s a fair price for those procedures and call you back.”
Magically, the collection agent backpedaled. After Beck added his two cents, they agreed to an amount that wasn’t utterly ridiculous, then Seth gave them a credit card number.
All the while, Heavenly looked somewhere between relieved and nervous.
