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“Can she have some?” I asked.
“I think some ice cream sounds good right about now,” Saryn said.
After ordering Liliana a small chocolate yogurt with sprinkles on it, Saryn ordered a small peach and I ordered vanilla with crushed Heath on top.
“Mmm!” Liliana said when she took a bite. Her blue eyes sparkled with delight, and I swore I felt my heart beat a little harder and faster. This little girl was quickly winning a gigantic place in my heart. How in the hell could her own father just let her walk out of his life?
“Will Tim come and visit Liliana?” I asked, watching the little girl gobble up her ice cream, getting more of it on her face than in her stomach.
A look of sadness crossed over Saryn’s face as she gazed down at her daughter. “I don’t think so.”
“How? I mean, why would he not want to be a part of her life?”
“Some men just don’t care.”
I watched her as she smiled and wiped yogurt off of her daughter’s face.
“He’s a D.A.M.N fool.”
“Damn!” Liliana said, a proud look displayed on her face.
My eyes widened in shock. “Oh, my God, she can spell? She’s a prodigy at three!”
Saryn lost it laughing. “No, she can’t, but she’s learned that word because I say it all the time, then correct myself by spelling it.”
“So, basically, you taught her how to spell a bad word.”
She nodded and then shrugged.
“You do realize she’s putting two and two together. Your daughter is going to be brilliant.”
“You’re right, I didn’t really think about her making the connection like that.”
Pointing to Liliana and then back to Saryn, I chuckled. “You’re screwed with this one.”
With a roll of her eyes and a sigh, Saryn said, “Tell me about it.”
We spent the drive back to Boerne singing some song that Liliana insisted we all sing. When I pulled up to drop them off, Evie scooped up Liliana and whisked her away, the little girl chatting her grandmother’s ear off about how much fun she had as Will carried the three boxes of Build-A-Bears.
“Thanks for helping me out like that,” I said, smiling down to Saryn.
“It was our pleasure. I had fun today, thank you.”
Our eyes locked for a moment before she looked away.
“Yeah, me, too,” I said. “I guess I should be heading on out.”
She nodded, then took a few steps back.
“Hey, if you ever think nursing isn’t your thing anymore, you can come work for me. You have a good eye for decorating.”
I couldn’t help but notice the way her eyes lit up for a quick moment before she let out a nervous laugh. “Well, if they don’t get me out of the ER soon, I may take you up on that.”
We stood there, simply looking into each other’s eyes. I took a step closer to her, and that seemed to draw her out of whatever spell we had been under.
I leaned down to look at something she had stuck on her face. But before I could say anything, she took a giant step away from me.
“I’m not looking to start anything with you, Truitt. I mean, other than friendship.”
And that felt like a five-gallon bucket of cold water pouring over my body. Before I had a chance to respond, her mother called out.
“Saryn!”
For a moment I swore I saw something like regret in Saryn’s eyes, but it was gone as fast as it had appeared.
“Bye, Truitt.”
The way my chest ached wasn’t new to me. In fact, I’d felt it at the very young age of eighteen, the first time she rejected me.
The fact that I wanted to kiss her now and she didn’t want to kiss me in return depressed the living hell out of me. This woman and her little girl had completely turned my entire world upside down since they swept back into town.
“See ya around, Saryn.”
Even I could hear the disappointment in my voice.
I watched as she headed into her folks’ house, not turning to get into my truck until the door shut and she was completely out of sight.
Saryn
I MADE MY final notes in a patient’s file, surprised I’d been able to focus at all. I hadn’t been able to get the other day out of my mind.
No, I hadn’t been able to get Truitt Carter out of my mind. The way he took to Liliana: laughed with her, played with her, sang that stupid little song at the top of his lungs in his truck just to make her happy.
The way he looked at me. I could have sworn he had wanted to kiss me. Or maybe he was going to ask me out. I’d freaked out when he stepped closer to me. The urge to have him kiss me and turn and run away had been a battle. Was he truly interested in me, or was it like last time? Did he simply want to sleep with me?
