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The last thing he wanted to do was make small talk with a friend of his sister. It was almost a two-hour drive to Midnight Lake and he’d have to suck it up and play nice.
If Tansy had a clue how he was feeling, she wouldn’t have asked him to pick up this Julia, but he’d been keeping his cards close to the vest for a long while now.
Between all the happy-ever-after vibes practically glowing around Midnight Lake and the disaster of his own life, he hadn’t exactly been talkative lately.
Maybe he should have headed back to Sacramento from Ann Arbor instead. Gone home and holed up. Hung out with Nico’s parents. The Riveras were the best. Being with them would have given him some perspective and they’d be ready with thoughtful advice if he asked.
If he was still this restless, this unsettled in a couple of days, he might do exactly that.
The gate opened and people from the Atlanta flight started filing out. Joe hefted his bag and stood. Then he pulled up his phone and scrolled through his texts from Tansy. She’d included a photo of her friend, but he hadn’t bothered checking it until now.
He clicked it open and the eyes looking back at him about knocked him on his ass. He knew those eyes. Had watched those eyes face down a gun in order to save a life.
Julia. Dr. Moreno. Lia.
Holy shit.
He looked up from the phone and scanned the crowd. Off to the side of the crowd that continued to walk into the terminal, a woman stood with her head down, scrolling through her phone.
Joe had only seen Lia in scrubs and he hadn’t allowed his attention to wander much from Sneaks. But he knew the line of her body, the way she held herself.
He walked closer, slowly. When he was close enough, he saw her eyes widen at whatever she saw on her phone. Then her head snapped up and she scanned the crowd herself. Their eyes met, and he felt a jolt to his system.
He approached her and she looked down at her phone again and then back up. “You. Joe. You’re Tansy’s Joe?”
He nodded and held up his phone to show her the picture he’d just found. “And you’re my sister’s friend Julia?”
“I mostly go by Lia now. When I joined the Atlanta hospital team, there was already a Doctor Moreno on the surgical staff. His name was Juan. We couldn’t have two surgeons named Dr. J. Moreno. It would have been too dangerous to get the wrong doctor responding. I switched from Julia to Lia to make it easier.”
Joe absorbed that babble and for a long moment, they simply stared at each other.
Finally, she broke the silence. “Well, it’s certainly a small world. How are you?”
He shrugged, not wanting to answer. Instead, he gestured at her hand. “I think the question is, how are you? How’s the hand healing?”
She repeated his shrug. “It’s getting easier to deal with.”
Which said a whole lot more than he bet she realized. She hadn’t said it was healing or getting better. She was dealing with it. Which meant that it wasn’t going to get all the way better.
When she’d realized she’d been shot, she hadn’t screamed, hadn’t reacted to the pain. Instead, she stared at her hand with complete devastation on her face.
Joe wanted to ask all kinds of questions but he wasn’t sure how she’d react to him prying. And the middle of an airport wasn’t the place to pry about anything.
Instead, he grabbed the handle of her rolling suitcase. Her shoulders straightened. “It’s okay. I’ve got it.”
“I’m not questioning your capability, Lia. My foster mom will somehow know if I don’t take the bag and she’ll kick my ass the next time I see her.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re a foster kid, too?”
Another connection with this intriguing woman. “Yep. We lost our parents when I was sixteen. Lucked out with the Riveras.”
Lia’s dusky skin flushed. “Wait. I’m sorry. I knew that. Tansy told me. I just forgot you were Tansy’s brother.” She closed her eyes. “Sorry. I’m a dingbat. Forget it.”
Joe couldn’t stop the grin. “You mean you’re not as perfect as I thought? I’m glad. Perfect is hard to keep up. Come on, my rental car is this way.” Although at the rate he’d been visiting Vermont in the last few months, he probably should buy a car and rent a nearby garage. Graham could help him out with finding all that.
All the way to the car, he kept his brain focused on the task. Find the car. Load the luggage. Open Lia’s door for her without offending her. Familiarize himself with the vehicle. He didn’t need to fiddle with the GPS, but he set it up anyway. Something to keep his brain occupied for a few more seconds.
Because he was facing hours of small talk with a woman who fascinated him. A woman whose eyes sent bolts of lust-lightning through him. A woman he had no business wanting.
