Especially after the day I’d had with him.
He’d held a child’s hand and told him he was going to fix his cleft palate. I’d literally had to leave the room so he wouldn’t see me cry. The blog post was going to be killer. In fact, I couldn’t wait to write it and include research on cleft palates as well as up-to-date nonprofits that worked with children. Before I’d left, Thatch had given me a bunch of awesome resources, damn him.
“Chocolate?” I pleaded.
“Please.” She rolled her eyes.
I dug into the MoonPie. Yes. That was what I needed. Sugar.
Avery smirked and then pulled out a can of Mountain Dew. My eyes got so blurry, it was hard to see her. “You love me.”
“This stuff will eventually kill you, you know that, right?”
I snatched the can out of her hands, my fingers going numb from the cold, and popped the tab, chugging at least half before putting it down on the table. “How did you know?”
With a sigh, Avery placed her arms on the table and leaned forward. “You do realize that when you get sad, you start sending me random emojis, right? A toaster. A high five. A chicken. Today you sent me ten shrimp.” I winced. “In a row.”
“Sorry. It’s my cry for help.”
“Yes, kind of like your bat signal.” She grinned. “So here I am, on a Thursday night, at your yet-again-empty mansion, cheering you up.”
“You’re a good friend.”
“Lucas says he’s going to run you over with his car and bury the body if you keep me longer than an hour.”
“Geez, possessive much?”
“He also said if I don’t show up, he’s coming here.”
I groaned. “Is it really so hard to share?”
“Funny. You’d think he’d be all over sharing, being the whore he is, but now that he’s in a committed relationship, it’s like he forgot all the rules of kindergarten.”
I bit off another piece of chocolate goodness and sighed. “Honestly, I’m fine.”
“And there it is, the ‘honestly.’”
“Huh?”
“Truthfully. Honestly.” Her eyebrows arched. “Those are your tells, basically you’re not fine, and I bet you ten dollars that if I checked under your bed, I’d find a half-eaten Snickers.”
My cheeks heated.
“Uh-huh.” She tapped her fingernails against the table. “So, are we watching a movie and ignoring the giant Thatch in the room, or are we going to talk about how much of a struggle it is for you to see him every day and not hump him?”
I scowled. “I would never hump him at work!”
She was silent.
“I mean . . .” I shrugged, picking off another piece of MoonPie. “He does have this really sturdy desk that I’m pretty sure could hold both of us, and I’d probably be lying if I said I haven’t thought about it at least one time.”
She coughed.
“Or a dozen.”
“There we go.”
“But . . .” I banged my forehead against the table a few times before glancing up again. “It’s like he’s immune to everything! When he did the breast exam, he was all horny, I saw it, and he was sweet last night, and now, ever since that day, he’s been super distant.”
“It’s been three days.”
“Exactly!” I threw my hands in the air. “Three days of him being so professional that I want to flash him!”
“Yeah, maybe not the best life choice.” Avery scrunched up her nose. “Have you been wearing sexy clothes? Perfume? Makeup?”
My mouth dropped open. “Do you know me at all?”
She was silent and then pointed at my outfit. “Did you wear that today?”
“No, I came home and changed for our date!”
“Whoa!” She held up her hands. “I’m just trying to help.”
“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”
“You’re in black skinny jeans, a tank top, and black heels. You look . . . sad.”
I frowned. “I thought black was professional.”
“It is, but you look like you’re in mourning.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“Oh, honey.” Avery got up and quickly pulled me in for a hug. “You’re still sad, aren’t you? About Thatch?”
“I just don’t understand,” I sniffed. “And I hate that I’m this hung up on him, I’ve never been this girl!”
“Maybe it’s because he’s your first love.”
I nodded.
“Okay, so you know how we came up with this revenge plan, and it totally backfired and people still call him hero on the street?”
I burst out laughing through my tears. “Yeah.”
“So that wasn’t the best idea, but I think this one may cheer you up even more.”
I blinked and wiped another tear from my cheek. “Okay, hit me with it.”
“Dresses.”
“Sorry?”
“Short dresses.”
“Short dresses,” I said dumbly. “That’s your plan?”
“No.” She grinned. “Keep up!” She jerked me to my feet. “It’s yours!”
Chapter Nineteen
THATCH
“I’m in fucking hell.”
“Cheer up.” Lucas slapped me on the back. “It can’t be that bad.”
“That. Bad,” I growled. “Did you not hear what I just said? How the hell did you do this? Work with Avery without using whatever power you had as her boss to make her—”
Lucas grinned. “No, keep going. I’ll just beat the shit out of you rather than offer you whatever wisdom I was going to bestow.”
Groaning, I finished my burger and wiped my hands. “I’ve worked with her four days. It’s Thursday, Lucas, and I’m ready to lose my mind.”
“Don’t forget you still have to fake an injury or sickness so you don’t have to go riding with her dad tomorrow.”
“Helpful,” I said through clenched teeth. “I’m not sleeping, I’m constantly hard as a rock around her—yesterday, a middle-aged grandmother came in for Botox, Austin watched and kept sucking on her lower lip, and I literally had to excuse myself like I was ready to shit my pants—and go take care of business.”
Lucas burst out laughing and then stopped when I glared. “Sorry, it’s not funny.”
“She is shadowing me for two more weeks.” I groaned into my hands. “It’s a nightmare, a complete and total nightmare.”
“What if she shadows another doctor?”
“I sent her to Turner’s office, and that jackass checked her out so long that he’s lucky to still have all of his teeth, no chance in hell am I dangling her in front of the single partners.”
“Hmm.” Lucas grabbed his sunglasses and twirled them around in his hand. “So, let me get this straight. You’re going crazy because you want her, but you don’t want her, yet you don’t want anyone else to want her? Do I have that right?”
I opened my mouth, then shut it.
“Still feel like keeping silent on why you broke up with her after she was willing to forgive you for tonguing another woman?”
The silence was going to eat me alive.
Right along with the guilt.
And shame at why I did what I did.
But I’d prefer to have all of it and protect her rather than leave her exposed in the way her family already was.
Just thinking about it made me sick to my stomach.