is a situation where I don’t even want to look at you. I’ve moved on, Vince. I’m seeing someone else. Whether you stay divorced or try to make your marriage work, it makes no difference. I’m with a new man now.”
His eyes were visibly pained, like that really tore him apart.
“Goodbye, Vince.” I shut the door in his face—and locked it.
I stuck my fork into the noodles and spun them around as I listened to Cleo over lunch.
“So, the practice is ready to go, Dex has agreed to take on those positions, and his apartment is being completed. I’d say we’ve gotten a lot done in a short amount of time.”
I stopped thinking about my altercation with Vince and lifted my gaze to look at her. “Yeah, I think so too.”
Cleo took a bite of her lunch and stared at me as she chewed, like she could read my thoughts based on the slight tightness of my face. “Something on your mind, honey?”
“How do you do that?”
She shrugged then inserted her fork back into her noodles so she could wrap them around her fork. “I’ve got three kids and a brooding husband. Lots of experience.”
“I’ll say…” I put down my fork. “Vince stopped by my apartment last night. Told me he officially divorced his wife and relocated to New York, like that’s going to fix our problems. I told him I was seeing someone else and to leave me alone.”
“Are you seeing someone?”
“No,” I said with a sarcastic laugh. “I’m done with men right now.”
She dropped her gaze and looked at her food again. “Does that include Dex?”
Now I wished I’d known she was his mom sooner so I wouldn’t have said that and made an idiot out of myself. “Yes. He’s my boss, and I wouldn’t jeopardize that relationship for anything.” We would just be friends, and when he said something deeply moving or picked up something heavy and his muscles flexed, I would just tell my ovaries to be quiet. “He’s not my type anyway.”
“Not your type, how?” she asked, slightly incredulous.
“He just doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy looking for a relationship.” I wouldn’t tell her about the girls I saw him with, that he was obviously a serial playboy. “And now that I know he’s divorced, it makes sense. I won’t waste my time with a fixer-upper. He’ll get all the benefit, and I’ll just get my heart broken—again.” I realized I was being too candid with her because I viewed her as my own friend, my own mother figure. But when it came to her son, I needed to be delicate. “No offense or anything. Dex is a great guy, one in a million, and I’m so happy to work with him and be his friend. But that’s the extent of it.” Besides, I’d asked him out when we no longer worked together, and he totally shot me down without thinking twice about it. I clearly wasn’t the kind of woman he was looking for.
She nodded as she looked down into her bowl. “No offense taken. Just curious.”
“Anyway…” I brushed over the awkwardness, relieved that it was finally done, that we could forget what I said months ago, and I could just be his assistant now. “He was really moved by the pictures you gave me.”
“I knew he would be.” She smiled triumphantly. “As humans, we focus solely on the bad, for a lifetime, and forget all the good. I knew he needed to be reminded of all the people he’s helped, of the people living their lives right now because of what he’s done for them. It inspired him just the way I hoped.”
“It inspired me too.” I saw his heart outside his chest, saw how big and loving it was. I saw a man different from all the others, someone that truly cared about other people. “It made me so thankful for this job, because while I liked working at the Trinity Building, I feel like I’m making such a difference, and I haven’t really gotten started.”
She grinned widely and dropped her gaze, practically triumphant.
“What?”
She turned back to me, still grinning. “I thought you didn’t like fixer-uppers…”
22
Dex
My first day at the clinic was really jarring, to say the least.
I met the research team, got up to speed on what projects were underway, and was given an office to process paperwork and catch up. Most of my colleagues knew me by name even though we’d never met, and it was a warm