clerk my debit card, and then trailed along after Layla’s beautiful ass to pick a variety of coffee pods.
Turns out, she was right. It was interesting to have a different brew every day. Eventually, I’d find my favorites and stick with them, but until then, I was trying every damn flavor on the market.
And the best thing about the fancy coffeemaker? Layla loved it, too, because it made chai tea, hot apple cider, and hot chocolate. Since I’d realized that, I made damn sure I was always well stocked.
“Jesus! I am becoming a lunatic,” I griped aloud after I’d taken my first sip of a Krispy Kreme Doughnut blend. “Holy hell, this one is good,” I mused. “I think it’s a keeper.”
Note to self: Buy more pods for this particular coffee.
Once I’d inserted that data, I knew I’d remember it the next time I shopped for coffee pods.
The useless data would come out at the right time.
It always did.
I almost spilled my coffee down the front of my button-down shirt when my cell phone buzzed loudly from the spot where I’d dropped it a while ago.
“Shit!” I cursed as I narrowly escaped another stain as I tried to stabilize the mug.
I’d put the ringer on full blast now that my admitting privileges had been approved at the local medical center and I had patients in the hospital under my care.
Granted, I didn’t have the kind of workload that I’d had during my residency in Boston, but I never wanted to miss or delay a call if one of my patients needed something.
I put my coffee on the island and grabbed my cell.
It wasn’t the hospital.
It’s Layla. Where in the hell is she?
I answered. “You should be in my driveway by now,” I told her.
“I’m not having a very good day, Owen. Do you mind if we skip tonight’s plans?”
She sounded completely deflated, and my heart clenched as I heard the sad inflection in her voice.
Oh, hell no. We weren’t canceling. She never really had a bad day, so she wasn’t going through this one alone. “Where are you?”
“I’m not far away, but I was just thinking about turning around. I don’t think I’m going to be very good company tonight,” she said with a tremor in her tone.
“Don’t you dare turn around. Keep that ugly little compact vehicle you drive headed straight here,” I demanded. “What happened? Is it one of our patients?”
Layla had finished with her last appointment before I had, so she’d taken the responsibility of doing hospital rounds after work. Since we only had a few clinic patients in the hospital, and none of them were critical, I had no damn idea what had upset her so much.
“It’s not that. It’s nothing like that. Our patients are all fine,” she said, sounding like she wanted to cry. “Once I finished rounds, I went by the shelter. Brutus is . . . gone.”
Son of a bitch! “I thought you weren’t volunteering until tomorrow.”
“I switched days,” she said. “One of the volunteers had a conflict, so I took her place. I knew I’d still have time to get home and clean up to come for dinner at your place. God, I know I’m not supposed to be this upset about him being adopted, but I’m going to miss him so much.”
“Don’t turn around,” I told her sternly. “Just get here. Now.”
“Do you really want to spend the evening with a depressing, brokenhearted woman tonight? I’ll probably feel better tomorrow. I think it was a shock to not see him there when I arrived tonight.”
Happy or sad, of course I wanted to be with her. Didn’t she know that? Hell, I wanted to be the guy she ran to when something was wrong. I wanted to be there to fix it, or just be there to hold her until she felt better. I wanted to listen, and be her sounding board. “If nothing else, I am your friend, Layla. I want to be there for you.”
She sniffled a little before answering, “Okay. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I definitely won’t,” I assured her. “How far out are you?”
“I’ll be there in five minutes. I went home to shower and change before I headed your direction. I’ll see you in just a few.”
“Drive safe,” I insisted before we hung up, not wanting her to be so distracted that she had a damn accident.
We disconnected after she assured me she was all right.
I dropped my phone on the island again, picked