A Much Younger Man - Z.A. Maxfield Page 0,49
he left while I was suturing Jake the yellow Lab, who had gotten the worst of a collision with a broken fence. He was going to be just fine, and he’d have a snazzy scar to show off to all the lady Labs.
Later on, Georgie and his mom picked up Stripes. Despite two awkward casts, he seemed to be doing well. As she left, Georgie’s mother mouthed, “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” I did love my job and not only because I made a good living. Reuniting Stripes and Georgie made my day in a way no amount of money could.
After they left, I slipped Stripes’s chart into the stack for Lena to file, then turned to find Travis staring at me with an odd expression on his face.
“What?”
“Your mother sent someone to your house?”
I gave him a nod as we walked to the staff room. “It was a total shitshow. Did Beck tell you about it?”
“He said he went there for pie night, and the dude was just sitting on your porch.”
I took off my lab coat and went behind the curtain to change my scrubs. “He was. And you know what? Dude’s deathly afraid of birds. He called Rico a feathery dinosaur. I had to talk him off the ledge.”
“No.”
“And there was Rico, squawking, ‘You ruin everything!’ Dylan actually took it personally.”
“I’d pay good money to see a cage match between Rico and any of your hookups.”
“It wasn’t a hookup. Mom set me up.”
“So why was his car still in your driveway this morning?”
“You saw that?” I got tangled awkwardly in my undershirt.
Travis helped me out and handed me a clean shirt. “I picked Beck up on the way to work. We both saw. That’s when he told me about your ‘date.’”
“Great.” Oh my God. Did Beck think Dylan and I slept together?
“Your mother’s hilarious, but she’s not going to stop until she has you married off.”
“She warned me he might call, but I had no idea he’d be at my house.”
“Was he at least a good fuck?”
“How should I know? He used the guest bedroom.”
“You’re shitting me.” He widened his eyes. “Beck said he was hot. Don’t tell me you turned down a perfectly good man?”
“I don’t just fuck everything that moves, Travis. He wasn’t my type.”
“Since when do you have a type? Besides temporary, I mean.”
I stopped in the act of washing my hands. “Do I really give that impression?”
“That’s the impression I get. You’re the guy everyone calls if they’ve got a friend in from out of town for a weekend. Haven’t you noticed no one ever tries to set you up with anybody local? I just figured you were the one-and-done type.”
“I am.”
“So what was wrong with the guy your mom sent?”
“You said it. My mother sent him. You know she’d never let it go if she thought there was any chance between us. Believe me, there wasn’t.”
I gave him dinner, such as it was, and a bed for the night. I handed him a stack of clean towels, bought him breakfast, and walked away. I couldn’t make oatmeal for him because then all I’d think about was feeding it to Beck.
“What’s wrong?” Travis asked. “You look like you forgot to turn the oven off.”
“It’s nothing. Just wondering how to tell my mother to quit her fucking matchmaking.”
“She loves you. Let her have her fun.”
“But her timing was perfectly awful. I have to call her now and disappoint her. If Beck comes back in at lunchtime, can you have him come into the office?”
“Sure.” He grinned. “Guitar lessons, huh?”
“I am so shit at it.”
“Well, he’s pretty patient. Maybe he’ll be able to teach your ancient ass a couple songs.”
I tossed a damp paper towel his way. “I’ll show you an ancient ass.”
“Whoa, not my type, Doc.” He lifted both hands. “Don’t know why I keep having to tell you that. Is this what they mean by harassment?”
“Oh God. I’m sorry.” I felt sick. “Did it sound like it?”
“No. I was totally kidding.”
“But—”
“Shut up, Doc. Go call your mom.”
I called Mom from my office while Travis got the exam room ready for the next patient. I was kind of glad he wasn’t my type either. We worked well together. The last thing I wanted to do was screw that up too.
The phone rang twice before my mother picked up.
“Sweetheart. So nice to hear from you. What’s new?”
“Mom. Couldn’t you have said Dylan was going to be waiting on my porch when I got home from work?”
“Well, how