Page 86 of Doctor’s Forbidden Match

“Unfortunately, that was my ex.”

Hannah’s eyes go wide. “What? She’s your ex, and I just took a photo with her? I’m so sorry.” Genuine distress seeps into her tone and, God, that fucking crushes me.

“Don’t be sorry,” I say harshly. So I soften my next words. “None of that is on you. She knew exactly what she was doing, and you were just being yourself.” I shift the bags in my hand. “Let’s just go home. I’m really feeling like a lot of pie right now.”

She lets out a breath, the tension breaking. “All right. I’ll let you have a bigger slice.”

We walk to my car in silence, but the moment I’m about to drive off, she asks, “Can I see your place?”

I twist to glance at her.

“Before you take me home,” she rushes out. “Just for a bit. I just—You’ve seen my life for the past week, and I don’t know anything about yours. Especially now.” She tips her head back in the direction of Yolanda.

I stare at her for a long moment. She’s right. I haven’t opened up about my life. Not really. Moments ago, with Yolanda, was the first crack in that wall, and instead of shutting down the way I usually do, I find myself wanting to let her in a little further. To show her something that’s actually mine.

“Yeah,” I say. “Okay.”

Chapter 29

Zac

“Get comfortable on the sofa. I’ll make tea.”

I take the bag inside while she heads straight for the TV, already making herself at home like she belongs here. I prop her injured ankle on a pillow I pull from the end of the sofa.

I make her tea like I’ve done at her place and set it on the coffee table, then walk back to the kitchen to plate up the pie and grab some forks. I carry our plates over, handing hers to her open palm, our fingers brushing for a second, sending electric shocks up my arm.

Taking the seat beside her foot, I’m careful not to touch it.

“How’s the tea?”

“Amazing.” She takes another sip, her eyes closing in appreciation. “So glad I got a box for myself.”

I nod and dig into the pie, the tart key lime flavor bursting in my mouth.

“What do you think about my place? Is it what you imagined?”

I want to know. Being in her space makes me feel surprisingly comfortable the more time I spend in it. The smaller size helps with that. This place is big and empty. Some nights, it feels it more than others. Tonight, though, having her here makes the emptiness more obvious, not less.

“It’s definitely clean for a guy,” she says, glancing around. “But the colors, and the style, it’s very you. Just much bigger than I thought.”

My family is forcing its way up before I can stop it, so I open my mouth and let it come. “My dad runs the ED department at Hope Town General,” I take a breath, waiting for my body to close off the way it usually does when I go near this topic. But it doesn’t this time. She’s watching me, her face soft, cradling her mug, eagerly waiting for more. “Dwight Sterling. If you work in medicine anywhere near that town, you know the name. He’s brilliant at what he does. Built that department from nothing, and he’ll remind you of it.”

“And you wanted to do the same thing?”

“I wanted to do something. On my own.” I set my mug down. “Growing up, every teacher, every mentor, every attending I ever had said, you’re Dwight’s boy. Including Peltz, when I first came here. Like that was the most interesting thing about me. Maybe it was, to them.”

“So you left?”

“I came here, built my own caseload, made my own name. Orthopedics, not emergency medicine, far enough from his world that he couldn’t follow.” I lean back into the sofa.

“Do you have a relationship with him?”

“He still calls. Asks when I’m moving back to Hope Town, when I’m going to help build the Sterling legacy.” The word comes out dry. “My sister, Bri, who’s a pharmacist, thinks I should just go back and beat him at his own game. She doesn’t understand why I’d rather be invisible here than significant there.”

“Do you ever think she’s right?”

I have thought about this every single time Bri says it. “Sometimes. When I’m honest about it.” I look at her. “But going back means becoming what he wants me to be. And I’ve spent a long time trying to figure out who I am without that.”