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“I think it’s a great idea,” he corrected.

“You’re my patient,” I reminded him.

“And once upon a time we were friends, more than friends. Now that we both know what really happened with that girl, can’t we have dinner together, for old time’s sake?”

When I opened my mouth to protest, he held up a hand to silence me. “It’s just dinner, Violet.” He looked over my shoulder towards the brew pub across the street from my practice. “How about that place?”

I sighed again. “Fine, but only for an hour. It’s been a long day and I want to go home and relax.”

We walked together across the street, the hostess greeting me by name. “Hello Violet. Table for two?”

“Yes please April, thank you.”

She led us to a booth in the back corner, making me wonder if she thought this was a date. Robbie slid in across from me, giving me the panty-dropping smile that had dropped my panties a time or two in my youth.

“What’s good here?” he asked.

“Burgers.”

We both ordered burgers with side salads, although Robbie ordered two, his without a bun. Needing to take the edge off, I ordered a beer, while the hunky football player across from me stuck with water. Once the server left to place our order, Robbie took a deep breath.

“Thanks for having dinner with me, Violet. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and the thing is, we shouldn’t have broken up back in college. I should have fought for you more, and you should have given me a chance to explain what happened. But that’s all in the past. Now that we’ve found each other again, I think we should give this another try.”

“This?”

“Us. Our relationship.”

I couldn’t decide if I was thrilled or incredulous.

“Robbie, it’s been twenty years since we broke up. I got over you a long time ago and I’m sure you moved on as well. There’s no sense in reliving the past. And for the record, we didn’t ‘find’ each other, my father manipulated both of us to get what he wanted. As usual.”

The bitterness in my voice was clear as day, but I didn’t care. The only major source of contention during mine and Robbie’s relationship had been his hero worship for my asshole father. Robbie had been raised in one of those families where people liked each other. He’d never been able to understand that my family was different.

Robbie reached across the table, lifting the hand that was fiddling with my fork. His warm fingers enveloped mine and he gave me a crooked smile. Something deep inside of me relaxed for the first time in twenty years. Mine, I thought, before I ruthlessly pushed the thought away.

“You feel it too, right? This same draw we had all those years ago.”

I shook my head. “It’s just nostalgia.”

He rubbed his thumb over the inside of my wrist. “The way your heart is thumping doesn’t feel like nostalgia,” he said softly.

Damn my body, betraying me like this.

“Let’s just have dinner,” I said as the waitress returned with our drinks.

To his credit, Robbie moved onto small talk. We spent our meal catching up on our lives. I was unsurprised to hear that most of Robbie’s life had been focused on football. Then again, most of mine had been focused on sports, so who was I to judge?

“I primarily work with female athletes,” I told Robbie. “Most sports medicine has been focused on males, and things that work for a guy don’t always work for a woman. Plus, there’s a history of women not being taken seriously by medical professionals, even when they’re athletes. I’m trying to counteract that.”

His eyes shone with pride. “That’s awesome Vi, I’m so proud of you.”

I didn’t need him to be proud of me, but I still warmed at his words. “Thanks. What about you? You’re retiring after this year, aren’t you?”

I knew he was, I followed the Cougars religiously.

“Yeah. I’ve had some folks reaching out to me about doing sports commentary on TV or radio, or coaching. But I also might do something that involves my degree.”

“Like what?”