A shaft of pain arced through him and then was gone.
“Nice name.”
“Thank you.”
His glance went past her to see Nancy, one of the OR nurses, coming up the corridor, heading for them. She touched Lindy on the shoulder, only to have her give a squeak and nearly jump out of her skin. She whirled to the side, face white, eyes wide. She seemed to go slack when she saw who it was.
Her fellow nurse frowned. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” She held up a phone. “Is this yours? It was left on the desk.”
“Oh! Yes, it is. Thank you.” She suddenly grinned, her nose crinkling on either side. That smile made her face light up in a way that made his gut jerk even harder. He kicked the sensation away, irritated with himself.
“And you didn’t scare me.”
He wasn’t sure he believed her, but he’d already shown far too much interest in her life—and her—than he should have. The last thing he needed was to have the new nurse get any wrong ideas.
Because there weren’t any to have.
And if he was going to get out of here, now was the time to do it without feeling like he’d abandoned her. “Well, I have a few other patients to see, so if you two will excuse me.”
“Of course.” Nancy sent him a smile, while Lindy seemed to take her time looking at him, her phone now in her hand, her expression wary once again.
“I’ll try to do a little less clock watching the next time we work together.” As if she couldn’t help herself, her lips soon turned up at the edges and those tiny lines beside her nose reappeared.
He swallowed. “Not a problem. If you have any questions about the hospital or how we do things, I’m sure Nancy, myself or any of the other staff members can steer you in the right direction.”
“I appreciate that.”
With that he gave the pair a quick wave, before turning around and heading in the opposite direction. Part of him wanted to solve the mystery of the newest staff member and part of him wanted nothing to do with those kinds of guessing games. Especially if it involved someone who’d recently broken up with their spouse or significant other.
Or who had a young daughter.
Better just to do his job and pretend not to notice what Lindy Franklin did or didn’t do. As long as she did her job, he had no complaints.
And even if he did, he was going to keep them to himself.
For his own good. And maybe for hers too.
LINDY WASN’T TOO sure about bringing her mom and Daisy to the hospital for lunch. Especially not after what had happened with Dr....Zeke. Would he think she was distracted again?
She was off duty, so it was really none of his business.
Besides, she hadn’t been distracted per se. She’d been well aware of what she was doing and what she was supposed to be doing. And none of that involved the hunky surgeon.
Hunky? Really, Lindy? She gave an internal roll of her eyes.
Besides, her mom wanted to see the hospital, and she could think of no good reason to tell her no. And Daisy had seemed excited about eating somewhere other than at her or Mimi’s house.
“It’s hospital food, so don’t get your hopes up.”
Her mom laughed. “I don’t have to cook, so I’m sure it’ll be great.”
“Poor Dad. Is he fending for himself today?”
“No. He’s headed to the lodge to see his buddies. Which leaves me with time to spend with my favorite daughter.”
“I’m your only daughter, Mom.” She flashed a quick smile. “But I’ll take whatever time with you I can get.”
Especially since she hadn’t seen her parents for the duration of her marriage, something that should have sent up a red flag. Luke had supposedly landed a fabulous job across the country almost as soon as the ceremony was over. But, looking back, she wondered if quitting his job in Savannah had been the plan all along. There’d actually been quite a few flags that she’d missed along the way. All because she’d “fallen in love” and hadn’t taken precautions. Then, when she’d realized she was pregnant, she’d been too quick to say yes when he’d asked her to marry him.
But no more. If she ever found herself in a relationship again, she was going to make sure she let her mind do most of the work, rather than putting her heart in charge.
She had no desire to jump into that particular lake again. Maybe she’d wait until Daisy was grown up before dating. When she thought about what could have happened the last night she and Luke had been together...
She swallowed, her hand going to her throat as a phantom ache threatened to interfere with her breathing.
Stop it, Lindy. Daisy is fine. You’re fine.
Leading the way through the door to the cafeteria, she frowned when she spied the doctor she’d thought of as “hunky” just a few minutes ago. Great. Just what she needed.
She hadn’t had to work with him for the last several days, thank God. But she hadn’t really expected to see him here either.
Why not? The man had to eat, just like everyone else.
Just as she was ready to shepherd her mom and daughter back the way they’d come with a manufactured excuse, Zeke’s eyes met hers, narrowing slightly before moving from her to her mom and then to Daisy.
Then he frowned, deep furrows giving his face an ominous look that made her shiver.
Her chin went up. She wasn’t cowering ever again. She had as much of a right to be in here as anyone. She changed her mind about leaving and ushered her mom and Daisy over to the line and got behind them, swinging Daisy up into her arms. “What do you want to eat, honey?”
“Sheeshburger.”
“A cheeseburger? How many of those have you had recently?”
Her mom shook her head. “Hey, don’t look at me. We had plenty of fruits and vegetables to go with yesterday’s burger.”
Lindy’s dad loved to cook out on the grill, and his meals were always delicious. “I was teasing.”
Against her volition, her gaze slid back to Zeke, who she found was still watching her from the coffee bar. The frown was gone, and in its place... Another shiver went through her, this time for a completely different reason. When he snapped the lid onto whatever he’d just poured in his cup, he didn’t move away from them like she’d hoped. Instead, he headed their way.
The shivery awareness died a quick death. She had no desire for her daughter to meet any of her male colleagues. Especially not Zeke.
She wanted her daughter to have a good long stretch of stability to hopefully counteract anything she might have seen sensed or heard during her mother’s disastrous marriage.
Then Zeke was in line with them. “Hi. You must be off today.”
This time it was her brows that came together, until she realized she wasn’t dressed in scrubs. Although there were people who did bring their street clothes to work and changed into them after their shift. “I am. I thought I’d show my mom and Daisy around.”
“Good idea.”
There was an awkward pause, which her mom was quick to fill. “I’m Rachel Anderson. I take it you and my daughter know each other?” She shot Lindy a glance filled with curiosity.