Mateo was one of the most easygoing, giving guys Levi knew. It was a miracle, really, given his demanding profession and the needs his family put on him. When the Morenos had lost Amy, it’d left Mateo an only child of elderly parents. Elderly parents that he’d become solely responsible for. Between that and the demanding job, Mateo had no personal life outside his family. Levi had been a real dick for vanishing on him, leaving Mateo without emotional support. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s smart as hell, sharp as hell, feisty and sassy and . . . hell.” Mateo slid his fingers into his hair. “Gorgeous.”
“Not hearing a problem.”
“She’s outta my league, man. But she’s the One.”
Levi stared at him. “Charlotte?”
“No, jackass, the Easter Bunny. Yeah, Charlotte.”
“And this is a problem?”
“She doesn’t like me.”
Levi laughed.
“I’m serious.”
“Come on. You’ve never had to work for a woman in your life.”
“Until this one,” Mateo said. “When I get home before her, I clear her snow. She yells at me to put it back. Sometimes I leave her snacks in her cubby at work because I don’t think she remembers to eat. She thinks it’s the asshole X-ray tech who always hits on her.”
Levi burst out laughing.
“Not funny. Last week, I put air in her tires because I could tell they were low, and with icy roads . . .” He broke off and sighed. “I’m so screwed.”
“Why not just tell her how you feel?”
“Really?” Mateo asked dryly. “Is that what you’re doing with Jane? Being honest about your feelings?”
“Hey, we both know how not an expert I am on this shit. But what’s so wrong with telling Charlotte how you really feel?”
“I’ll mess it up.”
Mateo had gone right from high school to college to medical school, then to residency and straight onward from there with his medical career. He was brilliant, but when it came to getting serious in a relationship, the guy had as little experience as, well, Levi. “You could just take it slow.”
Mateo laughed mirthlessly. “Our current pace is a tortoise trying to wade through peanut butter. If we go any slower, we’ll be going backwards.”
“What’s the hurry? Neither of you are going anywhere.”
Mateo rolled his eyes. “Tell me you got better advice for me than that.”
“Pretend girlfriend, remember?”
Mateo snorted, then shook his head. “We’re both such dumbasses.”
“No doubt.”
Chapter 14
Charlotte walked out of the hospital. It was the end of a shift, but the beginning of a day. At just past dawn, the sky was alight with an ocean of pinks, reds, and purples. She stood there for a beat, blinking at the bright winter light bouncing off the fresh snow blanketing the parking lot, face turned up to the emerging sun like a lizard.
Just concentrating on inhaling and exhaling.
When she could do so without that sharp stabbing pain of grief in her chest, she made her way to her car.
A young woman had died on her table last night while under her knife. As a horrible reality of her job, it happened. But it never, ever failed to take a little chunk out of her heart and soul.
Cranking on her heater, she turned the vents toward her as she drove home, but all the heat in the world couldn’t warm her up.