“I can see how that would get tiresome after a while. Is that why you’re back home? For some companionship?”
She shakes her head. “I’m back home because I can’t afford to live in New York City anymore.” Her voice goes quiet, and I glance up at her. Tears well in her eyes. “Shit, don’t repeat that to anyone—no one knows.”
“What do you mean? Did you lose your apartment?”
“I didn’t lose it—I told the landlord I couldn’t make rent and luckily found someone to take over my lease.” She shrugs as I finish wrapping her cast. “Jobs dried up, passed on to celebrities and influencers with more status, and so did the money.” A tear slips down her cheek, and she quickly wipes it away. “I came back here thinking I’d have time to gather myself, to figure out where to go from here, but as you know, my parents are selling the house and moving to some apartment in Seattle, which means I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Is that why you were walking in the rain?” I ask, my heart aching for her.
“Sort of. I just needed to get out of the house. I didn’t want to face Ford or hear him joking around with Larkin, so I took off and just started walking. I lost track of time and where I was, and once it started raining, I just let it fall down on me. I didn’t seek shelter, didn’t attempt to call anyone. I wanted it to rain on me. I wanted that moment of sadness, the chance to reflect on where I’ve landed.”
“Did you get it?” I finish up and throw away the packaging.
“No.” She shakes her head. “But I did get a friend instead.” She gives me a halfhearted smile. “I mean, I guess I forced myself upon you.”
“You didn’t.” I take her hand and help her off the exam table. “I invited you.”
“Because I begged you.”
“Hey.” I lift her chin, her sad eyes meeting mine. “How about we forget all that crap and enjoy the evening. You have a new cast, you’re no longer Mud Butt, and you finally smell decent.”
“Wow.” She laughs. “What high standards you have for company.”
“I think so.” I lead her out of the doctor’s office and up toward the private residence. “We can make the most of this night, turn that frown upside down.”
“How did I not realize you’re a bit of a goofball?”
“A goofball?” We make it up to the top of the steps, and I open my apartment door. “I’m not a goofball—I’m a strong alpha man that everyone fawns over.”
“Is that where you were coming from when you found me on the side of the road? Nursing a fawning patient?”
“More like a warty patient.”
I shut the door behind her and then make my way to the kitchen. I converted the upstairs to an open-concept floor plan, connecting the living room, kitchen, and dining room into one giant space and leaving the living quarters to the back with the bathroom. It’s small, but it works perfectly for me.
“Wait, what?” she asks. “You did a house call for a wart?”
“It started off with a cough, ended with a wart. I had to come back to the office to get the proper tools to remove the wart, which is why I was driving in the rain.”
She takes a seat at the kitchen island. “So, what you’re telling me is that I owe a debt of gratitude to a wart?”
I chuckle and pull out some eggs and bread from my fridge, along with some milk. “A finger wart, to be exact.”
“Which finger?”
I smirk. “Middle. French toast okay for dinner?”
“That’s perfect. And so, does this mean your patient was flipping you off the entire time while the wart was being removed?”
I crack a few eggs into a bowl and toss the shells in the garbage. “Indeed, the entire time.”
“And how did that make you feel?”
“Honestly . . . used and abused,” I tease.
“Poor Dr. Beau, dragged around Marina Island for wart removals while being flipped the bird.”
With a fork, I whisk the eggs together and add some milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a touch of vanilla. “You’d be surprised by the amount of warts on this island.”
“Seriously?”
I nod. “Oh yeah, I’ve made many house calls for warts, which makes me wonder why I don’t keep all the necessary tools in my bag. Maybe someday I’ll learn.”
“What’s been the worst wart removal?”
I walk over to the pantry where I keep my griddle and pull it out. I set it up so it’s facing Palmer and I can talk to her while dunking the bread slices and cooking them. “The worst wart removal? You really want to know?” I bring the egg mixture and bread to the island. Thankfully my griddle heats up fast.