“I didn’t realize you knew Lila.”
“Everyone knows Lila,” Ann muttered, and it was mostly true. Lila was one of the few people who would see every unit in the hospital between making orders and delivering supplies, but Lila was also an extrovert who loved to flirt, so Ann had no doubt most people knew who she was. Add in the fact Lila had good looks going for her, she could easily have whoever she wanted, and she often did. Something Ann was all too viscerally aware of.
“True.”
Ann popped her gaze up. “I make the orders for ICU often.”
“Ah.”
She wasn’t going to give any more explanation than that. It was enough. Ann focused on her patients for the rest of her shift, pushing away Lila’s disturbing comments about avoidance and Heidi’s sad and devastated look as she’d walked away the night before. It had been her fault. There was no way around that.
As she finished out her shift, Ann sat in her car and stared at her phone as the engine warmed. She curled her fingers into a fist and blew on them so they weren’t as numb from the cold air. She stared at Heidi’s name and number, the first number on her contact shortcut list, and the only one she should be calling or texting.
Ann shifted in her seat as she stared at the light emanating from her phone in the darkness of the autumn evening. Screw it. She would continue to avoid. It was the best-case scenario for everyone involved. Confronting the problem head-on would only end up with Heidi leaving her high and dry. Dialing the number, Ann lifted the phone to her ear and waited impatiently as it rang.
“Hey, Ann.”
“Hey.” Ann smiled at the familiar voice, the tone so soft and welcoming. It was exactly what she needed. “I was thinking we should have another date.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” Relaxing into the seat of the car, Ann flipped through her schedule mentally. “I should have Friday night free if you do.”
“I do.”
Ann grinned. She was always there when Ann needed her. “Then say eight?”
“Sure. Do you want me to cook or are we going out?”
“Let’s stay in this time. I think I need more time with you and less time to worry about what others think.”
“You always worry.”
The comment threw some ice onto Ann’s mood, but she pushed past it. “Not out of the norm. Friday it is then.”
“I can’t wait.”
“Neither can I.” Hanging up, Ann dropped her phone into the cup holder and backed out of the parking spot. Home didn’t seem as bleak anymore. Which was exactly what she’d needed all day.
CHAPTER5
It tookuntil Friday for Heidi to find the time to have a lunch date with Ann again. She stopped by their favorite sandwich shop and grabbed their go-to meals. She’d already texted ahead, and Ann was going to meet her in the cafeteria this time, saving Heidi from having to walk so far through the hospital since she couldn’t take that long a lunch that day.
Heidi sat at the same table as before, having enjoyed the fact it was a bit out of the way and she and Ann could have more privacy. She also just had a preference for things she was used to, and since Heidi had sat at that table once, it had become her table.
This time she set out their dinner as she waited, knowing she didn’t have an abundance of time compared to the other day. She really wanted to make this more of a regular practice. They’d talked for years about having a weekly date, at least one, and they’d made small efforts toward moving in that direction, and then one or both of them would falter or scheduling would get messed up.
Heidi realized that in order to keep their relationship strong, one of them was going to have to make sacrifices to connect with the other, and this was one way she would do that. Hopefully Ann would pick up on it and join her in the efforts as soon as she noticed. If the two of them did this together, Heidi knew they’d succeed. They always had before.
She stuck the straw into her carry out cup and sipped the bubbly soda from it. She debated whether or not to start eating her sandwich when she was startled by a familiar voice.
“Fancy seeing you here.”
Looking up into Lila’s deep blue eyes, Heidi was surprised to find her standing over the table. She’d figured after the conversation the last weekend that even if Heidi did see Lila again, Lila would not want to talk to her. That’s how it most often went when she shared about her past with someone, and while she hadn’t given Lila any details of her past sexual trauma, there was enough skirting around the issue that Lila would be aware they were made of the same cloth.
“Yes, isn’t that an interesting coincidence.” It wasn’t, but Lila didn’t know that Heidi’s partner worked at the hospital. For all she knew, Heidi could have been there visiting a patient within the confines of her job and had stopped to eat lunch with a friend.
Lila pulled out the chair across from Heidi and sat down, holding only a coffee cup today instead of a lunch. “You ran off last Saturday before I thought we were done talking.”