Her green eyes landed on Andrew, and she froze. A smile lit up her face, and Andrew grinned in return, raising his hand in a wave. As he hoped she would, she made her way over. Her eyes dropped to his still-bare midsection, and Andrew gingerly tugged his shirt back down over his chest and stomach, arranging the tubing at the bottom so it didn’t pull on the needle.
“Look, it’s that pharmacist from Dr. Patel’s office,” Jeni said. “What was her name?”
“Lauren,” Andrew murmured.
“That’s right,” Jeni said as she approached. “Hi, Lauren!”
“Hey, everyone. How’s it going so far?” Lauren asked.
She smiled and her demeanor was friendly, but there was an edge to her voice Andrew hadn’t detected when they’d met previously. Had it been her conversation with that guy? He suddenly wanted to know what had been said, and if it had upset her. It was none of his business, but that didn’t lessen his curiosity.
Lauren locked eyes with him, and her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t look away. He liked that. “So far so good,” he said.
“Lauren, did you know how big those port needles are? I thought I was going to pass out when I saw it,” his mom said.
“It’s really big,” Lauren agreed.
“That’s what she said,” Jeni muttered under her breath.
Andrew coughed and kicked her.
“Couldn’t they start a regular IV in his arm?” His mom continued, oblivious to her two youngest children’s immaturity.
“Chemotherapy can irritate the small vessels in the arm, and if a patient is dehydrated or doesn’t have good veins, it’s hard to get a line that way. It’s safest to do it like this.” Her eyes brightened, and she grinned. “I’d even say…im-port-ant to do it like this.” She paused with her mouth slightly ajar and her eyebrows raised.
Jeni giggled and a laugh burst forth from Andrew’s chest.
Lauren looked so proud of her little joke. Dammit, she’s cute.
“That was terrible,” he teased.
“Then why are you laughing?” she retorted.
“People laugh at bad jokes all the time.”
She tilted her head to the left and put one hand on her waist. “What’s the end goal of a joke, Andrew?”
Strike that. Standing there with her hip out to the side, her braid across her shoulder, trailing down the swell of her chest, and her green eyes daring him to argue—she wasn’t cute. She was sexy as hell.
“To make people laugh.”
“And what was that, just now? That sound you made?”
Andrew narrowed his eyes even as he smiled. “A laugh.” He drew the words out slowly.
“Well then. Mission accomplished.”
“I like her,” Jeni announced. She turned to face Lauren. “I like you.”
Andrew thought maybe he liked her, too—a little too much.
“Oh.” Lauren sounded surprised, and she smiled at Jeni. “Well, I like you, too.”
“What about me?” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.
The smile faded from Lauren’s face, and suddenly she looked like he always felt in math class when called on to answer a question.
Completely at a loss for how to answer.