“You had no right to call Roan, none at all.”
“I beg to differ. Because you put him down as a contact, I do have a right. And if he hadn’t stopped your campfire baking lessons you wouldn’t have been out there messing around on your own and gotten burned.”
“This burn has nothing to do with Roan. Nothing at all. I was clumsy and I’d let Sabrina outside to keep me company. She darted in front of me at just the wrong moment and I stumbled into the hot Dutch oven. Period. End of sentence.”
“Don’t blame Sabrina. You were clumsy because you were woolgathering over Roan.”
“I wish like hell I’d never told you that.”
“Ahh, but you did.”
“Call him back. Tell him not to come up here.”
“You call him.”
“I will. Where’s my phone?”
“Oops, it’s in my lab coat pocket and I can’t get to it.” Charlie held up his gloved hands.
“Dammit, Charlie, why are you being a jerk?”
“Dammit, Jazzy, why can’t you see the nose on your face?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You like Roan Sullivan and from the panic in his voice, I think he likes you too.”
“You’re wrong. He canceled our lessons.”
“Did you ever think it was because he cares too much and that scares him?”
Jazzy paused. Really? Maybe? Did she dare hope?
“We’ve only known each other two weeks,” she said. “How could that possibly be true?”
“It might be only two weeks, but you’ve been together for hours, working side by side. You’ve developed tender feelings for him, why couldn’t he have developed them for you too?”
“He’s hung up on his dead wife.”
“How do you know?”
“He’s got pictures of her all over the house.”
“Maybe he’s not had a reason to move on... until you.”
“Whose side are you on? You’re my friend, not his.”
“I didn’t realize there were sides.”
Jazzy hadn’t either.
“Are you searching for a reason not to move forward with this relationship?” Charlie asked, gingerly taping down the gauze covering her left arm.
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Do you want to be with him?”
“I do, but I’m not so sure he wants to be with me. Besides, if Traveling Nurses hires me, which I’m sure they will, I’m outta here.”