Page 60 of Guarding Over You
“There is so much I want to do and say and I’m struggling right now.”
He felt her grin against his chest. “I know. I can sense it in the changes in your body. Blaze, I don’t need a protector.”
“I think you do. Everyone does.”
“Even you?”
“I could have used one a time or two in my life. Maybe some advice too. I’m not immune to it. I don’t think I’m Superman like my brothers.”
She laughed. “Yes, you do. Maybe not outside of the ER, but in it, you totally do. Right?”
His head went back and forth. The heaviness of those words was the burden he put on himself.
“I need to be that way there, but trust me, there were times more than kryptonite brought me down.”
“Will you tell me those times?” she asked. “So I don’t feel like such a loser in this relationship.”
If she hadn’t called what they had a relationship, he’d say no. Or joke his way out of it.
But she’d pushed that door open again for him and he had to walk through.
19
SUPPORT AND COMFORT
“You’re not a loser and never think that,” he said.
Arden got up off his lap now, moved to the other chair and picked up the rest of her milkshake to finish.
The sun was setting. It was only eight thirty and it was still light out and would be for another forty minutes. Not that it mattered if it got dark. It’d be cozier. More romantic.
Sad that was where her mind was going with the day she’d had.
“It feels it today, though having you here makes it better.”
“I’m glad I could do that. What is it you want to know?”
“You mentioned you had an ex. Tell me about her?”
“Should have known you’d start there. Her name was Kristin and we met during my residency.”
Another doctor.
Nothing like her.
“Is she an ER doctor?”
“No. Pediatrics. But she’d be down in the ER when there were cases with kids before they were admitted. Or even if they weren’t admitted.”
“And that is how you met?”
“It is. I was year two, she was year one. We hit it off. Had the love of medicine behind us, cases to talk about and keep us sharp, help us learn, bounce things off of.”
Sounded boring to her. “Is that all you talked about?”
His head went back and forth before he finished his drink. “More than anything else, but not all. I didn’t realize that until just now.”
“How long did you date?”
