Page 19 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

“I think so,” she said, dragging out the last word. “But then it would make me sound cocky. Oh yeah, been called that too. It’s good for men, but not always so great for women.”

“They can’t appreciate your humor.”

“Thank you, Dr. Brewer,” she said, nodding.

She was almost getting silly right now. Or maybe that was how she was.

He didn’t have a problem with it.

Why couldn’t everyone be friendly like this at work?

And with that came the truth, rather than speculation also.

“I left because my wife died,” he said. “I needed to just leave. There was too much holding me there.”

There went her smile.

The humor in her eyes with it.

She reached her hand to lay it on his like she had some of her patients.

“I’m so sorry. That had to be hard.”

“It was.”

Her eyes were on his hand again. The recent reminder of his vows still for all to see.

“Can I ask what happened or would you rather not talk about it?”

“She died in a fire while I was at work one night.”

Her hand went to her mouth. “That’s horrible. I mean, there is no good way to lose a loved one.”

“No,” he said. He continued to eat. They had to get out of here and get back to work, but there was no reason to not add the last part. “It was almost two years ago.”

That stopped the rest of her burger on the way to her mouth just like he thought it would.

6

BE OFF LIMITS

“Justine, he’s a widower.”

“Seriously,” her sister-in-law said, bringing her a cup of coffee. Only her second one of the day and it’d be her last. An afternoon treat.

She’d crashed into bed last night at nine thirty, thrilled that there were no calls for her to respond to and didn’t wake until ten this morning now that she had ten days off.

Had she told Luca he could reach out if he had a question on anything today? Sure. She had. It was the professional, polite thing to do.

Not that she wanted to talk to him some more. That’s what she was lying to herself about.

Nope. She’d spent over an hour digging online after she’d found out more about him.

“Yeah. You met him. He’s really nice. Funny. We laughed a lot. You know how much I’d hate having to spend the day with some stuffy, stuck-up person.”

Justine laughed. “That was me before I met your brother.”

“No way,” she said. “I don’t buy it. You were just shy. That’s different.”