Page 27 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

“I feel the same. It will take me time to get used to it, but in the long run I think it will be great.”

“It is, trust me.”

“I’m almost done,” he said, slowing down. “Been here over an hour now.”

“Damn,” she said. “I put my thirty minutes of cardio in, do about fifteen minutes of weights or abs, then I’m out of here.”

“I’m going to shower, hit the store for some food, then get a haircut. Want to meet up somewhere for lunch for that chat on the best places to go?”

“I’d love to. You’ve got my number.”

He hopped off the machine, grabbed his water bottle, her eyes following his movement toward the locker room. Not much to really see in his baggy athletic shorts, nothing more than some seriously toned calves making her wonder if he ran or not also.

She finished up a few more things, then grabbed her stuff and returned home to shower and clean up.

Her phone went off with a text. She hoped it was Luca but noticed her mother instead asking if she was around to talk.

Rather than text back, she just hit the button and called.

“Getting back from the gym?” her mother asked.

“I am. You know my schedule. What’s going on?”

“Not much,” her mother said. “I haven’t talked to you in a few days and thought I’d check in. Your father and I will be on the island soon helping get ready for the fundraiser.”

She forgot about that. “It’s over two weeks away,” she said. “Or are you coming here for a bit? You haven’t said what you’re doing for Thanksgiving either.”

Which would be the week after the Annual Bond Fundraiser. She actually wasn’t working this year and could attend.

But Thanksgiving this year, since the office was closed, and she wasn’t much use in the ER, she hoped she could sneak out for an hour to go home and eat, then return to work in the hospital.

It made her wonder what Luca was doing for the holidays on the island since he’d said he was alone.

Guess that was something they could chat about.

“I thought I would cook on Sunday when you’re off,” her mother said.

“I got thinking, I can leave to eat, if things are slow. Even if they aren’t at the time you’re eating, I can still run home for an hour and see everyone. Why don’t you plan it on Thursday? Justine is off too. I know, I asked her. She might have to work on Sunday.”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that,” her mother said. “I’m just so used to your brother and father working during the week at the office unless they were on call.”

She scratched her chin. “You know, this is the first holiday and normally I had it off too unless I was on call. Maybe I still do. Like just need to put in a few hours early and after dinner like always. I’ll look into that.”

Her mother laughed. “Gabriela, you never ask about those things until the last minute.”

“It’s not that big of a deal to me. We all know in this field we don’t have traditional hours.”

“True. Find out and let me know.”

“I’ll email someone for sure,” she said. “So, I met the new pediatrician. Then I saw him working out this morning in the gym. I’m going to show him around the island after we have lunch.”

“Oh really. It’s a guy?”

“I just said ‘he’,” she said, laughing and plopping her butt in the chair, putting her feet on the stool to get comfortable.

“Tell me about him.”

“His name is Luca Brewer and he’s from St. Louis.” She told her mother the little she knew so far. “He’s by himself here. My guess is he’s just ready to start over. He’s really nice, funny, gets my quirky personality.”