Beyond The Waves

Eleven | Two Beds

"Do you miss the ICU?"

He shrugged. "Yes and no. I miss how it challenged my brain to think and my routine, but the ICU burned me out so badly, I lost so many patients, and by year six, I was ready for no death. I wasn't taking the best care of myself, too, so to make matters even worse, I enrolled in an APRN program and worked while getting my practitioner licenses."

My skin prickled with excitement hearing about Weston's life, even if it was about work. I wanted him to keep going, so I continued. "I'm glad you're taking care of yourself now. Have you always been from New York?"

"Yeah, city boy. Born and raised." He pointed to himself, and I smiled.

"You don't really have a thick New York accent, and you don't act like a city boy."

"I don't know what that means."

"You aren't outwardly... assertive."

"Oh, I can be assertive, Sunshine." He leaned closer, and his knee slid further between my legs, closer to my core. My stomach clenched, and I fought the urge to lean back for space. "You just haven't seen it."

His proximity was short-lived, though my feelings remained.

He pulled away and ordered two more drinks.

The bartender placed two brimming glasses in front of us. I brought my still-half-full drink to my lips to chug, but Weston grabbed my wrist before I could gulp it down.

"Don't chug. We're in no rush. This one will be here when you finish."

I paused, taking in the sweet pressure of his touch. It wasn't too tight, and his thumb moved gently over my skin, sending my brain into a frenzy. His eyes were willful, despite my taught brows, and I was too distracted from how he looked at me to realize that his hand was still holding mine.

When I finally understood what he was doing, my face broke into a massive grin. "Oh, I see."

He grinned too, and I took a mental picture of how beautiful his curved mouth looked.

"I still don't understand how this correlates to Nora."

"The person who told me about the job opening was Zoe Lincoln."

Zoe? Zoe was his friend from college? A strange feeling simmered through me.

"You and Zoe went to college together?"

"Yeah, we had the same friend group. Then we both completed the same Nurse Practitioner program, but Zoe stayed in New York instead of taking over Doctor Wagner's practice. She specialized in Women's health, and the town already has an OB-GYN."

I didn't know how to react.

Zoe and Weston had slept together. Zoe had known Weston for years before us, and still, I felt protective over him, like it was just us inside this Clifton bubble, but it took three seconds for ours to pop.

"You and Zoe then?"

He finally looked at me, shaking his head. "It wasn't like that."

I had no business questioning what he did in the bedroom or who he did it with. Zoe was a lovely woman, beautiful for that matter, so I bit my tongue, downed the rest of my drink, and started working on the new one.

"It was a mistake," he added amidst our silence. "Zoe and me."

I put my hand up. "You don't have to explain it to me, Wes. You two are both consenting adults and what you do is private. I'm only sorry word got around to the entire population of Clifton."