Lily: Did you put gas in my car?
Parker: Did you think a magical gas fairy did it?
Lily: …maybe.
Lily: But how? You’re on shift.
Parker: I had time before.
Parker: I didn’t want you to worry about it.
I type “I love you” before quickly deleting it. Tossing my phone onto the counter I hardly hold back a squeal into my hands as I drop my head into them.
“Are you okay?” my coworker, Lexi, asks.
“I don’t think so,” I mumble into my palms.
“What’s wrong?” She sounds genuinely concerned. Meanwhile, I’m just here struggling with the fact that I have the best, hottest, sweetest, most swoon-worthy man in my life.
I move my head to the side to look at her while keeping my hand on my cheek and I purse my lips. “Nothing iswrongper say.” I sigh. “It’s Parker.”
“Oh, what did he do?” She soundsready to fight.
I chuckle, shaking my head. “He filled my car up with gas.”
“What’s wrong with that? I would love if my husband would do that. Can he teach classes for other men?”
“That’sthe problem!” I exclaim. “He’s too perfect, right? Like there has to be something wrong that I’m missing.”
“Haven’t you known him forever?”
“Mhm.”
“And has he always been this way?”
I scrunch my face while I think about it. Because yeah, he has. As my best friend, as a boyfriend. The only time he wasn’t was when I thought he was whoring around town, but it turns out that’s not true.
I may have interrogated some of the other nurses at the hospital to double check that. Not because I don’t trust him, of course, I just…I feel like I have to be missing something.
“Yeah, he has,” I relent.
“Then seriously, can he teach classes for other men to learn his ways?”
I smile. “I don’t think he could teach it, he’s just Parker.” He has a great mom who stepped up as both his parents, and I think she’s a big reason he’s the reason he is. She’s hardworking, sweet, and raised an amazing man.
“You’re the lucky one. You know most of the girls aroundhere have been hoping they’d be the one for him. But I think it was always going to be you.”
I nod. “That’s what he says.”
We both busy ourselves, and I see someone walking by with a tray of food they’re delivering to a room. One of my thoughts pops into my head I can’t control. I turn back to Lexi. “Who do you think was the first person to drink milk? Like who looked at a cow and said, ‘I’m going to drink that?’ It’s really weird when you think about it.”
“Wha…How do you think of this stuff?” She chuckles.
“I’m just saying, it seems like someone has some explaining to do.”
Lexi continues to laugh, and I’m tempted to fall down a rabbit hole of looking into how we all started drinking milk. Except me, I don’t really like milk unless it’s in a bowl of cereal.
My shift is going pretty smoothly, and I’m thankful for it. Around four in the morning we get a call that a patient is being brought in from an accident. We prep for the admission, and I try to tamp down the butterflies going wild knowing I’m going to see Parker.