People like this woman sure had some fucking huge cojones.
“Damn. I’m so sorry,” he apologized. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
She regarded his face with large, warm brown eyes, accepting his contrition with a small upward twitch of her lips. “Entertaining the kids?” she asked huskily.
“Yeah,” he snorted, still feeling off kilter. “Or at least I’m trying to,” he joked, doing his best Groucho impression. He didn’t let his hands drop from her shoulders. He felt an odd need to maintain their connection.
She didn’t back away, but his humor fell flat as she simply blinked her huge eyes up at him again and shook her head.
Vince sighed.
“See? I can’t even makeyoulaugh. I’m doing a really lousy job of being funny for anybody today,” he admitted.
“How do you figure?” she asked. Not in a way that had him feeling like she was making small talk, but in a manner that suggested real interest.
“I…”
Dammit. Vincent didnotexpect the tears that gathered in his eyes again. He was stronger than that. He blinked them back, squared his shoulders, and cleared his throat.
“I’m having such a hard time in there,” he finally admitted, although why he was opening up to a stranger was confusing. “It’s so freaking tough to see these kids undergoing their treatments. I…” He finally released his grip on the woman and lifted a hand to run agitated fingers back through his hair…finding the strands of his red wig, instead.
Gah.Vince dropped his digits. He couldn’t even work out his frustration properly.
“I don’t know how you do it,” he grimaced.
She blinked. Twice.
“Uh, what other choice is there?” she asked pragmatically. “It’s treatment or…” she trailed off.
“Yeah. Yeah. I know,” he concurred. “But it takes a lot of strength to face this shit every day.”
“Luck of the draw, I guess.” She shrugged.
That was a funny way to put it. Wasn’t she part of the oncology department?Huh.Maybe this wasn’t her normal rotation? Perhaps she predominantly worked in another wing?
Vincent took a closer look at his new acquaintance. There were dark circles under the woman’s eyes and her skin was pretty pale. She looked…beyond tired. If he were to guess, he’d say that she was filling in for a colleague and was near the end of atleasta double shift.
Vincent could commiserate. He didn’t miss those times as a SEAL where he’d sometimes gone days without sleep. Talk about a zombie. And here he was monopolizing her time.
“I should, uh, let you get back to it,” Vince said apologetically, backing off a step, even though he didn’t want to.
“Yeah. I need to do that,” she agreed.
Still neither one of them moved.
“Will you…be here, next time I come in?” Vince didn’t know why he asked. Hell, he hadn’t even planned a second visit before he’d opened his mouth. But there was something about this woman that drew him in; made him want to see her again.
She gave a semi-humorous sniff. “That depends on my schedule.”
Duh.He was an idiot.Of coursemost doctors didn’t have regular, nine-to-five schedules.
“I’m sure it does. I’m sorry. That was a stupid question.” And now that he’d said that, he could clearly see her trying to find a way to extricate herself from the situation.
Obviously, she needed to get on with her job, but….
Maybe a quick introduction?
“I’m Vince, by the way, the pediatric-visiting clown, at your service.” He swept a bow, while at the same time pulling a fake flower from his sleeve, which he then flourished in front of her.