She gave her first, real smile, and actually chuckled, an adorable sound that hit his ears like music.
“Cute,” she said, and Vince could almost imagine she was looking at him, not the flower, when she said it.
“I’m Lace,” she told him, clearly taking pity. “Pleased to meet you.”
She stuck out a hand, and when Vince took it, he was immediately aware of an interesting dichotomy. For someone who looked like a stiff wind would blow her away, Lace’s shake was firm, her grip solid, and her palm slightly callused. It seemed that whatever her medical specialty, she didn’t shy away from hard work.
“Lace, as in Lacy?” he asked.
“Vince as in Vincenzo?” she countered with a smirk.
Vince laughed. “Vincent,” he corrected, “but Ihavebeen thinking of adopting a clown handle like Vincenzo because it sounds more…showmanshipy.”
He liked the sound of that made up word.
“Something like Cenzo the Clown, or Enzo the Extraordinaire,” he speculated. “What do you think?”
“I think the kids will come up with something, and that’s what will stick,” she countered, giving him another lopsided grin.
Vince wanted to keep earning those.
“So…Lace as in Lacy?” he repeated.
“No.” She shook her head. “Lace, as in Solace.”
Vincent hummed his appreciation. “That’s pretty. Unusual, but pretty. Do I sense a story behind it?”
Lace shuffled a bit uncomfortably and glanced down the hallway. “Uh, maybe another time. I really have to go.”
“Oh, sorry. Right.”
Once again, in his enthusiasm, it had slipped Vincent’s mind that she had to be on a tight schedule, or maybe even heading home to get some much-needed sleep. But the operative in him noted there was also an odd reluctance that had dropped over Lace when he’d asked his question. And now she wanted to end their interaction.
That was a shame. Vincent wanted nothing more than to continue their conversation.
She stepped back as if to walk away, but before she did, she lifted her chin and gifted him with another slight smile. “It was nice meeting you, Vincent.”
Vince smiled back. He couldn’t help himself. “I hope I’ll see you again,” he offered up, but instead of answering, this time she turned and gave him a brief wave over her shoulder before disappearing down the hall.
Crap. It didn’t look like Lace was as interested in him as he was in her.
That wasn’t something Vincent normally had to worry about. Women, in his experience, practically salivated over him and threw themselves at his feet. With his broad shoulders and his Sothard good looks, he…
Double crap. How could he have forgotten? He was dressed head to toe in a polka-dot, clown moo-moo that disguised his toned physique. And his face was slathered in white, oil-based grease paint, with a large, red honker of a nose, front and center. Ofcourseshe hadn’t seen how handsome he was.
Vincent wanted to groan. Of all times to be dressed in clown-garb, did it have to be when his libido had finally stirred, signaling actual interest in a woman after at least a year’s hiatus?
It figured.
But he couldn’t wallow in regret. He still had a job to do.
And he had to stop being a freaking pussy about it.
Taking one last, longing look to where Lace had turned a corner and disappeared, Vincent pulled up his big-boy-boxers and headed back toward the pediatric chemo-suite.
He could do this.
Vince didn’t know if it was the semi-pep talk he’d received from the two professionals in the hallway,orif having faced things in this room once, he was simply better equipped for his feelings the second time around. But with his renewed attempt at “clowning”, Vince was actually able to put his trepidation aside and throw his whole heart into really making the kids laugh.