FLO DOWNED HER second cup of coffee, which had two shots of espresso in it. She didn’t know what had made her reach out and kiss Nate, because she’d had no plans to do that. Especially not after he’d basically dared her to kiss him in his hotel suite.
When he’d asked her that, it had taken all her willpower not to leap into his arms and kiss him again. To experience that heat and heady sensation he’d stirred within her since he’d first kissed her on the rooftop. Nate was incredibly sexy and Flo had never been attracted to a man so strongly before. So much so that she almost forgot herself and the fact that she’d sworn off all romantic entanglements.
Besides, Nate would run as soon as he realized what was going on with her. She tried to tell herself that maybe he would understand as he was a transplant surgeon himself, but then maybe that would make him back off all the more, because he would understand better than anyone what her body had been through.
Still, she’d been a fool and kissed him while waiting for the taxi, even though it had been for the press. She was pretty sure there would be pictures of them kissing and that would make Freya happy.
There was a lot of press camped outside The Hollywood Hills Clinic. She could see them lurking in shadows, waiting for something, anything, to give them juicy details about Kyle Francis and his surgeons who were in love.
Flo snorted. Love. Sure.
She didn’t believe in love. Well, not for her anyway. Once she’d believed in love, but then love had turned on her. There was love. She’d seen it in her parents. They’d overcome a lot of odds and barriers in their way to be together. They came from different worlds yet that hadn’t mattered to them in the end.
For them it worked.
Love couldn’t work for her. Not when she couldn’t promise any length of time to anyone. It wasn’t really fair to someone else.
Flo groaned and crushed the empty coffee cup, tossing it in the garbage. Last week none of this had been an issue. Last week she’d been free of Dr. Nathaniel King. Last week she’d just been a great surgeon, with a stupid bucket list and a job that hadn’t let her think about her personal life.
Last week she’d been happy. Now she was miserable.
Are you so sure about that?
“Flo!”
Flo turned to see Freya walking toward her. “Freya, I’m surprised to see you here so early.”
“I couldn’t sleep and had morning sickness.” Freya held out a paper. “I’m glad to see that you and Dr. King are keeping up appearances.”
Flo glanced down at the tabloid paper and saw photos of her kiss with Nate. That quick, impulsive kiss that had burned its memory on her lips and taunted her all night, which was the reason why she’d downed two large black coffees with espresso shots, because she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it all night.
And now seeing it plastered over the tabloids reminded her of how hot that moment had been, and how foolish. She was willing to climb a mountain or do some other high-adrenaline sport, but when it came to the possibility of romance, she wasn’t willing to let her heart get involved.
It was too dangerous.
“Ah,” Flo said nervously. “Yeah, well, I thought I would pay Dr. King a visit to talk about our arrangement.”
“Well, keep up the good work. Tomorrow night there’s a dinner with some possible investors and they want the dream team to attend. It’s business casual and will be at Dan Tana’s at eight-thirty.”
“Dinner? I...I have a shift tomorrow. Rounds in the evening.”
“I have another doctor covering for you, one of your fellows.” Freya glanced over her shoulder and waved. “Dr. King, can you come here a moment, please?”
Flo froze and was very aware the moment that Nate walked up behind her. She could smell the clean spicy scent of his body wash. She’d been very aware of it when she’d impulsively kissed him.
“Good morning, ladies.” He had already changed into scrubs and had a white lab coat with an identification card. The white of the lab coat accentuated his tan and the blueness of his eyes.
“I was just telling Flo how pleased I was to see you two cooperating.” Freya handed Nate the tabloid. Flo watched his expression carefully, but if it affected him she had no clue. He just nodded, smiled charmingly and handed the paper back to Freya.
“Just doing our part,” he said.
“I was just telling Flo that there’s a dinner tomorrow night at Dan Tana’s. Business casual as we’ll be meeting with investors.” Freya tucked the paper under her arm. “I have to run. I look forward to seeing you both tomorrow.”
Flo didn’t even have a chance to say no, she didn’t want to have dinner with a bunch of investors and pretend to be Nate’s girlfriend, but she really had no choice.
Her job was on the line.
If she didn’t play her part then people would stop coming to The Hollywood Hills Clinic, investors would stop giving money and the clinic could shut down. Then she couldn’t help Eva, and she was very on board with this partnership with the Bright Hope Clinic and providing pro bono surgery to kids like Eva.
To kids who reminded her of herself.
“Dan Tana’s is a nice place,” Nate remarked. “I used to go there a lot as a kid.”
“I thought you were from New York?” Flo said.
“I work in New York, but I’m a native Californian.”
Flo snorted. “That doesn’t surprise me. You have the look of a beach boy.”
Nate fell into step beside her. “Where are you from?”
“Seattle,” Flo responded, offhand. “Though my father is from Beijing and my mother is from the Deep South. They felt Seattle was a nice halfway point to raise their family.”
Flo smiled as she thought of her family. She hadn’t talked to them in a while as she’d been so busy. Actually, she was surprised that her father wasn’t calling her cell phone every two minutes to question what was going on and why she was kissing men on rooftops.
Her parents had always been a little overprotective, trying to keep her wrapped up in cotton wool, like she was some kind of fragile piece of crystal that was about to shatter into a million pieces.
Which was why when she’d got her kidney she’d rebelled a bit. Pushed the boundaries and decided to study medicine at Johns Hopkins across the country, almost a world away from her parents. After spending most of her childhood basically in a bubble, her first taste of freedom had been an amazing rush.
It’s why she had the bucket list.
So many things she wanted to do. So little time.
“So you mentioned learning to drive is on this bucket list,” Nate said casually.
“It is. I just don’t have time to take lessons. My work here takes a lot of my time.”
“I can teach you.”
Flo laughed. “Yeah, right.”
“Who better to teach you? I’ve driven in two of the busiest cities in America—Los Angeles and New York City.”
“You have a point, but when? I don’t have time.”
“How about tonight?”
Flo cocked an eyebrow. “Tonight? You’re going to teach me to drive tonight?”
“Sure. I can’t take you out on the streets, but I know a place out of the city where there’s an abandoned parking lot and plenty of room for you to make mistakes.”
“Okay. I get off at three.”
“I know.” Nate took a step back away from her. “I have to make a phone call to my office in New York. I’ll meet you up at Eva’s room in twenty.”
“Sure, leave all the grunt work to me,” she teased.
He just smiled at her and disappeared down a hall, leaving her standing there absolutely perplexed about what had just happened. She told herself she was going to be stronger. When she had to make public appearances with him, she was going to play the part of the girlfriend, but this learning-to-drive date she’d just made with him, that was just them. That wasn’t something public.
It was just going be the two of them.
And that thought made her nervous.
Don’t think about it.
She put her hands under the sanitary gel dispenser. Right now she couldn’t think about that. Right now she had to be a surgeon. She glanced through the window to see Eva, so sick and in bed with an IV and looking so lost. Her mother was next to her, holding her hand.
It tore at Flo’s heart. She’d been there.
She’d felt that way and her parents had been there. Only her mother hadn’t been the one to give her a kidney, so she couldn’t even begin to fathom the kind of strain that Ms. Martinez was going through or the amount of time it would take for both of them to recover, both emotionally, physically and financially.
Right now, this was Flo’s focus. This was her passion, saving lives, especially giving a chance to a little girl who reminded her so much of herself that it was almost haunting.
“Good morning, Ms. Martinez and Eva. I’m Dr. Flo Chiu and I’ll be one of the surgeons on your case.”
* * *
The phone call back to New York had taken longer than expected, but by the end of the call he had been assured that all his patients were being taken good care of and that his practice was in safe hands. For so long Kyle had been his main focus, he didn’t really have a lot of other patients who needed him as much.
Kyle had been very specific that Nate’s sole focus was to be on him, and he paid him well enough that he didn’t have to take on too many patients, which meant he wasn’t really missed in New York.
Nate didn’t have friends in New York City. Colleagues, yes, but not any people he would consider friends. Neither did he have any family in New York. His parents were here in California and he definitely didn’t have a significant other.
No one missed him and he didn’t mind much.
He might’ve been chomping at the bit to get back to his practice, but being around Flo and working with her was exciting. It was fun, and that kiss she’d given him had kept him up all night.
So to take his mind off it he’d spent the night going over Eva’s case. It had been a year since he’d done a kidney transplant with a live donor. Kyle had been his focus and any other cases he took on were usually complicated. Nate hadn’t realized that for a long time he’d been focusing solely on the heart and lung. He’d had to brush up on his reading about kidney transplants. What concerned him most was that Ms. Martinez was a single parent. The sole breadwinner. Donating a kidney would put her out of commission for a long time. Weeks, for sure. Even if they did the retrieval laparoscopically and reduced her recovery time, she’d still be off for a couple of weeks.
Ms. Martinez was a waitress. She would need a month to heal from a laparoscopic procedure. She wouldn’t be able to lift heavy objects and would still tire easily.
Even then, Nate wasn’t sure that Ms. Martinez was a candidate for a laparoscopic procedure. He would have to do some more tests to be sure. Get some better MRI images.
Ms. Martinez could become destitute while she recovered. Being a waitress was a minimum-wage job, one that probably didn’t have medical leave coverage.
Eva was pretty stable, so maybe in the family’s best interests they should wait for a deceased donor.
When he got to Eva’s room he paused in the hallway. He saw Flo sitting on the end of Eva’s bed and she was playing cards with her. Nate smiled. When he’d first met Flo he’d thought she would be a bit uptight, reserved, but seeing her with Eva and playing a game of cards, well, he couldn’t help but smile.
She was so warm with Eva.
There were so many layers to Flo; she was so intriguing. At times she was so prudish and then the next moment she was giving him a kiss that made him want her more than anything. Other times she was standoffish, but then could give a good quip that got through his thick-walled exterior. Back in New York City he had a reputation of being hardheaded. Someone you didn’t want to mess with.
The moment he’d tried that with her, Flo had been right in his face and giving back as good as he could give her, but there was something Flo was hiding. She’d mentioned a bucket list and had then brushed it off as something silly. Only Nate knew there was something more there, and he shouldn’t care what it was because he didn’t want to get too close to her. He couldn’t get too close to her, but he did care.
He wanted to know all of her, even though nothing could come of it. This relationship wasn’t a relationship. It was just a facade. And when Kyle was on the mend and this pro bono case was done, he would pack his bags and head back to New York and his life.
Just like she would go back to hers, because this wasn’t real. It was all fake.
And that thought made him sad, because just for one moment he was wishing it wasn’t all fake, that Flo and him were really dating.
Don’t think like that.
He shook that thought from his head, disgusted with himself for allowing himself to think like that again. For letting his mind head down that path again. He was here to do work; he was here to save two lives.
This whole situation was temporary. There wouldn’t be any permanence. There couldn’t be any permanence to it.
He knocked on the door and plastered his best smile on his face. One he knew well and had practiced. A shield to the armor he wore every day to keep people out. “Am I interrupting?”
“Yes,” Flo said, smiling and winking at Eva, who giggled. “Eva, this is your other surgeon. This is Dr. Nathaniel King.”
Nate stood beside Flo and Eva smiled up at Nate.
“It’s nice to meet you, Eva,” Nate said.
“Nice to meet you, too, Dr. King.” For a twelve-year-old girl she had excellent manners.
“You can call me Nate. I’ve just come to check your vitals. Is that okay?”
Eva’s brow furrowed and she looked at Flo with concern. “Will it hurt?”
“No, this is just a vital check. No needles.” Flo set down her cards and got off the bed, moving the swinging table out of the way. “Nate is super nice.”
“I promise you it won’t hurt at all.” Nate pulled out his stethoscope. “I just want to have a listen to your heart first. Is that okay?”
“Sure.” Eva sat up the best she could and Nate listened to her chest.
“Deep breaths for me, Eva.” He moved his stethoscope and listened. “One more for me.”
“Is that it?” Eva asked.
“Just blood pressure now.”
Eva winced. “I don’t like the squeeze.”
“It’s just for a second. It’s nothing. Trust me, I would know,” Flo said reassuringly, squeezing Eva’s foot under the blanket. “You need to relax. Nate will get a better reading if you relax.”
Eva nodded and Nate put the cuff on her and took her blood pressure. It was as good as it could be for a young girl in renal failure.
“Thank you, Eva. Do you mind if I borrow Flo for a moment?”
“Sure.” Eva leaned back and picked up her cards.
“No cheating!” Flo warned, giving her a wink that caused Eva to laugh.
They stepped out of the room and Nate shut the door. Flo frowned and crossed her arms. “Is there something wrong? I checked her when I first arrived and her vitals were fine.”
“Her vitals are fine. I was just hoping that Ms. Martinez would be around so that I could talk to her about her side of the donation.”
“Ms. Martinez had to make some arrangements. She’s going to be out of commission for some time, as well.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to her about. Eva is stable, so why don’t we wait for a deceased donor?”
Flo’s brow furrowed further. “Ms. Martinez is a match. Her cross-match is the best I’ve seen in a long time. Why would we wait? Waiting just puts Eva in danger.”
“Ms. Martinez is a single mother. She could continue working while Eva recovered here.”
Flo shook her head. “The cross-match is almost perfect. A cross-match from a deceased donor wouldn’t be as good. Ms. Martinez won’t wait while her child sits on a list, she’s done that. It’s in their file. That’s why she went to the Bright Hope Clinic, because she is the perfect donor for Eva. Eva is less likely to reject her mother’s kidney.”
“Less likely, though, Dr. Chiu. There’s still a chance. There’s always a high chance of rejection.”
Flo’s spine stiffened, her face unreadable. It was as if he’d slapped her across the face. “I’m very well aware of that, Dr. King. You don’t have to remind me of that. I’m still head surgeon on this case. Ms. Martinez knows the risks. She doesn’t want to wait, she doesn’t want her daughter to get worse. It’s her gift to give Eva. We’re not going to discuss this matter further or try to convince her of anything different.”
“I would feel better if I talked to Ms. Martinez all the same.”
Flo glared at him. “Fine, but let it be on your head. I doubt you’ll convince her. She wants to save her child and what she’s doing is an amazing thing.”
She tried to turn and storm off, but he grabbed her by her elbow. “What has got into you?”
“Nothing, I’m just annoyed that you’re trying to talk a woman, who knows all the facts because her daughter has been fighting renal failure her whole life, out of saving her daughter’s life.”
Nate sighed. “I’m not trying to talk her out of it. I just don’t want to see her lose her job.”
“She won’t,” Flo said, calming down. “Her work is being compliant. Mila Brightman talked to them about the situation.”
Nate nodded. “Okay. That’s great. I’m glad she knows everything. I wasn’t trying to endanger the patient. Please trust me, because if you don’t trust me here, you won’t trust me in the OR and I need you to trust me in the OR when we work on Eva and Kyle.”
Mollified, Flo nodded. “I trust you, Nate. I trust you as a surgeon. It’s just...this is a touchy subject for me.”
Intrigued, Nate let go of his grip on her. “Why?”
“I knew someone who suffered a long time, waiting for a deceased donor who was a good cross-match. A young girl, like Eva, whose parents would’ve given their kidneys, but they weren’t a match.”
Nate nodded. “I understand.”
“Do you?”
“Yes,” Nate said wearily. “I lost someone I cared for. Someone who was waiting on organs.”
Her expression softened. “Then why wait now? It’s just putting Eva at risk.”
“You’re right. We don’t want Eva to suffer like your other patient. Like my friend.”
“Right, my other patient. Well, I’d better get back to my game of poker. Eva cheats.” She paused in the doorway. “I am sorry about your friend.”
“Thanks,” he said. “Okay, so I’ll see you after your shift? Where should I pick you up?”
“The front doors. Though I hope you have space for my bike.” She nodded and walked back into Eva’s room.
There was a sadness about her. She’d obviously been affected deeply by her other patient to fight so strongly for Eva, to be so personally connected. And he couldn’t help but wonder if the patient was someone close to Flo.
* * *
It was a close call. Flo didn’t mean to let her emotions take control of her when they were talking about Ms. Martinez donating a kidney to Eva. She should’ve let him talk to her, not thought twice about it. It was Nate’s prerogative as a surgeon to talk to his patients and make sure they were informed.
She shouldn’t have let it affect her so much, but the problem was, it did. Eva reminded her so much of her own time in the hospital, and if her parents could’ve given her a kidney they would’ve. Only her parents, her brother and her sister hadn’t been cross-matches. Her nǎinai had been, but she had been too elderly, so her kidney hadn’t been viable for Flo.
So she’d sat on the list, waiting for some poor soul to die.
It was a great gift that anonymous person had given her, but it also weighed heavily on her. That’s why she was trying to live life to the fullest. And Nate had lost a loved one who had been waiting on the list and she couldn’t help but wonder who it had been.
It’s none of your business.
It may not be, but it gave some connection to Nate that hadn’t been there before. It helped her understand him more. He got it. Even just a little bit, he understood the emotions, fear and pain of this whole process. It just made him all the more attractive to her.
She shouldn’t be going out with Nate tonight, but even though she was emotionally drained from their spat, she was intrigued.
He was taking her somewhere out of Los Angeles, somewhere she would have a lot of room to drive. She could tick it off her bucket list and, really, what did she have to lose? Seeing Eva chained to her hospital bed had brought back too many painful memories for her, and she’d lashed out, almost telling him that it was she who had been that girl, clinging to life while she’d waited on the transplant list.
And that wasn’t anyone’s business.
Thankfully, she had been able to convince Nate that it was a former patient of hers.
There was a roar of an engine and Flo glanced over to see a vintage Corvette screech around the corner and pull up in front of the building.
She smiled when she saw Nate get out of the driver’s side of the car. “Well, what do you think?”
“Where in the world did you get this?”
“Believe it or not, it’s mine. I keep it in storage here. For when I visit. Will it do?”
Flo laughed. “I think so. Will there be room for my bike?”
“Yep. We’ll toss it in the trunk, it’ll be fine.”
Flo wheeled her bike over and Nate took it from her and secured it in the trunk. She noticed he wasn’t dressed in his business casual clothes. Instead he was wearing denim jeans, biker boots and a tight, black V-neck shirt. His eyes were obscured by aviator sunglasses. He was a typical Californian bad boy. Or at least how Flo had always pictured them. She didn’t have a lot of experience with the bad-boy type of man.
He was too damn sexy for her own good and she had to keep reminding herself that he was off-limits.
She climbed into the passenger side after Nate held open the door for her. Flo had never sat in a sports car before. That was something else she could check off her bucket list. Nate slid into the driver’s side and turned the key, revving the engine.
“You ready?” he asked.
“I’m always ready,” she said.
He grinned and then took off out of the clinic’s loop driveway and out into the streets. Flo’s hair, which had still been in a bun, blew out of it and whipped around her face as Nate drove through the streets of Los Angeles like a maniac.
When they stopped at a light Flo put her hair back into a tight ponytail. “I guess this is why women with long hair wear hats in these cars.”
Nate chuckled. “Or scarves.”
“I’m not wearing a scarf. Try not to drive like a lunatic.”
“And what would you know about driving?” He revved the engine as the light turned green and then took off again toward the highway that led east out of LA and toward Vegas.
“You’re not taking me to Vegas, are you? That’s, like, six hours away!”
“No, it’s in Barstow.”
“Barstow! That’s two hours from here.”
“It’s only four-thirty p.m. Do you have plans? I know for a fact you don’t have an early shift tomorrow. You have a pretty decent one followed by a really nice dinner out.”
She glared at him, but honestly she was glad for the car ride. She’d never been to Barstow. Heck, she’d never really been on a road trip. She’d always wanted to drive across the country. That was on her bucket list, as well. She wanted to drive Route 66 and hit every kitschy place she could. She also wanted to drive across the badlands and through Montana, Wyoming and maybe even up into Canada to Alaska.
She also wanted to do the drive in an RV and her family was not an RV type of family. Vacations were spent on a tropical beach somewhere, a place where Flo could rest and recuperate. A place of peace and tranquility.
Flo had had enough of peace and tranquility. She wanted to do things, see places. She wanted a collection of goofy postcards from places like the home of the world’s biggest ball of string and Mount Rushmore.
Nate turned on the radio and Flo relaxed into the drive. She didn’t have to say anything to him, she could just enjoy the sights of driving into the desert, watching the city trickle away into wide open spaces with the wind in her face and the sun at her back.
She forgot everything that had happened today, she forgot about her bucket list and limited time and for the first time in a long time she just relaxed.
“Hey, sleepyhead. Wake up.”
Flo woke with a start and realized that she’d drifted off. The car was parked at a deserted drag strip and it was dusk.
And when she glanced at the dashboard she could see it was seven in the evening.
“How long was I sleeping for?”
“A couple of hours. You looked so peaceful I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Nate shrugged. “It’s okay, but I thought you might want to try and drive a bit tonight before we have to turn around and head back to Los Angeles.”
“Sorry.” Flo got out of the car and stretched. “Where are we?”
“A buddy of my father owns this old drag strip. He’s planning on refurbishing it, but he said we could come out here and practice driving around the parking lot. I’m not sure if he actually wants us to drive on the strip, though, so if drag racing is on that bucket list of yours...”
“It’s not, meaning I’ve never really considered it.”
Nate climbed out of the driving seat. “You ready to try your hand at driving?”
“Oh, yeah,” Flo said, probably a little too eagerly. She climbed into the driver’s seat and did up the seat belt. Nate took her vacated spot in the passenger side. “What do I do first?”
Nate chuckled. “Turn the key in the ignition. That would be a good start.”
“Ha-ha. I meant after that.” She turned the ignition key.
“Whoa, don’t jump the gun. Driving is an art form.”
Flo snorted. “I find that hard to believe when any old schmuck can do it.”
Nate rolled his eyes then placed her hands on the wheel. “Put your hands at ten and two and be quiet for a moment.”
Flo stuck out her tongue. “What next?”
“Have you never been in the front seat of a car? Even fifteen-year-olds know this.”
She grabbed the stick and put the car out of park into drive. It rolled forward a bit. “Which one’s the gas and which is the brake?”
“Press it and you’ll find out. Just gently.”
“So no slamming?”
Nate arched an eyebrow. “Only on the brake, if needed.”
“Okay.” Flo pressed her foot down and the car lurched forward. She immediately jammed her foot down on the other pedal. “Whoa.”
“There you go. Try again.”
“Okay.” Flo stepped down on the gas less and the car moved forward slowly. She smiled as Nate instructed her and she drove around the parking lot. Sometimes slow and sometimes fast, which caused Nate to shout out. But it was exhilarating.
She’d always wanted to drive, but her parents had refused to let her learn, even though by the time she was sixteen she had been two years post-op from her kidney transplant and doing well. She’d begged and pleaded, but her father had not relented.
“Why do you need to drive? We have a driver who will take you wherever you want to go.”
Her parents had been so stubborn and then when she’d gone off to college and medical school, she’d never really thought about driving and had just been happy to take public transportation and not have a driver take her around.
Learning to drive was way down the bucket list, though it was something she had to do before she drove across the country. It was nice that Nate had faith in her and was letting her try and drive. No one else had ever suggested that to her.
Not even Johnny.
Don’t think about him. This moment was just about friends doing something fun.
It was laid back and easy.
It was fun.
And it was only temporary.
Nate allowed her to drive around until dusk turned to darkness and a smattering of stars spread out across the sky. They grabbed a quick drive-through dinner then parked back at the deserted drag strip, lying out on the hood of Nate’s car. Flo couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen so many stars.
She had been young and it may have been once or twice when they’d been driving somewhere late at night in the country. The details were foggy, but she remembered the night sky being flooded with brilliant light, and that’s what she could see now.
It was beautiful.
She glanced over at Nate. His arm was behind his head and he was staring up at the night sky with the same kind of wonder she was feeling. It made her heart skip a beat and she fought the urge to reach out and kiss him again.
It would be perfect if she did—kissing Nate under a star-filled sky—but she suppressed that urge and turned her gaze away. It was better that she didn’t act on her impulse. There was no one else around. They didn’t have to put on their act now. They were just friends.
And she wasn’t even sure if they were friends, because she doubted she’d hear from him again once he returned to New York, and that realization made her feel sad.
“See, it was worth the drive, wasn’t it?” he said, interrupting her thoughts.
“It was. You’re right, this is great. I never see the sky like this in LA,” she said with a sigh.
“It is. I used to come out this way with my dad. We’d find a campground out in the desert and watch meteor showers.”
“Do your parents still live in Los Angeles?”
“No, they live in San Francisco. They love San Francisco and the lifestyle there. Why?”
“Just wondered. I mean, if they were here I’d ask why you’re not staying with them.”
“Would you stay with your parents if they were in town?”
“I wouldn’t have a choice,” Flo mumbled.
Nate chuckled. “Oh, really?”
“My dad grew up in Beijing and my mom in the deep south. They’re quite overbearing and old-fashioned sometimes. They also drive me crazy.”
“See, you wouldn’t stay with them, either. Besides, maybe I have a bad relationship with my parents,” he teased.
“Do you?”
“No,” he said. “I care for them. I’ve just been so busy in New York City. I never get to San Francisco. It’s been a long time since I’ve been out this way. I forgot how much I love it out here. How I love the desert. I used to spend a lot of time out in the mountains when I was younger. I did a lot of rock climbing, too.” Then his smile disappeared into a frown. “Well, that was a long time ago. I don’t have time for that kind of stuff any more.”
“I’ve always wanted to do rock climbing, or climb a mountain. Maybe Everest.”
Nate shrugged. “It’s hard work and dangerous.”
“So?”
“It’s on that crazy bucket list of yours, isn’t it?”
“And if it is?” she asked.
Nate shook his head. “Why would you want to risk your life?”
“Life is meant to be lived.”
“You can live your life without doing crazy things.”
“What’s the fun in that?” Flo teased.
“There’s more to life than fun.” There was a sadness to his voice.
“You okay?”
“Perfectly. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You sounded sad there.”
“Not sad, just realistic. Well, we’d better get back to LA. Work tomorrow and dinner with potential investors.” Nate slid off the hood and climbed back into the driver’s seat. The moment was shattered and she blamed herself. Flo reluctantly got into the passenger seat. She didn’t want to go back home to her lonely apartment. She wanted to keep driving. She wanted to spend the night on the hood of Nate’s car, wrapped in his arms.
No. Not in his arms.
Nate was right. It was getting late and it was time to head back to reality and LA. It was safer in LA, safer in her apartment far away from Nate.
“Thanks for tonight. It was fun,” she said.
He smiled at her, but it wasn’t the same easygoing, fun smile she was used to. It was subdued Nate again. “No problem. It was my pleasure.”
Flo didn’t say anything more to Nate as they headed west, back to the city, back to reality and back to the facade they were both very comfortable with.