They came upon the band exactly where London expected to find them, performing in the small semicircular plaza where Colorado and Cesar Chavez Streets met. The open space butted up to the river, providing a gorgeous view of downtown Austin’s south shore. A faint breeze blew off the water. It was cool, but not too cold. Still, London was glad she’d grabbed her knit cardigan from her office before leaving the hospital.
A sizable crowd had gathered to enjoy the band. This was Austin, after all. The music lovers in this city didn’t wait for the weekend to have their fun.
She and Drew stood several feet back, away from the crowd. Drew leaned against the railing that surrounded the plaza, his arms folded across his chest, one foot tapping in time to Double Trouble’s “Love Struck Baby.”
“I’ll be honest,” London said. “I never pegged you as a Stevie Ray Vaughn fan.”
He peered over at her, his arched brow suggesting that he was impressed. “So, you know blues music, you just don’t like it?”
“You don’t have to know blues to know Stevie Ray Vaughn. There’s a statue of him just across the river there,” she said. “But, yes, I do know music. I was in our high school marching band, after all.”
“You were not.”
“Excuse me,” London said, heavy on the affront. “I played clarinet from the ninth grade to the middle of my junior year, thank you very much.”
Drew’s mouth dropped open. “Are you telling me I missed seeing you in that bright orange band uniform by a matter of months?”
“That’s right.” She nodded. “I looked pretty damn sharp in that uniform. Especially with those shiny spats over my boots and that Mohawk-looking plume down the center of the helmet.”
“Name your price,” Drew said. “I will pay anything to see you in that uniform again.”
She burst out laughing. “Or you can just find an old yearbook and see it for free. I’m sure there’s a bunch of them floating around. There was probably one at the reunion.”
“I don’t want a picture,” he said. “The real thing, London. I need to see the real thing.”
“Well, that’s too bad, because I don’t think that uniform is getting past these hips. I was never able to get rid of the Freshmen Fifteen, and med school added another ten on top of that, at least.”
“Your hips and everything else about that body is perfect.”
A delightful flutter swept through her belly, and she cursed herself for having such a foolish reaction to his remark. A little flattery from a casual sex partner was not supposed to set off butterflies. Besides, she didn’t need his compliments to be fine with her body. She loved her curves, slight as they were.
“Speaking of adding on pounds, I don’t think you’re going to make your adult dinner,” London said. She pointed in the direction of several food trucks that were parked across the street. “That’s probably your best bet.”
“Do you have something against sitting in a proper restaurant and eating with real utensils?” Drew asked.
“I’m trying to help you out here,” she said. “I’m still full from that pretzel, so I wasn’t planning on having dinner with you anyway.”
“You weren’t planning on having dinner with me because you think it will mean we’re going steady or something.”
“Going steady?” She laughed. “Have you been watching sitcoms from the fifties? It wasn’t called ‘going steady’ even when we were in school.”
“I don’t care what you call it. Sharing a meal doesn’t have to be a big deal,” Drew said.
“If it’s not a big deal, why are you so pressed about the fact that I won’t have dinner with you?”
“Because I want to sit across the table from you and talk like—”
“Like two people on a date,” she said.
“Fine. Yes. I want to go on a real date with you, London. One hour. Two,” he quickly amended. “Two hours at a real restaurant. We can talk, we can eat, we can drink wine, and just be like a normal couple—that isn’t really a couple,” he added.
“I’ll consider it, but not tonight. It’s too late to get a reservation anywhere good, and if I’m going to agree to have dinner with you, I want five-star dining, Mr. Sullivan.”
“I don’t believe in anything less, Dr. Kelley. And why can’t we go tonight?”
“Because you have so many options just steps away.” She took him by the hand and started for the crosswalk. “Austin’s food truck scene is unlike any in the country. You’ll find more gourmet meals here than you’ll find in restaurants.”
They crossed to the other side of Cesar Chavez and began browsing the menus of the five trucks lining the street.
“What do you feel like?” Drew asked.
“I had the pretzel. I’m good.”
“You cannot convince me you’re full after eating just a pretzel. It was big, but it wasn’t that big.” He glanced over at her. “You don’t have to fit into your old band uniform anymore, remember?”
No, she didn’t, but London doubted any of those trucks offered dishes that a cardiologist would approve of, especially after that carb-loaded pretzel. And the cupcakes earlier in the week. And the breakfast taco she’d picked up on the way to work yesterday. She would have to make better choices the rest of the week.
They chose a truck selling kebabs and other Middle Eastern fare. London ordered the falafel basket with tzatziki, and Drew got a lamb kebab wrapped in a pita that was about the size of his head. Once they crossed the street again, they happened upon a bench that had just been vacated. It was far enough from where the band was playing for them to hear the music without giving London a headache.
She gestured to Drew’s kebab. “No way are you eating all of that.”
“Wanna bet?” he said, taking a huge bite. He closed his eyes as he chewed, then swallowed. “I will never turn my nose up at a food truck again.”
“Again? So that means you have in the past?”
“I’ve never eaten food from one of these trucks before,” he admitted.
“Goodness.” London looked toward the sky as if searching for answers. “You have your assistant ordering your groceries and you turn your nose up at street food?”
“Not all street food. I did have tacos from the taco shack in my old neighborhood last week. But it was the first time I’ve eaten like that in about a decade.”
“Tell me, Drew, when did you become so pretentious? Was it after the first million, or the first ten million?”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “I was pretty down to earth until my net worth reached about fifty mil.” He glanced over at her. “I’m kidding.”
“Hey, I’m not hating on you. Apparently you’re good at your job, and you’re compensated well for it. It’s not the same as saving the lives of sick children, but you know?” She shrugged. “I guess hedge fund managers serve a purpose too.”
“Well, I’m no longer a hedge fund manager, and the work I’m doing now helps to save hospitals. So, technically, I am helping to save the lives of sick children.”
“Nah-uh,” London said. “Not the same.”
“I’ll give you that one, Dr. Kelley.” He chuckled. “When it comes to the most noble professions, you’re winning.” He took a sip of the citrus-flavored soda he’d bought from the truck. “I do like what I’m doing these days with Trident. It feels as if we’re really making a difference in people’s lives. Not that I wasn’t before,” he quickly added. “Pulling a company back from the brink of insolvency and saving thousands of jobs is something to be proud of, but working to keep hospitals running…It just seems as if the impact is more tangible, if that makes sense.”
“I get that,” London said. She twisted on the bench so she could face him. “What steered you in this direction? I can’t imagine what it would take to leave a job making the kind of money you were making. I mean, seriously, you were able to buy an apartment with a bathroom that overlooks Central Park.”
He narrowed his eyes as he chewed the bite he’d just taken out of his kebab. London burst out laughing. She would never get tired of needling him about this.
“When do you have time off from the hospital?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “Why?”
“Because the next time you have a day off, we’re flying up to New York and you’re going to see that view from my bathroom for yourself. That’ll shut you up.”
His suggestion tempted her so much more than it should have. London considered for a moment what it would be like to let Drew whisk her away to New York. To leave behind this drama with Nina, and with Coleman, and with the hospital in Chicago that was flooding her inbox with inquiries about that fellowship.
If she could have just a day without all of these issues weighing her down.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d taken a vacation. She was supposed to go to the Texas Hill Country with Samiah and Taylor a couple of months ago, but that fell through. What did it say about the state of her work-life balance that she couldn’t manage to get two hours away from this place?
“I may eventually take you up on that,” London heard herself say.
Drew’s head jerked back, his eyes bulging with shock. “No shit?” he asked.
“Maybe,” she said. “It won’t be anytime soon. I’m nearing the end of my residency and have a ton of decisions to make. And then I’ll have to oversee the creation of that sensory room that will make its way into the budget, right?”
“We haven’t agreed on the exact terms of that deal just yet,” he said.
“True. The only thing we agreed to is no blow jobs.”
“We did?” He looked over at her with sheer panic in his eyes.
“Yes.” She nodded. “You’ll still get them, just not in exchange for a sensory room.”
He slapped a hand to his chest. “Thank God.”
She laughed and was once again struck by how odd it was to find herself having such a good time with this man she’d detested for so long. A hollow sensation blossomed in her chest when she realized he would be gone in a couple of weeks.
London pitched those thoughts out of her head. The benefit to casually hooking up was that life went on without any baggage or regrets once the sex was over. This was still just a fling for her.
That dull feeling in her chest intensified.
“You never answered my question,” she said as she dipped her last falafel in the tzatziki. “Why did you leave your old company to start Trident?”
“My mom,” he said. “She got sick a few years back. Cancer. She passed away last year.”
“I’m sorry,” London said softly.
“Thanks.” He balled up the empty wrapper from his food and rolled the wad of foil between his palms. “She lived in a town about an hour and a half west of here.”
“I didn’t realize she’d remained in Texas.”
He nodded. “Despite my many attempts to bring her up to New York, she refused to leave this state. I found out too late that the small, rural hospital where she began her cancer treatments was both underfunded and mismanaged.”
“Those two things tend to go together.”
“Yes, which is unfortunate for those who have no choice but to use those hospitals. My mom did have a choice, of course. I could have sent her to any hospital in the country—in the world.” He shook his head. “She kept me in the dark, not wanting to worry me. I didn’t even know she had cancer until nearly a year after the initial diagnosis.”
“Why are parents like this? It’s like pulling teeth to get anything out of my mother, especially related to her health. And don’t even get me started on my dad.”
“I’ve discovered that the span of time between when you go from being the child to the adult in the relationship is amazingly short,” Drew said. “You can’t imagine how stubborn my mom was, especially toward the end.” He huffed out a laugh that wasn’t really a laugh, more like a sigh. “I’d give anything if I could deal with that stubbornness again for just a little while longer.”
She reached out and gave his arm a squeeze.
“Anyway, once I did find out just how serious her condition was, I relocated her to Houston for treatment, but her cancer was aggressive and too far gone by then.” He shrugged one shoulder. “During that time, I realized that not everyone can afford world-class treatment at one of the premier cancer centers in the world, and that money should never be the thing that makes the difference between life or death.”
“So you left a job that paid millions because you want to live in a world where anyone can get the medical treatment they deserve, despite their tax bracket?”
“In a nutshell,” he answered.
London found his idealism breathtakingly sweet.
“Well, damn,” she said with a teasing smile. “You sure as hell can’t play the villain in my story anymore, not after hearing this.”
“I was never the villain you made me out to be,” he said.
“No,” London said softly. “I guess you weren’t.”
All of a sudden, he sat up straight. Then he stood.
“We have to dance.”
“What? No.” London slapped at the hand he held out to her.
“No, really. They’re playing ‘Uptown Blues.’ Jimmie Lunceford. You have to dance when you hear this song, London. It’s the rule.”
“I’m not dancing with you in the middle of the sidewalk. We’ll look like fools.”
He motioned to the other couples swaying in slow circles around them.
“And they all look like fools,” London pointed out.
“Then we’ll be in good company.”
He took her empty container and tossed it in the trash, then grabbed both her hands and pulled her toward where the others were dancing. London did her level best to pretend she wasn’t having a good time, but then the bastard dipped her, and how could she resist smiling after that?
Drew pulled her against him and rocked to the bluesy music.
“I think this means we really are going steady,” he said against her ear.
She laughed. “Why can’t you be satisfied with copious amount of no-strings-attached sex?”
“I had enough of that in my twenties. A few strings aren’t so bad.”
“I don’t even want to imagine what you were like in your twenties,” London said. “Wealthy, cocky, and looking the way you look?” One brow arched as he twirled her. “Oh, don’t give me that,” London said with a laugh. “You know you’re gorgeous and always have been.”
“Always have been?” This time his brows nearly reached his hairline.
“Every girl in school was after you, Drew.”
“Except for my co-valedictorian.”
“Maybe because she was too busy trying to keep up her grades,” London pointed out. “And because the plain Janes at Barbara Jordan High didn’t get many second glances.” She spun around again. “But, that’s okay, because I know I look damn good now.”
“Is this more of that humblebragging you were talking about?” Drew asked.
“Admitting that I was a plain Jane back in high school? No, that’s just accepting the truth.”
“Wait.” His forehead furrowed. “You thought you were plain in high school?”
She shrugged. “I wasn’t into makeup or any of that other stuff. My focus was on getting into my top pick undergrad program. Being popular and getting attention from guys never mattered that much to me.” She paused. “Okay, maybe it did a little. I lost my virginity to Malik Perry because he always kept a seat open for me on the bus after band practice.” Her mouth fell open. “And he played the snare drum! Fucking drummers. There is something to that shit.”
“London.”
She stopped short at the odd, awed look on Drew’s face. “What?”
“I’m trying to figure out if you’re being serious right now,” he said. He stopped dancing and guided her to the edge of the plaza where they’d first stopped to listen to the band. “Were you being serious a minute ago?” Drew asked.
“About?”
“London, how can you…” He looked up at the dusky sky and released a tired laugh. “Do you not realize that you drove me out of my mind when we were in high school?”
“Well, yeah. And I told you why. It’s because I was so upset that you gave me so much competition when I’d had the top spot in the class locked in since freshman year.”
“No. I mean, you drove me out of my mind because I was so infatuated with you that I could barely breathe when I was around you. The main reason I worked so hard is because I saw how smart you were and thought it would impress you. And, then, when I realized that you really did hate me and it wasn’t just some ploy to get me to like you, well, then I did it to piss you off.”
London’s thoughts scrambled as she tried to determine whether she’d heard him correctly. Based on the way he was staring at her, she had. Which made absolutely no sense. There was no way Drew Sullivan was into her back in high school.
“But you could get any girl in our class, Drew. You probably could have convinced a couple of the teachers to sleep with you if you’d tried.”
“Yet the one girl I wanted more than anyone told Mr. Bailey that she would rather staple her fingers together than partner with me for the science fair,” he said.
“You’re kinda blowing my mind right now,” London said. “I had no clue.”
“Would it have mattered if you did?” Drew asked.
She thought for a moment, then answered honestly. “I don’t know. The truth is, I really did hate you so much back then that I can’t imagine what I would have done if I knew you liked me. You liked me?” London asked, unable to hide the incredulity from her voice. “Liked me, liked me?”
“Fantasized about you every single night liked you,” he answered.
“Holy shit,” she whispered. She stared at him in disbelief, completely floored by his revelation. “Well, if it’s any consolation, you’re getting much better than Malik Perry got. I learned a few things in college.”
He grinned. “Why don’t we go back to my apartment so you can show me?”