in a white lab coat with green eyes and graying temples. “Sorry, Doctor.”
“Dr. Sprader? April, right?”
She nodded and tried to recall if she knew him. His name didn’t register. “Did I call you for a consult?” It had been one of those days and she might have forgotten about it.
“I’ve been meaning to call you all week, but things kept coming up.”
A lightbulb flashed on in her mind. “Dr. Ross and the wine tasting.”
“Page told you about me? Good.” He glanced around the crowded emergency room. “Do you have a few minutes for us to talk?”
She held up the tube with Wade’s throat culture. “Gotta get this to the lab. We can talk while we walk.”
She started to zip around patients and medical staff. The sooner she got the swab to the lab, the sooner she’d have answers for Wade and his mother. And she didn’t want to wait too long and have other lab tests get in the queue ahead of her.
She glanced back once to make sure that Dr. Ross had kept pace with her. He was faring not too badly, only one or two people behind her. She paused as she got to the laboratory. He came up beside her. “You move fast for such a tiny thing.”
She ignored the way the comment made her bristle. “You’d be surprised how often that skill comes in handy.” And she strode faster through the laboratory’s glass door.
“Dr. Sprader. April. Are you free tomorrow evening about seven?” he called after her.
She smiled at Javier, the intake manager, who accepted the swab and input the patient’s name and date of birth in the computer. He smiled back. “We’re about thirty minutes behind today.”
April put her hand on his arm. “But you’ll put mine at the top of the list, right?”
He winked at her and passed the throat culture to one of the lab techs. April turned to Dr. Ross. “You were asking me about tomorrow night?”
He frowned sharply. “Do you always flirt with the staff to get your tests moved up in the queue?”
“No. Sometimes I bribe them with cookies.” She laughed at his dour expression. “That’s a joke. Javier and his team follow protocol, so you can erase those frown lines on your forehead. I’ll have my results in due course.”
“Oh.” He took a deep breath, then squared his shoulders. “Would you like to accompany me to a wine tasting tomorrow night? I’ve got tickets to an exclusive party, and your friend Page thought you might be interested.”
She eyed him up and down. He wasn’t bad-looking in an older, distinguished-man kind of way. He might lack a sense of humor, but then, she couldn’t have everything, right? Learning about different wines was on her second-chance list, so she agreed. “Okay. It’s a date.”
He gave a brief smile and walked away. April discovered Javier watching Dr. Ross’s departure. “You’re sure about going out with that guy?” he asked.
She shrugged. “You’re married. What other choice do I have?”
They shared a grin, and she pushed off the wall and zigzagged back to the emergency room.
* * *
ZACH FOUND AN empty parking spot behind Marissa’s wine shop and checked his appearance in the rearview mirror before getting out of the car. Not that he needed to look good for her anymore. She’d made it clear when they got divorced that she had no plans for reconciliation. In fact, she remarried within a year and seemed happier with Jeff than she had with him. He tried to be happy for her.
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