son swallowed a fry, ketchup smeared on his cheek. “I play hockey.”
“Really?” She gave Nick a surprised look. “So, you won’t let him cross the street or order for himself, but you let him go out on the ice and risk life and limb over a puck?”
“Hockey is a very safe sport,” Nick ground out, a muscle pulsating near his tense jaw. “The coach supervises the team at all times and takes every precaution to ensure the kids’ safety. Besides, I played when I was his age. It’s good exercise and the team-building skills he learns are essential for later in life.” He gave her arch stare, as if challenging her to contradict him. For reasons he didn’t want to contemplate, he wanted to get a rise out of her. Disrupt that cool exterior of hers and get her as riled up as he felt inside. “If you’re so concerned for my son’s well-being, Connor’s got his last game for the year the day before Christmas Eve in Manistee. Come with us and check it out.”
The moment the words left his mouth he wanted to take them back. Spending more time around Belle than what he’d already be doing to get the free clinic ready wasn’t a good idea.
Thankfully, she turned him down anyway. “I’m sure I’ll be busy preparing to reopen the clinic, but I appreciate the invitation.”
Nick exhaled slowly, feeling like he’d dodged a major bullet. He chewed his burger without tasting it, glancing over to find Connor fiddling with his tablet again. Normally he banned devices at the dinner table and was about to tell his son to stow the electronics away then hesitated.
Controlling. Belle’s description rubbed him wrong in all the worst place. He wasn’t controlling. He was doing the best he could here, dammit.
So, instead, he bit back the reprimand for Connor and swallowed it down with another swig of cherry soda. One night of web surfing during dinner wouldn’t hurt anything, right?
Belle continued nibbling her food like she was at some fancy society luncheon and not Bayside’s best greasy spoon. Nick wasn’t fooled by her pretension, though. She must’ve forgotten he’d seen her covered with mashed potatoes and dripping with cheesy macaroni after a particularly heinous food fight in the school cafeteria. Regardless of their years apart, he knew the real Belle—even if that girl now seemed buried deeper than his beloved Vicki and the future they’d planned. After Connor had been born, he’d dreamed of having more children, more family vacations, more time to just enjoy the life he and Vicki had built together. They’d not married for love, but over their time together their friendship had grown into something better—affection, support, loyalty, trust. Rare and valuable things these days. Vicki had been his go-to person for talking out his problems and sharing his victories. He’d even told her about Belle. In the big and the small ways, he and Vicki had been there for each other. Without her, he’d done his best to manage on his own, charging forward, putting one foot in front of the other each day, doing what had to be done.
Life had gone on. Different than he’d expected, but onward just the same.
“After I talk to my boss tonight, I’ll come up with a list of tasks for you to handle and a schedule so we can make sure nothing gets missed,” Belle said, jarring him back to the present.
Nick snorted and shook his head, focusing on his exhaustion and the grumpiness it caused, because if he didn’t, he’d be too vulnerable, too raw, and that was unacceptable. “Just like old times.”
“Excuse me?” Belle paused in midbite and gave him a fractious look.
“You were always bossing everyone around,” he said matter-of-factly, knowing he was pushing her buttons.
“I am not bossy.” She put down her fork, her movement stiff. “I simply try to show people better ways of doing things.”
“Sounds bossy to me.”
“Shut up.”
“Make me.”
And just like that they were kids again, back in Marlene’s clinic, him teasing the pretty girl who’d always seemed way out of his league. Melancholy squeezed his heart again and he looked away. Dammit. He was tired, yes, but the funeral had really thrown him. He hated funerals. They always reminded him of Vicki.
They ate the rest of their meal in silence. Once they’d finished, he waited while Pat cleared their plates then tried his best to get back to normal, even though normal seemed a thousand miles away at present. “We get started in the morning, then?”
“Yes. Pending my boss’s approval.” She stood and slipped her coat on then belted it up. “I’ll meet you in front of the clinic in the morning at nine. If something changes, I’ll call you. I have your number.”
Nick swiped the check before she could, flashing what he hoped was a polite smile. “My treat, Belle. We’re partners now. You need a ride to your aunt’s place?”
“No. I got a rental at the airport in Lansing.” Belle lifted her chin and walked toward the exit, saying over her shoulder, “Thank you for dinner. Bye, Connor.”
Nick lingered after she left. “You want pie, Con?”
His son grinned. “With ice cream?”
“Of course.” Nick hailed Pat and ordered dessert while Analia wandered over to take the seat vacated by Belle.
“She’s pretty,” the little girl said, lisping due to dental issues. “What’s her name?”
“Christabelle Watson. She was Marlene’s niece. And she’s a doctor like me.”
“Wow.” Analia stared at the front door while Pat delivered dessert. “Are you friends?”
“We used to be.” Nick exhaled and rubbed a hand over his face, fatigue and grief threatening to overwhelm him once more. “I’m not so sure now.”
“Okay. Bye.” Analia said, ending the conversation abruptly, as eight-year-olds were prone to do, and headed back to her family’s table.
Nick turned back to find half the pie and ice cream already gone. As a growing kid, Connor could put away the food. Still, his son was healthy and strong and smart, and Nick said a silent prayer every night that things would stay that way. Being a doctor had good and bad sides. People joked about self-diagnosing themselves on the internet with every disease under the sun. Nick wasn’t that bad, but he did like to err on the side of caution when it came to Connor. He was only being a good parent.
Belle’s words looped back through his tired brain before he could stop them.
How controlling of you…
He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. Yeah, maybe he had been a bit overbearing, but some days it was all he had. He just wanted to protect his child, since life could be so easily lost at any time.
After they’d finished their meal and he’d paid the bill, Nick stopped on their way out to check with Juan about working on the clinic. Luckily, the guy said he was between jobs and agreed to meet him in the morning. Then Nick and Connor walked back out into the cold night air, their breath frosting as they returned to his SUV parked behind the funeral home. He spotted Belle at the funeral home across the street, scraping the windshield of the compact car she’d rented while trying not to fall on her butt in those stilettos of hers,
