Page 91 of Leave a Mark
“I can see you’re not mature enough to continue this conversation,” he said, looking down at fourteen-year-old Lee with undisguised disapproval. “And that gives me even more faith in my decision.”
Control and self-control. Those were the ideals Thomas Hawthorne worshipped. He assumed the former and expected the latter.
Lee was thirty-one years old now, not fourteen. He could do whatever the hell he wanted. Yet it galled him that his father could make him feel like a boy even now. And, even now, his anger mattered so little.
He was about to stuff his phone back in his pocket when it chimed.
Wren:OMG. I just woke up. Agnes is going to be so pissed.
His anger vanished with an image of her texting him from his bed. He had thirty-four patients to see, and a laboring mother could need him at any second, but he tapped the phone icon on his screen.
Wren picked up on the first ring.
“Please tell me you’re still in bed,” he whispered.
She gave a breathy laugh, and Lee smiled because somehow he knew she still lay under his covers.
“I’m still in bed,” she admitted sleepily. “I never sleep this late. I think you wore me out.”
Pride stoked a fire in his chest, and even though she’d worn him out just as well and waking up with his 5:00 alarm had been hell, his strength now returned.
“Oh,really?” he teased, feeling light enough to float.
Wren laughed again. “You sound rather pleased with yourself.”
“I think you’re the one who just admitted to beingrather pleased.”
A scandalized gasp escaped her.
“Of course, I’drather pleaseyou than do pretty much anything else.” He whispered still, but a sinister edge deepened his voice.
She was silent, and Lee hoped he hadn’t gone too far. But he wanted her to know what the night meant to him and how he looked forward to more.
“You’re making it very hard to get out of bed,” she said, finally. The way her voice softened around the words let him know she spoke the truth.
“Well, why don’t you just stay there,” he coaxed, wishing like hell she would. “Or make some breakfast. Take a bath. Play with Victor…”
Wren had offered the night before to take the puppy to doggy daycare when she left, but she needn’t bother if she could stay the whole day.
“I can’t…” He noted that she sounded regretful. Maybe he could change her mind.
“But I’ll be home in just nine short hours. What time do we need to be at your mamaw’s?” he asked, hoping for some time alone with her.
“Lee, she’s seventy-eight. She’d eat dinner at 4:00 in front ofJeopardy!if I was game,” Wren said, making him laugh. “We need to be there as soon as possible. Six-thirty at the absolute latest.”
“I can handle that,” he conceded. “That doesn’t mean you can’t spend the day at my house.”
“Honestly? I’d love to. It’s a freakin’ cool house, but Agnes is probably about to lose her twisted mind, and the last time she saw me, I was abandoning her in favor of a dog. No telling the revenge she’s plotted.”
Lee laughed again. “Okay, I get it… Wait—” He frowned, realizing his stupidity. “Wren, how are you going to get home?”
She had no car. How could he have left her that morning without a way to get home? What had he been thinking? He should have ridden his bike to the hospital and left her the Jeep.
“I’ll walk, of course. Victor can come with me,” she said, as though this were obvious.
“What? No, I’ll call you a cab—”
“Hell, no. I’m not taking the Walk of Shame from a cab. At least if I have a dog on a leash, I’ll just look like I’ve been out for a stroll.”
