Page 17 of The One Where They Fall in Love

Intriguing. I find myself wanting to know more aboutthis event and her job. We’ve been texting over the past few days—pretty exclusively about Thor—and I’ve had to stop myself from trying to move the conversation beyond him. I want to ask her more questions, but I stop myself. Those kinds of intentions always get me into trouble.

I clear my throat and look away. “Do you have any pain in your head, ma’am? Nausea?” I ask Anne. I hear a small giggle come out of Elle when I say the word “ma’am.”

“I’m a woman in my fifties, I have head pain and nausea every day,” she grumbles, finally making eye contact with me. Elle and Lucy share the same look of disbelief.

“We’ll get you triaged and get a head CT to rule out a concussion,” I say. “Once you’re in the back I can examine your ankle and we’ll go from there.”

“And how much longer do I have to sit here before that happens?” Anne asks.

“Anne!” Elle scolds. She matches Anne’s gaze and narrows her eyes at her.

“I’ll have them call you back now,” I say, with the reassuring smile I save for the rowdy patients.

“Oh, there were other people here before us—” Elle starts, but Anne pinches her.

“Well, you have an in,” I reply with a wink. I can hear Lucyhmmin satisfaction as I walk away.

“How do you know that guy again?” Anne whispers as I turn my back.

A beat passes before Elle responds, “We’re neighbors.”

Nine

Elle

I’ve been thinking about Oliver Cole wearing scrubswaytoo much.

It’s been a few days since Anne’s stint in the ER, during which she was diagnosed with a sprained ankle and no concussion. She has to spend two weeks on crutches, which I’ve heardrelentlesscomplaints about every day at work since then.

Even though Ruby’s signing still ended up being a success regardless of Anne’s incident, the part of the evening I found most surprising was my new neighbor. Gone was the impatient jerk I’ve been dealing with for the past few weeks. In his place was a helpful, and dare I saycharming, doctor who was downrightneighborly, even doing me a favor by letting Anne skip the line. Oliver was…nice. Pleasant. Cordial. All words I didn’t know could apply to him. But beyond that, he wasattractive. Horribly, massively attractive. The scrubs, the white coat, the charm, the wink. Holy hell, thewink.

Lucy will not stop talking about him. Thankfully, when we returned to my apartment we did little else but collapse into bed, but in all of our calls since then, Lucy brings Oliver up any way she can. She’s persistent, I’ll give her that. Was I this annoying when she met Liam?

It’s been over a week since Oliver and I started our new arrangement with Thor. Oliver drops him off before his shifts, which vary from day to night, but I’ve been able to modify my working-from-home schedule so that I can be home with Thor when Oliver has to leave. And I don’t even hear his middle-of-the-night exercising anymore. Two days after the ER incident, Oliver included a present for me in Thor’s bag when he dropped him off.

“What’s this?” I asked when he handed me a white box.

“It’s just something I picked up for you,” he said awkwardly. He shifted on his feet by my doorway, like he couldn’t wait to get out of there. “Thought it was kind of funny.”

The box had clear packaging on the top, so I could see what was sitting inside on a bed of white tissue paper. It was the fanciest pair of earplugs I’ve ever seen in my life.

“Why—” I started, looking up at him. We were standing so close together that I could see the moment the corner of his mouth turned up into a small smile.

“I’ve been trying not to bother you with my early morning treadmill sessions, but I thought maybe these would help as well.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and stared up at the ceiling. The tips of his ears were turning red, and it was almost endearing.

I forced a laugh after that, because I just didn’t know what to do with the tension of the moment. No guy hadever bought me a gift this nice before. “Thank you,” I said, a bit breathless.

Oliver smiled wider. I wondered if I’d ever seen him actually smile before. A smirk sure, tons of times, but a genuine, full smile? This was new.

He left quickly after that, and I was stuck standing in my kitchen, trying to decipher the actions of my confusing neighbor. Pretty much every minute since I’d met him had been spent in some kind of bickering match. But now, he’d revealed another side to himself. A softer side that wore scrubs and bought thoughtful presents—a present that I promptly Googled and learned cost sixty dollars.

I don’t know how long I stood there, staring at a pair of custom earplugs, but after a while, I unpackaged them and put them on my nightstand, a smile on my face as I did so.

I hate to admit how much seeing Oliver and Thor has been brightening up my days lately. I can tell the good that it’s doing for me. For example, if this were a pre-Thor/Oliver morning, I would be staying in bed until at least 8:30, waiting until the last possible second before I would be late for work. I’d probably spend the next hour and a half doom-scrolling through Instagram, admiring the photos of people that I don’t even know, wondering when the hellmylife was going to start.

Instead, a wet nose tries to snuggle its way under my hand.

I roll over to find Thor with his head perfectly positioned on the other pillow, looking up at me. Oliver said not to let him sleep in my bed, because he doesn’t let Thor on his own furniture and he doesn’t want to confuse him. But I’ve elected to ignore that.