Ugh. Why didn’t he tell her to text me? I hate talking on the phone with people I know. I hate talking on the phone with people I don’t know even more.
I go back to my book, reading about sexy vampires and badass witches, thinking I have time before Quinn calls. But only two sentences later, my phone rings. I have a mouthful of chicken, and I swallow quickly and end up coughing. I down water, hack up the chicken I almost choked on, and answer the phone on the last ring.
“Hello?”
“Hi, is this Rory?”
“Yes, it is. You must be Quinn.” I smile politely, forgetting she can’t see me.
“Yep. So, your brother said you just got a job here. Congrats!”
“Thanks. The new hospital is great.”
“Yeah. It is.” A beat of silence passes between us, and I start to feel super awkward. “So, um, what do you want to know about Eastwood?”
“Oh, geez,” I laugh. “Is there a bad part of town I should avoid living in?”
“Not really. Are you looking to buy or rent?”
“Rent for now.”
“There’s one apartment complex in Eastwood. It’s dated but nice. We lived there while our house was being built.”
“Do they allow cats?”
“Yes, they do. You have cats?”
“Just one for now. Maybe I’ll get another to keep me company since I’ll be alone in a new town,” I say and then regret sounding like a crazy cat lady.
“I have seven cats.”
“Lucky! Oh my goodness, that is goals, for sure.”
“Right? Thank you for agreeing,” Quinn laughs. “And if you do want another cat, I volunteer with the county’s cat rescue and can help you find a good fit.”
“Oh, I might have to call you back later then, once we’re all settled.”
“For sure,” she says, and we spend the next few minutes talking about our cats. “I’ll text you the info for the apartment complex, along with a few houses that are for rent. Two have been updated recently and I think are pretty nice.”
“Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome! And welcome to Eastwood.”
I end the call smiling.“Morning,” I say cheerily, breezing into the locker room at the hospital. I’ve been at my new job for a few weeks now and am loving it. I set two coffees down and take my coat off and stuff it in the locker.
“Hey, Rory,” Hilary, one of the nurses I work with, says with a yawn.
I hand her one of the two coffees I brought in with me.
“Oh my God, thank you.” She pops off the lid and inhales the sweet scent of flavored coffee.
“Late night?” I ask, shivering as I take off my zip-up hoodie I had on under my jacket. We have an early surgery this morning and need to change for the OR right away.
“Yes.” She takes a careful sip of coffee and smirks. “Jeremy called and I answered.”
“No! You were doing so good avoiding him!”
“I know,” she says with a wince. “But it’s been like two weeks since I’ve had sex and he’s so good when he’s trying to win me back.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “He’ll go down on me for hours.”
“I’d be sore if someone had their head between my legs for hours,” I laugh. “And you think two weeks is a long time? Try a month for me.” I mentally count back. I’ve been in Eastwood for a month, and I officially started a week after losing my old job. “Or longer.”
“You need to get laid.”
“Tell me about it.” I rake my hair up into a tight bun. “You got any hot single friends you can set me up with?”
Hilary takes another drink of coffee and then pulls her name badge from her purse before shutting her locker. “Actually, I do. Well, I don’t know if he’s hot, but I do know he’s single.”
I give her a look. “Sounds promising.”
“You’d actually be helping me out a lot if you did go out with this guy.”
“How so?”
“I agreed like a week ago to go out with one of Dr. Jones’s friends. But now that Jeremy and I are back together…” She puts on a dramatic pout and bats her lashes. “Please, Rory.”
“Tell me about him.”
“Well, I don’t know much, only that he got a divorce last year. I think he moved in with his parents and might still be there.”
“Well, maybe he can take me back home and we can play a rousing game of Uno with his parents.”
“See! It’ll be fun.”
I roll my eyes. “The best time. What about work? What does he do?”
“I remember Dr. Jones saying something about his friend taking a break after the divorce, but that was a few months ago. So who knows.”
“Ugh, this guy sounds like a loser. No wonder you don’t want to go out with him.”
“Well, if Dr. Jones is friends with him, he can’t be that bad, can he?”