The Man Who Saved Me

So she had made too much of it.

You couldn’t exactly stop and exchange numbers if somebody was actually dying and your presence was necessary to keep them from dying.

Or at least losing a limb.

Of all the people in the world, she should understand that the most. She knew what it was like didn’t she? If he had decided to chat up some woman instead of doing that emergency surgery on her…

That was a sobering thought.

She’d really been acting like a brat.

Still, she cautioned herself to think of it as a one-night stand, nonetheless. The last thing she needed was to convince herself that there was something going on between her and the man she had made a bit of a hero out of for so long.

Either way, she was going to be fine.

She wasn’t going to stalk the man and try to look him up or anything.

Besides, she’d tried doing that with what limited information she could find out, and she’d never managed to find him, so she didn’t see why she should be successful now.

By the time she’d had a couple of muffins, she’d decided that she could deal with all of it.

She could even have managed a visit to the gym if she hadn’t already showered and dressed.

Shonali had chosen her favorite old pair of jeans and a tube top that showed off both her curves and her magnificent new tattoo.

She couldn’t wait to show Carlos what it was like!

By the time she was ready to leave, Shonali had cheered herself up quite a bit. She’d been being quite silly.

And now she was late. Boy, Carlos would not be happy!

She was humming as she opened her closet and reached for her jacket.

That’s when she realized that the jacket wasn’t there. It took her a minute to realize where it was – downstairs, on the floor, where she had left it.

Well, there went any chance of keeping this a secret of any sort.

Carlos would’ve put two and two together very quickly indeed.

*****

“Ahem.”

Shonali pretended not to hear it and walked straight over to the bike she’d been working on.

“Ahem!”

It was more insistent this time.

Could she ignore it?

Apparently not, thought Shonali. She could feel Carlos looming over her.

Sighing, she straightened.

“Hello, Carlos.”

“First things first. The tattoo looks amazing. Ricky did an amazing job, didn’t he? He called me after it was done. Wanted to know if you were single, by the way.”

Shonali chuckled.

Of course he did.

“He did an amazing job. I’m absolutely thrilled with it,” said Shonali, ignoring the rest of the conversation quite neatly.

“Then there’s the matter of the jacket.”

Shonali decided that she would play dumb.

She was caught anyway. Might as well make things difficult for Carlos.

She should have some fun, too, shouldn’t she?

“Did you lose a jacket, Carlos?”

He made a snorting, dismissive sound that sounded so odd coming from such a big man.

“I didn’t. Did you?”

The emphasis made the implication quite obvious.

“I didn’t lose anything, Carlos. I know exactly where I left it. Since you opened shop, I assume you found it. But I hadn’t lost it.”

She had him there.

“And how did you happen to leave it here?”

Shonali sighed and looked him straight in the eye.

“Because I took it off here, Carlos. Why else would it be here?”

She knew that her patient tone would drive him nuts.

A whirlwind seemed to enter the shop, and Shonali turned around in relief.

Malia, efficient and lovely as ever, was there.

Surely that meant that she could get back to work.

“Our Shonali left her jacket here late last night, Malia. Mysteriously so, since she wasn’t at work all day,” declared Carlos.

Shonali sighed.

Or not.

“You hooked up with a guy? In the shop?”

Shonali shook her head.

“Oh, you know I like comfort when I do my hooking up. Where were we supposed to hook up, on Leonidas? I don’t think he would’ve liked that.”

And she hadn’t even gotten around to taking Adam on a spin on Leonidas.

Would he come back for that?

He knew how to find her, even if she didn’t know how to find him. Did he want to find her? Or was he glad to have left her behind?

She didn’t know.

She didn’t want to think about it.

“So, who was he?” asked Malia, obviously not willing to let it go.

Shonali shrugged.

“I ran into him at Ricky’s place. Oh, I got the tattoo, Malia, thanks for asking,” said Shonali, turning around, hoping to change the subject.

It didn’t work.

She could’ve predicted that, really.

Why was she so reluctant to tell them about what had happened? Shonali had always told them everything!

Except about Fred. When she was with Fred, she had tried, so hard, to make everything sound perfect.

Neither of her best friends had bought it.

But they had all been hurt by it.

She wasn’t going to do it again.

“All right, so, amazing coincidence. I ran into Adam Catten when I was at the tattoo place.”

The name didn’t ring a bell, judging by the rather puzzled looks on their faces.

Shonali huffed a sigh.

“You know, the doctor who put my leg back together, and made sure my hips laid quite beautifully? That Adam Catten? The one I’ve been trying to track down and thank for what feels like forever?”

They made the connection.

“So you thanked him, did you?”

That was Malia, and the smirk on her face was obviously all Malia, too.

Shonali felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulder.

Of course they weren’t going to judge her.

Of course talking about it wasn’t going to make her feel worse.

They were her friends. They knew her.

“I’ll say I did, but since he thanked me, too, I kind of hope we can have another round. Or ten.”

Malia whooped in delight.

Carlos, bless him, looked uncomfortable.

“I think I’ll let you girls talk about this. I’ll tell Ricky you’re happy with the tattoo, Shon. And don’t forget your jacket this time.”

Shonali chuckled.

“So, you walked in and he was just there?”

Feeling much better, Shonali settled down to tell Malia about her date.

Malia made all the appropriate noises, until she got to the end.

“Well, the man couldn’t wait when he was being paged for an emergency, I guess. He’s a specialist, isn’t he?”

Shonali nodded, slowly and reluctantly.