Page 104 of Just One Night Together
“Haley,” he murmured, his voice warm. His gaze swept over her and filled with admiration. “You look fantastic. How did the interview go?”
Haley blinked. Of course, he knew why she was at the hospital. Her mom had probably told him everything. “Well enough, I think.”
“Well enough,” he echoed, shaking his head. “You and your modesty. It’s like a breath of fresh air. Still an idealist believing the good guys have to win?”
“Doesn’t everyone think that?”
Garrett laughed. “Do you have time for a coffee with an old friend?” He’d already claimed her elbow and was guiding her toward the coffee shop.
Haley felt her brows rise and she said something she would never have said before. “Old friend?” she echoed lightly. “Is that what we are?”
“Aren’t we friends, Haley?” His sidelong gaze was piercing and very blue.
Haley looked down, her feelings mixed. “I think most women would have less than fond memories of a fiancé who married someone else,” she said with care.
“But we weren’t really engaged,” he protested.
“Funny. I thought we were.”
“But that was just between us, Haley. We hadn’t announced it. I hadn’t bought a ring.” He smiled, as if that explained everything, but Haley’s stomach twisted.
She remembered his insistence that they choose the rings after his residency was finished.
She sat down, her thoughts spinning, and he got them both a coffee. He charmed the woman behind the counter and Haley didn’t think he paid for the coffees. She wasn’t surprised that he remembered how she liked hers, because the man had a photographic memory.
Was it possible that Garrett wasn’t perfect after all?
Haley knew that Damon wouldn’t have played word games like that. He did what he said he was going to do—and refused to offer what he couldn’t do.
“Trust you to cut to the chase,” Garrett said when he sat down opposite her. He met her gaze and she noticed that she was bracing herself for him to tell her something that wasn’t quite true. “I made a mistake marrying Krista and we both finally admitted it. The divorce will be final by the end of the month.”
“I’m sorry,” Haley said, because she thought she should.
“Me, too.” His brow furrowed with a concern that Haley knew made the hearts of his patients flutter. Hers did, as well, even though she knew better. “It’s hard for the kids.”
“How many do you have?”
“Two. Both boys. Five and one.”
Haley sipped her coffee, thinking that things couldn’t have been so bad if he and Krista had a one-year old child.
“What are you thinking?” Garrett asked.
“Sounds like part of the marriage was working just fine,” she said, because she had nothing to lose.
“Sex is the easy part.” Garrett shook his head. “The rest was always complicated. I wanted kids sooner and closer together but Krista is so ambitious...”
Haley felt strangely protective of his ex-wife, a woman she’d barely met. “I remember you being ambitious.”
Garrett’s smile flashed. “Point taken. But it’s hard for a marriage to work when both partners want to pursue their career their own way.”
Haley stared into her coffee, hearing what he didn’t say. Once, she would have let the matter slide, but she couldn’t keep herself from challenging him on it. “So, it was okay for one partner to do that, like you, but not okay for her to want to do the same?”
“That sounds like an accusation, Haley.”
She shrugged. “You’re both doctors. You had to know that you had a lot in common. It takes a lot of work and commitment to build a practice.”
“Maybe I wasn’t thinking straight,” Garrett admitted and Haley had the sense that he was annoyed with her. “The point is that Krista and I have parted ways because I made a mistake, and here you are, coming back to this very hospital, which gives me the chance to make things right.” He smiled at Haley and once again, she found herself explaining that her return wasn’t a done deal.
