Damn. I messed up bad, real bad.
Chapter 3
Early November the Previous Year
“Summer, you have a call on line three,” Ava yelled.
“Ava, take a message for me please. I’m about to medicate Mr. Smith.” Summer yelled back as she stood at the medication drawer filling a syringe with pain medication.
Padding over to Summer Ava reached for the syringe. “Here, give it to me. I’ll give Mr. Smith this; you go take your call.” Ava motioned to Summer with her hand as if she were shooing a fly away.
Briskly, Summer went to the phone snatching up the receiver. It always annoyed her when she was interrupted, especially when she enjoyed spending time with a patient. Mr. Smith was going to tell her about the time he caught the ball at the 1985 World Series. Summer had zero aptitude for sports; however, she loved to see the twinkle in her patients’ eyes when they shared their stories with her.
Who in the world is this bothering me? “Hello, this is Summer Jackson. How may I help you?”
“Well, you’re one hard lady to catch up with, Miss Jackson.”
The sound of the voice was deep and sexy. She knew it could only belong to one man. Nick Stiles. She’d been making every excuse in the book, and then some not to take his calls for all week. Pressing her lips tight together, I’m gonna kill Ava.
“Hi Mr. Stiles, how are you doing today?” Summer could have kicked herself; she sounded like a complete nerd. Good, maybe he’ll leave me alone.
“It’s Nick, and I’m fine now that I’m talking to you.”
She shook her head. Oh, this brotha is a hot mess.
Cutting to the chase, Summer wanted to know, “Is there a reason for your call, Mr. Stiles? I mean Nick?”
Nick chuckled. “Right to the point, I like that. I was calling to see if you would have lunch with me?”
What! Is he crazy? I can barely talk to this man let alone eat in front of him. “I’m sorry, Nick, but I can’t.”
Summer rolled her eyes at Starr as she mouthed, “I’ll go.” Starr didn’t even know what or where she was consenting to going to. For all she knew the man could be a serial killer.
“Why?” He asked in a tone that made Summer raise an eyebrow.
“Why?” Because I said so!
“Yes. Why can’t you have lunch with me?”
This was something Nick wasn’t used to. Women always jumped at the chance to be in his presence.
Letting out a deep breath she explained, “Because I can’t get away from the unit for more than thirty minutes.”
Summer stomped her foot, signaling Ava to shut up as she yelled in the background, “I’ll cover your patients for you.”
Nick didn’t want to push the lunch issue or her excuse for not having lunch with him. He’d heard one of her coworkers offer to cover her patients. Leaning back in his leather chair he said, “I see. What about dinner? You work the day shift right?”
This brotha won’t quit! “I…I don’t know.” Coming up with any lame excuse she added, “I don’t stay out late on the nights I have to go to work the next morning. My day starts pretty early.”
Nick wasn’t dissuaded. “I’ll have you home by ten.”
“I’m sorry Nick, but I can’t.”
Nervously, Summer breathed heavy into the phone waiting for his response.
Silence.
When he didn’t say anything she took that as her cue to end the conversation.
“I have to get back to my patients, thanks for calling. Goodbye, Nick.”
Nick couldn’t believe it. The young, beautiful woman that haunted his dreams every night since meeting her actually turned him down. That never happened.
Stroking his goatee, Miss Summer is a shy one. It’s been years since he encountered such a shy woman. Most women he met were the aggressors with nothing shy about them. This was definitely a change, a refreshing change. His primal instincts immediately kicked in. The chase was on.
Swirling his chair around facing the window he gazed out at the surrounding skyscrapers hovering over William Penn. This isn’t over. When Nick was determined to have something he went after it until he got it. And that included Summer Jackson.
Hanging up the phone, Summer hissed at Ava and Starr. “Y’all make me sick, the both of you.” Yanking a chart from its holder, she fussed, “Ava, why didn’t you tell me it was him calling again? I told you I didn’t want to talk to him.”
Sucking her teeth, Ava snapped, “Then you shouldn’t have given him your work number.”
Summer threw her hands up in the air and huffed, “I didn’t think he would call. We pretty much said everything we had to say. I told him I was a nurse in a hospice unit. He told me his mother had died from pancreatic cancer three years ago and that he had attended and donated money to the benefit every year since. I told him I had to go. He asked for my number, I gave him this one. I didn’t think he would call.”