Mail Order Stepbrother(7)

She couldn’t remember.

I’ve lived in Texas for five years. Before that, I lived in California, starting in San Diego, a few years in Los Angeles, and then Palo Alto. What about you? Are you from Texas originally, or a transplant like me?

I haven’t had a chance to visit the hill country, but I’ve heard Austin is a beautiful place to visit. I’ve also heard there’s good camping down around San Antonio, but haven’t had a chance to go there, either. Goodness, I guess I haven’t had a chance to go much of anywhere!

I think a hiking trip would be an ideal first date…you’d be too busy to do much more than talk, and that is all a first date should be about.

Melanie hesitated before she pushed the send button on her comments. She was afraid of scaring the guy off by telling him too much about herself and her opinions, but then she couldn’t see the point of hiding anything. He would learn about her one way or the other eventually. Maybe if she laid it all out there to start with, neither of them would waste their time on something that wasn’t going to go anywhere.

He surprised her by coming right back with a response.

You’re really missing out, not visiting the Austin area. It’s gorgeous down there. And if you like music, the SXSW festival is worth every moment.

No, I’m not from Texas, either. I was born back east, but spent most of my childhood on the west coast. You lived in Palo Alto? Is it safe to assume you’re a Stanford alumni?

I think a hiking first date is perfect, in part for the same reasons you mentioned. And because I love nature, so if it doesn’t go well, I’m still doing something I love.

So…it’s getting late. If I haven’t scared you off, what do you think about having a conversation on the messenger service on the dating website? Maybe around eight tomorrow evening? If you show, great. If not…it was nice to meet you.

Melanie smiled as she read that last message. She liked his confidence, his enthusiasm, his intelligence. Amazing how much you could tell about a person from just a few words written on a computer screen! She felt like she knew more about this stranger than she knew about most of the people she worked with on a daily basis…Jack most especially.

Maybe dating websites weren’t all that bad.

She closed her computer and prepared for bed, excited about her romantic future for the first time in a long time.





Chapter 3



Melanie was still at the hospital the next day when eight o’clock rolled around. She had a patient who was having some issues that might require surgical intervention, so she couldn’t go home until the patient was stable. So, as much as she hated to, she settled down at the nurse’s station and turned on her personal laptop.

Nash’s personal icon appeared almost immediately at the bottom edge of the screen. She clicked on it and a messenger box opened.

“Good evening,” his message said.

Melanie smiled, thinking how old fashioned it was to say something like that. It was quirky, but a quirk she liked.

“How are you?” she responded.

“Still at the office. What about you?”

“Same.”

A smiley face emoticon appeared on the screen followed by, “I guess now we know why we’re both on this website.”

“I would say that’s a pretty good guess.”

Tanya walked up behind Melanie and reached over her to grab a pen.

“You okay, sweetie?” she asked.

“Yeah. Just talking to a friend.”

Tanya nodded, a soft smile on her lips. “Not Jack, I hope.”

Melanie’s cheeks immediately began to burn. No one had said anything to her all day about Willis’ party the night before. She had hoped that everyone was so busy with their own fun that they hadn’t noticed. Now she knew that wasn’t completely true.

“Not Jack.”

“I saw the two of you leave together—“

“We didn’t, actually. It turns out that Jack’s married.”

“No way!” Another nurse, who just happened to be passing the desk at that moment, cried out. “He is so hot! And I heard he made out with one of the doctors last night.”

Tanya pointed to Melanie, causing her to duck away, snatching up her computer as she did.

“Think I’ll go to the on-call room.”

“It’s okay, honey,” Tanya called after her. “Everyone’s wanted to do what you did last night…”

Melanie just kept walking.

It took her a moment to find an available space. The first on-call room she came to was occupied by five sleeping interns who were so exhausted that they didn’t notice they were sleeping practically on top of one another. Melanie could remember what those nights had been like, and was grateful they were in her past. She found another room, a small break room along the furthest corridor of the pediatric wing, not far from the NICU, and locked herself inside.