Man, she had it bad.
Before she could realize he'd witnessed the entire thing, he stepped back and returned to his seat.
Ordinarily, considering how much of a pain in the ass she'd been since he first laid eyes on her, he wouldn't give any further consideration to her obvious pain. But after the way she had taken care of Ella and made the whole experience so painless for them both, he felt more gratitude for her. Could even feel some sympathy toward her plight.
She clearly had no idea how to interact with the doctor other than colliding with him.
It made her seem almost vulnerable. It couldn't be easy being hopelessly in love with a guy who, from the tolerant albeit friendly smile he gave her, saw her in more of a brotherly fashion than anything else.
Maybe Henry could cut her a little slack after all.
Benny could hear the woman's almost neighing laughter from where she was standing, even with the door closed. Could the woman be phonier? She'd bet those boobs were as real as the woman's hair color.
Then, just as quickly as those thoughts came, Benny forced herself to stop and shook her head. She was being ridiculous and petty. The woman hadn't done anything to her, and being catty-even only in her mind-wasn't going to change the fact that Dr. Luke Seeley preferred his women pretty and polished and not like Benny.
To make matters worse, she was standing there soaked with coffee, and she still had to go back inside the examination room and see that man.
She took a breath. The sooner she got in there and sent them on their way, the sooner she could leave and shower away her humiliation. "Sorry about the wait. Here you are, Ella." She smiled and pulled the plastic off before handing her the Popsicle.
"You're all wet," Ella said matter-of-factly, sucking loudly on her treat and staring at Benny's chest. She pulled her coat around herself more tightly.
"We should go, Ella," Henry said. "Can you tell Dr. Sorensen thank you?"
Ella complied and, happy with her Popsicle, clambered off the table. Benny finally met Henry's gaze, noting the odd look in his eyes, the slight twist of his mouth. "Thanks for the help, Dr. Sorensen. Have a good night."
Was that pity she saw? Had he heard what had happened in the hall?
Any guilt she'd felt when she first saw him tonight, knowing that she'd just sent such a nasty complaint against him to the HOA with Kate's help, evaporated. "You two have a nice evening," she said stiffly, trying to convince herself that he couldn't possibly have witnessed her humiliation with Luke. That would just be too much.
Henry, fortunately, had already grabbed his niece's hand and was leading her out the door. "We'll see you later, Dr. Sorensen."
Out in the hall, she heard Ella ask her uncle what he meant by later, but she didn't catch the answer. She continued to her office, intent on finishing up whatever paperwork was left so she could get out of here before she could cause more damage. Fortunately, Luke's office was on the opposite end of the hall to hers, so she didn't have to run the risk of hearing or seeing the two lovebirds again.
So much for her promise to herself to take more chances, to engage in at least one conversation with the doctor a day until it became like an old habit. She was not supposed to hear him coming and take off at full speed in the other direction-only to reverse right into him.
Graceful. Again.
She might have to start wearing a plastic raincoat. Her dry-cleaning bill was ridiculous.
Why, oh, why couldn't she have half the social skills as Daisy, who was born hardwired with the ability to flirt with anyone, anywhere, anytime? Such as the lifeguard at the neighborhood pool Benny had stared at from behind her book all summer when she was fourteen. Daisy, at a confident and head-turning eighteen, had walked right up to him and started a conversation. Daisy and Scottie had spent the rest of the summer attached at the hip until they both left for college that fall.
Daisy had always been able to do that.
And as much as Benny loved her sister and wanted only her happiness, she couldn't pretend she hadn't resented Daisy the tiniest bit growing up. She was only human.
But she couldn't continue to hate and resent every pretty woman who got the attention of the men that Benny was too tongue-tied to speak to herself. If only she could picture Luke as nonthreatening. Like her brothers. Or Chip the orderly. Or even the detestable Henry Ellison. Then she'd have no problem engaging him in actual dialogue, maybe even a few witty retorts.
Henry Ellison. He'd actually seemed almost likeable tonight with that cute niece who had the same golden-blond hair and brown eyes and that impish smile. Almost human.
At least she had one thing going for her tonight. With his four-year-old niece in residence, Lover Boy wasn't likely going to be having late-night parties or playing music at record high levels.
Maybe she'd even get a good night's sleep before she returned to work tomorrow, ready for more inevitable humiliation.
Chapter Four
"Can we get McDonald's for breakfast again, Uncle Henry?"
It was six thirty in the morning. On a Saturday. Wasn't it a law that no one could be up this early?
Apparently, four-year-olds didn't care much if it was Saturday or any other day of the week. Ella was wide-awake and raring to do something, while Henry needed to pour a full carafe of coffee down his throat before he could consider going anywhere.
"Let's just have some cereal. We can go there for lunch."
A few minutes later, with Ella eating Captain Crunch in front of the television and a full cup of coffee flooding Henry's veins, he decided he was awake enough to get his mail and the package he was expecting.
Last night after he'd picked Ella up from day camp, the two of them had gone to dinner and a movie, arriving home after eight, when he'd had to carry the little girl, half asleep, to bed. Now that the kid was up and preoccupied for the time being, Henry felt better about leaving her alone for a couple of minutes.
The place was dead quiet, as he would expect on a Saturday at the death of dawn, and he was able to catch the elevator back up with no wait. While the floors ticked by, he looked through the mail, his package tucked under his arm.
The letter bearing the building HOA's name and address caught his eye. It looked awfully official. He ripped it open, barely glancing up when he stepped off the elevator.
Thirty seconds later, he was standing outside the madwoman's door. He pounded, not caring if she was still asleep.
She opened the door in under a minute, fully dressed in-what else-scrubs, light blue this time. Did she live in those things?
"Mr. Ellison?" She scrunched up her face at him in feigned confusion even though they both knew why he was here. "What can I do for you?"
"Ah, Dr. Sorensen. Terribly sorry to have pulled you out of bed, in pj's again, no less."
She narrowed her eyes. "They're scrubs."
"Yes, I see that." He looked behind her, as if expecting to see an operating table. "Are you scrubbing in for surgery in there?"
"What can I help you with," she managed between clenched teeth.
He held the letter up in front of her, noting the gleam of satisfaction that entered her eyes.
"I received an interesting letter this morning from our home owners' association. It seems there have been some complaints"-he emphasized the word, watching her face for any sign of guilt, but it was now carefully blank-"about me. Maybe I can read you a little bit of this so you know what I'm talking about. ‘Tenant is in violation of section three, subsection (a), which requires all tenants to cease loud and excessive noise, including music, that interferes in another tenant's quiet enjoyment of their property.' Let's see here Oh, another good one, ‘tenant is required to park entirely within the borders of the owner's space or be subject to fine.'"
"Sounds like you have a real problem there."
"Yes. You could call it a problem. According to this and the monetary fine schedule for said violations, I'm on the hook for six hundred dollars. Not to mention that if there are further complaints, the fine goes up to twelve hundred, followed by possible eviction proceedings. Evicting me from my own home."
"That's rough," she said with feigned sympathy. "Maybe you should save yourself the aggravation and just move out?"
"And give the coward who set this all in motion the satisfaction? Not in a million years. I prefer to appeal the decision and ask for a hearing with the board so I can confront this coward face-to-face."
"Coward? Or perhaps they're smart enough to know that if some ignoramus is too stupid to know they should turn their blaring music off by one in the morning, or not take someone else's parking spot, or not park so close to another tenant's car they have to climb in from the passenger side, then confronting said ignoramus becomes pointless. A waste of their valuable time."
That's it. He'd tried to be nice. Tried to talk to her in a calm, level, and somewhat respectful tone. "Is that right? You think that playing games like siccing the HOA on me or leaking this crap to online gossip rags is going to win you any friends, lady?"
"I don't want to be friends, I want to be able to come home and not wonder what my inconsiderate, egotistical neighbor has in store for me," she said, her voice rising. "And as for leaking ‘this crap' to any gossip rags, I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about."