Of course, there wasn’t anything going on between them. At least, not yet.
“So you’re not married?” he asked.
“No, I’m not.”
A grin tugged at his own lips. He realized that now wasn’t the time to ask her out, but he wondered if her thoughts were drifting in that direction, too.
The attraction seemed to be mutual, although his interest in her had been heightened by that crazy dream he’d had. And while his rational nature knew there hadn’t been anything prophetic about it, he didn’t want to let her slip away again without at least having a deeper conversation with her.
If he had her number, he’d give her a follow-up phone call tomorrow. Then he might even ask her to dinner. But he didn’t have her number and wouldn’t go as far as to ask for it.
If there’d been anything to his dream, if his attraction to her was due to something bigger than either of them, then she would have to call him.
And he’d just have to wait and see if she did.
Chapter Three
While Max ran into the pharmacy to pick up some vitamins and a special diaper rash ointment Dr. Kragen had recommended, Kirsten waited in the car with the sleeping baby secured in his seat in the back.
She’d been relieved to hear that Anthony was healthy and thriving. And now that her worries had been somewhat stilled, she couldn’t help thinking about the kindness of Dr. Fortune—or rather, Jeremy. He seemed to have taken a special interest in her, although she couldn’t say how or why she’d come to that conclusion.
It was in the way he looked at her, she supposed. The way their gazes seemed to connect and the hormones and pheromones that seemed to spark whenever he was near.
She reached into her purse and pulled out his business card. She’d been a little surprised that he’d given it to her—and pleased that he had.
But how many doctors actually gave out their personal phone numbers? Not many, she suspected.
She turned the card over and looked on the back, where the numbers were written in bold strokes—clear and legible, unlike the proverbial doctor’s scrawl she would have expected to see.
He’d given her permission to call him, but would she? Should she?
Maybe she could use the results of their visit with Dr. Kragen as an excuse to call him now. At least, he would then have a record of her number.
She hesitated only a moment before taking her cell phone from her purse and dialing the number he’d given her.
Jeremy answered on the third ring. “Hello?”
Her words jammed in her throat as she contemplated hanging up before indentifying herself. But she felt compelled to finish what she’d started. “Dr. Fortune? This is Kirsten Allen. I just wanted to let you know that Dr. Kragen told us Anthony looks good and appears to be healthy.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“I’d worried about not having any of Anthony’s medical records, but Dr. Kragen ordered a blood test to check to see if he’s had any of his immunizations yet. So that’s one less thing for me to stress about.”
“Jim’s one of the top pediatricians in the county, so you were in good hands. He has a private practice, but he works one day a month at the clinic.”
Kirsten bit down on her lip as she contemplated a response. She wasn’t ready to end the call, although they really had nothing else to talk about.
“Well,” she said, “I just wanted to thank you again for being so nice to me … to us.”
“It was my pleasure, Kirsten.”
As silence stretched across the line, she suddenly wondered if she’d been wrong to think that he was interested in her in any way other than that of a kindhearted professional.
“Well …”
“Would you like to have dinner some night?” he asked, throwing her a curve.
Her heart dropped like dead weight, then rumbled back to life. “That sounds like fun.”
Fun? She rolled her eyes. Why hadn’t she given him a more sophisticated answer, one more grown-up and better suited to a doctor’s dinner date?
“How about tomorrow night?” he asked.
So soon?
Goodness. Where would they go? What would she wear? Yet in spite of the questions and the fly-by-night insecurities that pelted her, she found herself saying, “Sure.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
So was she, even if a swarm of butterflies had settled in her stomach.
After he asked for her address and she gave it to him, he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
When the call ended, she sat dumbfounded for a while, the cell phone still in her hand.
Had she just imagined that conversation? Had the handsome doctor just asked her out to dinner? Would she have the right clothes to wear? Would she say the correct things?
Of course she would. She was a college graduate, for Pete’s sake—an accountant. Okay, so she was unemployed at the moment. But that was only temporary. She had the skills and the résumé to land another job soon.
A knock sounded at the passenger window, and she turned to see Max waiting to get into the car. So she hit the unlock button and slid the cell phone back into her purse.
“Who were you talking to?” he asked, as he climbed in.
“Dr. Fortune. He asked me out to dinner tomorrow night, and I told him yes. Do you think you’ll be okay by yourself with Anthony? “
Max chuffed. “I don’t believe this.”
“Believe what?”
“You brought Anthony to the clinic yesterday so you could hook up with a doctor? How long has that been going on? “
“What are you talking about?”
“Your crush on Dr. Fortune.”
“You’re imagining things. I don’t have a crush on him.”
“Then what’s going on? “
She had no idea. She found Jeremy Fortune attractive and the thought of dating him exciting. And for some wild reason, he seemed to find her attractive, too.
“It’s no big deal,” she told her brother. “Like I said, I met him in the parking lot yesterday. We’ve talked briefly a couple of times, and he asked me out.”
“A doctor seems to be a cut above your usual boyfriend. Don’t you think a guy like that is out of your league?”
Jeremy Fortune might be, but that didn’t keep Kirsten from smiling—or from dreaming about being with him.
It was all very Cinderella-ish, she supposed. And even if she didn’t have stepsisters to tell her that she wasn’t princess material, she didn’t need them to. Between her own doubts and Max’s, she was already having second thoughts about her date with the handsome doctor.
But she shook off a few lingering insecurities, as well as any possible shortcomings she might have, and looked forward to tomorrow night.
Jeremy pulled up along the curb of an older, two-story home in a quiet Red Rock neighborhood. It wasn’t anything like the yard or porch he’d seen in his dream, but then why would it be?
The house in his dream had only been a random nocturnal image, he reminded himself.