Only Yours (Fool's Gold #5)(25)

“She’s protecting him,” Montana pointed out. “She didn’t have the personality to be a therapy dog, but she had the heart.”

“Disappointed it wasn’t enough?”

She studied her nephew. “I think a dog will be good for him, so no. Still, it would have been nice to add Fluffy to the team. Big dogs work well in a lot of situations.”

“Such as?”

“If we’re visiting a large group, like a nursing home. The bigger dogs can easily go around and be patted. They’re also easier for residents with walkers and wheelchairs. No little paws getting underfoot. The bigger dogs seem better suited for the reading program, too. You’d think a large dog would scare a little kid, but they don’t. Plus they can lean on them or cuddle, which takes away some of the stress. Not to dismiss the work of the small dogs. You saw what Cece did for Kalinda. It’s hard to get an eighty-pound Lab onto a bed with a sick kid.”

She shook her head. “Sorry. I can get carried away.”

“I like hearing about your work.”

“It’s nothing when compared with what you do.”

His gray-green gaze was steady. “I disagree. The ability to read is just as important for a child as fitting into our societal norms, physically speaking.”

He had a point, but still. “You save lives.”

“When you bring a dog to visit someone who is lonely, aren’t you saving their life, too?”

“In the moment.”

“Isn’t life about moments?”

This was a side of him she hadn’t expected to see. “I thought all surgeons had huge egos.”

“I have my moments, too.” One corner of his mouth twitched. “Plus, that stick up my butt takes a lot of room.”

She winced. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I can be too focused. I need that skill for my work, but after a while I forget to turn it off.”

He flashed her a smile and she felt her stomach clench. There was something about this man, she thought. She wanted to ask about his scars—how he’d gotten them and why he hadn’t entirely fixed them. Maybe they couldn’t be fixed. And while she was wondering things, what about his personal life? From what he’d said, he went from place to place, with no real roots. Didn’t that get lonely?

Usually conversation was easy for her, but with Simon she felt she had to tread more carefully. Strange, considering the man had had his tongue in her mouth. After that intimacy, he shouldn’t be so intimidating. But it wasn’t that she was nervous around him. Rather, she didn’t want to scare him off. Talk about confusing.

“I’m guessing that means you didn’t have a dog when you were growing up,” she said, wondering if she could get him to talk about his past.

“No.” The humor left his eyes as he spoke and his mouth straightened. “No dog. It was just me and my mother. Until I went into the hospital.”

With the burns, she thought, eager to find out what had happened. But before she could figure out what to ask, he spoke.

“You and your sisters are the youngest?”

“Yes. Mom wanted one girl and instead got three. That can’t have been easy. The multiple birth thing. My friend Pia is pregnant with twins. She’s due any minute. I can’t imagine what that’s like—especially since they’re not hers. Not biologically.”

“Someone donated the eggs?”

“Our mutual friend Crystal had frozen embryos. Crystal died and left them to Pia, who freaked out.” Montana smiled at the memory. “She wasn’t exactly prepared to be a mother. But she couldn’t say no and then she met Raoul and now they’re a family.” She sighed. “It’s wonderful. Don’t you love a happy ending?”

“You believe in that?”

“Of course. Fool’s Gold is the Land of Happy Endings. Don’t you believe in them?”

“Sometimes.”

The air was warm and the scent of her mother’s flowers drifted by. She could hear the sound of the kids playing, talking and laughter coming from the house. Still, all that faded until there was only Simon.

“Only sometimes? Because other times they don’t make it,” she whispered, understanding that for him, not saving someone, even if he knew there wasn’t a way to make that happen, must be terrible.

“I’ve accepted it.”

“You don’t mean that.”

He stared at her. “I don’t mean it,” he admitted. “I’m supposed to be able to save them all.” He put his hands on the table. “It’s here. In these, and in my head. I’m good at what I do—one of the best. I always knew that I had a special talent, and that if I dedicated everything to becoming the best, I could save lives.”

That wasn’t ego, she thought, although she wasn’t sure how she knew. It was something else. Something more profound and integral to who he was.

“You’re complicated,” she told him.

“No. I’m fairly simple. You’re the complicated one.”

She laughed. “I don’t think so. My life is very normal. Boring, even.”

“Not boring.”

She wished he was telling the truth. “I always wanted to be exotic. Different. Instead I’m one of six kids with parents who loved each other. I guess being a triplet was unusual, but in a way it only added to the sameness. It’s hard to be an individual when you’re one of three.” She shook her head. “I’m not making sense, am I? The thing is, I love my family and my sisters so much. But they always knew what they wanted and, until recently, I didn’t.”