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“What, hot as fuck?” I asked with half a grin. I eased away from her reluctantly. The metal from my stethoscope bit into my palm, reminding me that I was supposed to be taking her vitals.

She pulled her mouth to the side uncertainly, looking away. “Right.”

I considered her for a few brief seconds. If what Ruth had told me was true, and she’d endured the worst kind of rejection, then I could believe that she struggled to comprehend her own worth. I still fought with insecurities of my own. For thelongest time, I hadn’t felt like I belonged in my parents’ beautiful home. I’d worked harder than my other classmates to prove that I deserved their affection. I had taken control of every aspect of my being from my body to my mind if only to prove that I could be enough. Be worth enough.

It had been a slow, painful lesson to realize that my worth didn’t come from the value others placed on me. It came from me. Only I could decide I was worthy of being loved, and only I could decide that I was capable of offering it. I wasn’t perfect, and my perceived rejection from Ruth had shaken me enough to miss a crucial detail from that night. I remembered the way she had looked equal parts despaired and embarrassed. I remembered the way she’d reached for me with her eyes while pulling away with her body.

Ruth didn’t think it was real.

She didn’t thinkIwas real.

She didn’t think that someone truly adoring her could be a reality.

Ruthexpected meto reject her. What she didn’t know was that I was more competitive than every med school graduate put together. If I wanted to smash through expectations, then better believe I would barrel straight through them and then some. If Ruth expected me to reject her, then I would simply have to prove her wrong one moment at a time.

I uncoiled the stethoscope and brought it to my ears, watching Ruth closely. When she brought her eyes to mine again, I lifted my eyebrows. “Are you ready for me, now, Shortstop?”

Chapter sixteen

Ruth

Ruth

Isighed into the hot bath, shivering as it scalded my sensitive skin. I didn’t have a huge bathtub, and it was an outdated, mauve color, butoh, it was heaven. My entire body had felt itchy and tight like I was covered in a thin film of dried-on glue. The sticky feeling melted away as I eased deeper into the bubble-filled water. I had my right leg propped up on the side of the bathtub, and I closed my eyes, letting my shoulders relax. I could have sworn I hadn’t relaxed one bit since Cal had been here. I hadn’t heard from Vaughn again, thankfully, but the stress of knowing that Cal had swooped in to rescue me from the state I’d been in was enough to make me scrunch my features in discomfort.

I cracked open my eyelids and stared at my bandaged knee. I couldn’t put it in the bath because he’d had to stitchthe spot where he’d made an incision. Cal. The doctor. He’d beenhereand had not only potentially saved my life but had fixed my knee and then just vanished.

Poof. Like a sexy fairy godmother with abs.

I swiped my fingers under my glasses and over my eyes. It didn’t feel real…again. Like Cal was some sort of bizarre mirage that had appeared in my life to torment me with the promise of what I could never have, he kept showing up in all his perfection and then disappearing from my world again. The only reason I knew I hadn’t fever-dreamed the whole thing was because he had texted me last night and then again today. He’d also sent a nurse to take my vitals and remove my IV lock this morning. Although I hadn’t seen him—he’d had to catch up on all his patients he’d delayed helping me—he made sure to pester me.

Cal:

You’re supposed to take amoxicillin with food. Don’t forget.

Ruth:

Is diet cola a food?

Cal:

I know you know the answer to that but I still feel compelled to say it. No.

Ruth:

*angel emoji*

Cal:

Did Gemma come over?

Ruth:

She showed up right after you did.

Cal:

Is she… helpful?