Page 14 of Falling into Place

Chapter Nine

Carly

Single in OKC? In a new relationship and looking for somewhere fresh to take your partner?

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—Excerpt from pop-up on LiveOKC website

Half an hour later, Carly was on a date with Brooks Martin.

It wasn’t a real one, but still. Her inner teenager did a backflip when he slid into the booth across from her and asked for two drink menus to get them started. If only her middle school nemesis Becky Bennett, who once called Carly “a frumpy girl no guy wanted to kiss,” could see her now.

“Wait,” he said, forehead already furrowed. “I can drink on a date, right? Is that a faux pas?”

“Totally acceptable. Not everyone drinks, though, so you might want to feel your date out first. And hopefully it goes without saying that getting sloppy probably isn’t in your best interest, but otherwise I say it can be a nice way to take the edge off an already nerve-racking situation.”

“The last time I got wasted was before I was even legal to drink, so I think we’re good.”

“College really changed you, huh?” she observed.

“Yeah, I finally got my head on straight.” He picked up a roll of napkin-wrapped silverware and twisted it between his fingers. “Anyway, I’m ready to learn. Teach me your ways, Wise One.”

Carly laughed. “I’m not claiming to be an expert, but I’ve been on my share of dates and go out quite a bit with Sasha, where I’m bound to meet new people.

I usually start off with things like where they’re from, what they do for a living, or if they’ve done anything new and exciting around town lately. ”

He nodded. “Okay, yeah. That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“It’s not, but it still takes practice,” she said. “Wanna try?”

“Now?”

“That’s what we’re here for, right? Pretend you don’t know me and we’re on a first date.”

“I thought I didn’t have to do an entire dinner on a first date.”

She wouldn’t be deterred by stalling tactics. “You let me pick and this is what I wanted. Because you’re a gentleman you didn’t argue.”

A smile tipped the corner of his mouth.

“We don’t know each other, but I just sat down and you’re struck by my impossible beauty and impeccable fashion sense, and you want nothing more than to impress the hell out of me.” She made a show of getting comfortable and held out her hand. “Hi, Brooks? I’m Carly.”

He stared at her hand for a beat before he sighed heavily. He shook it. “Hi, um. Carly. It’s nice to meet you.”

She placed her hand in her lap and just smiled at him.

Several seconds passed. He blinked.

A few more, and she lifted her brows.

He gave a little cough and tapped the table lightly with his fist, glancing around the room.

She counted to five. Slowly. “Brooks!”

“What?”

“I gave you lots of ideas of things to say. Let’s go .”

He smoothed out his shirt and nodded. “So, where are you from?”

“Oklahoma City. I grew up just a few miles from here.”

“Really? Me too.”

She feigned surprise. “No way. I wonder if we’ve ever crossed paths before?”

“Nah, I don’t think so.”

“How can you be sure?”

His gaze was direct. “I’d remember you.”

Warmth flushed across her skin, and she leaned in as if to impart a secret. “Excellent flirting. That would totally work on a real date.”

He didn’t respond right away, but eventually offered her a smile. “So, what do you do for a living?”

“I’m a personal stylist,” she said. “I mostly work with young professionals on limited budgets and prioritize clothing recycling to reduce waste by shopping at resale shops around town.”

“Wow, I could have used something like that during residency interviews.” He regarded her closely, dropping the facade.

“Do you really do that? Work with regular people like me when it’s not, you know, Sasha-mandated?

Because I gotta be honest, I would have thought stylists were only for the rich and famous. ”

“I take whatever Mode gives me,” she said honestly.

“But my boss knows I have a knack for creative shopping and staying within a budget, and honestly, those are my favorite clients. It can take a lot of time and effort to piece something together from discount- and used-clothing stores, but it’s not impossible and completely worth it.

It just takes some creativity, and I want everyone I work with to feel good about themselves, no matter how much money they have. ”

Brooks looked like he wanted to say more, but the server chose that moment to sidle up for their drink orders. Carly didn’t miss the way the young woman’s eyes lingered on Brooks.

When she departed, Carly lifted one brow. “I think our waitress would be happy to fill date slot Number Two. Or Three, if you want to double back for April from Empire’s number.”

Looking bewildered, Brooks glanced in the direction the woman had gone. How was this man so clueless? “I’d never ask another woman out when I was already on a date.”

“Are you saying that to avoid another date? Because you’re just delaying the inevitable, you know. Sasha will make sure of it.”

He groaned and tipped his head back. “Can you let me get through this practice and my first real date first? I can’t look that far ahead.”

“Okay, yes. Sorry.” She smiled brightly, straightened her spine, and fluffed her hair to make a show of resuming their playacting. “What about you, Brooks? What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a physician.”

“Really?” She batted her eyelashes. “Wow. You must be really smart.”

He nodded sagely. “Very.”

She laughed. “Did you always want to be a doctor?”

“No. I was always good at science, though, so I majored in biology in undergrad and it just sort of went from there. When I thought about careers in science that could help people, it seemed like one where I could have the biggest impact.”

Carly shuddered. “I was terrible at science.” Her first (and, please note, only ) C on an exam was on a physics test, and after almost passing out during the first frog-dissection day, she faked the flu for the rest of the week to get out of it.

“I’ve always wondered if I would have gone into medicine if I hadn’t been good at it from the start.

I love what I do and I’m glad I did, but if I’m honest I started down this path just because it was easy for me.

I didn’t have anything I was passionate about back then.

But what if I’d loved art? Or the idea of being a lawyer?

I have zero creativity and hate arguing, so could I ever have made those work?

I guess I just got lucky the thing I’m good at ended up being something I enjoy, too. ”

“It’s an incredible thing to do with your life. I can’t imagine it’s easy, though.”

“It’s not. Especially in the ICU, where I have a front-row seat to people watching their loved ones slip away. There’s a lot of people I can’t save, and some days it’s hard as hell.” A shadow briefly passed over his features.

Something about that moment made her wish they were closer so she could lean into him or give him a gentle touch. It wasn’t the first time she’d wondered if the one thing Brooks Martin needed was a good old-fashioned hug.

Not your job.

She might be able to pick him up with a different question, though. “What’s your favorite part about it?”

His eyes dropped to the table while he thought, and he reached across to rub one shoulder with the opposite hand.

“I love the challenge. I know I just made it sound horrible, but it can be rewarding, too. It’s a pretty cool feeling to know I have the training to take care of just about anyone and anything.

I mean, when other doctors don’t know what to do and they’re overwhelmed, they send their patients to me .

Sometimes on the hard days I reach for an inner strength I didn’t even know I had, and it reminds me what I’m capable of.

And when I’m able to pull someone back from the brink of death, I feel like fucking Superman. ”

“God, Brooks. That’s incredible.” The exhilaration on his face in that moment was palpable, and contagious.

His cheeks went pink. “Also, there’s a major shortage of intensivists. So, you know. Job security.”

“Now, that I understand.”

A line formed between his brows. “I’d have thought accounting was a pretty solid gig.”

“Oh, it is,” she clarified. “That’s why I do it.

Even though I could pick up enough clients at Mode to make similar money, it would be commission based and dependent on client volume, so it could change in an instant.

That’s the kind of insecurity I’m uncomfortable with and why I’m eyeing one of their salaried positions. Hence, this collaboration with Sasha.”

“Ah.” He smiled softly. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you that job you want.”

“I hope you’re right,” she said. “But stop breaking character and getting us off track. Now ask me if I’ve seen any good movies lately.”

He chuckled. “So, Carly, have you seen any good movies lately?”

“At the theater? No. But my Netflix queue has gotten a lot of action lately.”

“Yeah? What kind of movies do you like?”

“Don’t laugh,” she warned, because she couldn’t think of anything but her real-life answer for this fake persona. “I’m a sucker for anything with romance.”

“Why would I laugh?”

“Because a lot of men would, I guess? A bunch of people at my accounting office went to see some rom-com together after work a couple of weeks ago, and this one guy who sits next to me said he’d rather sit through a week of finance meetings than two hours of some pathetic love story.”

“Dude sounds like a dick.”

“He is. Oh, and he also said that Hollywood love is totally fake, doesn’t exist in real life, and only gives women unrealistic expectations.”

“Wow. Imagine being a dick and so fucking wrong at the same time.”

“You may be shocked to hear this, but he’s currently single.” Carly absentmindedly toyed with the napkin in her lap as she studied him. “I gotta say, of all the things I thought you might have strong feelings about, romance films wasn’t one of them.”

“It’s not the movie thing that bothers me,” he started. “It’s this guy saying love like that doesn’t exist in real life.”

“You think it does?”

“I know it does.” Something in him changed in that moment, and for some reason it made Carly brace herself for his next words.

“It’s exactly what my parents had.”