Page 4 of Undeniably Corrupt

“It’s Doctor.” She grabs the cup, makes a weird, shrill noise as if she’s the victim, and storms out.

I text Luca and let him know that this woman got off on berating an old friend and was cruel for the sake of being cruel. He owes me one, but what he does with that is up to him. I can only hope he gets rid of her.

“Thank you,” Liora whispers to me. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I did. I can’t stand rudeness simply for the sake of rudeness unless I’m the one doing it.”

She giggles, thinking I’m joking. I partially am.

“Are you okay?”

She waves me away. “I’m fine. Not the first time someone was a jerk to me and certainly not the last. Here.” She hands me my order and the fifty back. “You shouldn’t have to pay for that.”

I shake my head. “Neither should you. Keep it.”

“You know you’re the second Bennett I’ve met recently.”

That pulls me up short, and despite how I look and the ten years between us, it bothers me that she doesn’t recognize me.

“Oh yeah? Where was that?”

“At MGH. Thankfully, I don’t work with Little Miss Sunshine.” She bobs her head toward the door where thedoctor just left. “I’m a nursing student. The other Bennett is a trauma surgeon.”

I laugh, unable to stop it. She’s referring to my friend Katy’s husband, who runs the department. Oops.

She gives a look. “You can stay here if you have nowhere else to go. I know it’s cold out and you don’t have a coat. The manager won’t come back out. He never does.”

“That’s very kind of you, but I work up the block and have to get back for a meeting.”

“Oh.” She laughs lightly and blushes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to insinuate?—”

“It’s fine,” I tell her. “I’ve been working on a case and haven’t left my office in a few days.” I glance down at myself and back up to her, a self-deprecating smile on my lips. “Obviously.”

The line has cleared out, and she grabs a spray bottle and rag and comes out from behind the counter to start cleaning tables.

“Are you a lawyer?” she asks as she sprays the cleaner and wipes it up.

“No. I work with computers. Why would you ask if I’m a lawyer?”

She shrugs. “You mentioned a case. Just where my mind went. Do you work for the school?”

Now my smile grows because this coffee shop is technically on the campus of the university, so I’m sure she gets a lot of staff and students here. “No. I don’t work at the school. What kind of nurse do you want to be?”

Her eyes meet the floor, and after a strangely long pause where she twirls her bracelet a few times, she utters, “An OB nurse and eventually a nurse midwife.”

That. It practically knocks me sideways with how it hits me. Because my mother is a nurse midwife, and Liora used to work at her office. It was a small practice in our small town in themiddle of nowhere, Maine, but Liora loved it and always told me that’s what she wanted to be.

“I think that’s amazing,” I manage, taking in the lines of her face. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

I don’t know why I ask or my purpose behind it. Liora hasn’t been in my life for ten years, and dating women isn’t something I do for more reasons than I can count.

She picks up the spray bottle and rag and moves to the next table, one a bit farther from me as if she’s trying to create some distance. “Why? Are you asking me out?”

“If I did, would you say yes? I don’t always look like this.” I wave a hand up and down my body.

She keeps her head down and her face averted from me. “It’s not that, and I’m sure you’re great, but I live with someone.”

Inexplicably, my throat tightens and my skin prickles.