He was the first one Lauren had ever encountered, but she didn’t comment, noticing Emma’s dress for the first time. It was perfectly professional, but accentuated Emma’s tiny waist and petite, curvy body in all the right places. Emma started toward Andrew’s room and Lauren frowned, darting into the workroom and back out again, a knee-length white garment in her hand.

“Emma? You forgot your coat.”

Lauren found herself in the infusion center after lunch. She liked to walk through occasionally and check on the patients she knew, and chat with the nurses she’d become friends with.

Her eyes definitely weren’t searching the chairs for a specific patient.

And if she was, it was purely out of professional interest. Per Emma’s report to Dr. Patel, Andrew had done well after his first treatment and didn’t need any changes to his regimen. Lauren wasn’t convinced, though. ABVD was a nasty chemo combination.

He was young and healthy, sure. Strong and…virile, even. But you never knew with chemo, and the common phrase “everyone’s different” was 100 percent true. They could give the same chemo to an eighty-year-old woman and a nineteen-year-old man, and the former could waltz through it while the latter landed himself in the hospital with fever and dehydration.

There was no way to know. He might have a medication question that he forgot to ask Emma, and maybe Lauren could help.

So. As she said…professional interest.

As she passed through a nursing station, her phone buzzed, and she fished the device from the pocket of her white coat. She’d received a text from a number she didn’t recognize.

Hi, do you remember me from McNellie’s the other night?

Lauren frowned at the screen. She considered not responding, because it had been two weeks since Emma had given Lauren’s number to that guy at the bar. Either he was too busy to be dating, or he was playing games. Both were equally unappealing.

Lauren: Kind of…it’s been a while. Logan, was it?

Logan: Yeah. Sorry it’s taken me so long to send you a message.

He offered no additional explanation. Lauren locked her phone to put it away, but it vibrated against her hand.

Logan: I’m not an asshole, I promise. I had a family emergency I had to deal with.

Logan: Forgive me?

Lauren: It’s fine.

Logan: What are you up to?

Lauren: I’m at work, so I can’t really talk right now. Can I text you later?

Logan: Sure.

“Hey, Lauren.”

She cringed internally when she heard the voice behind her. She turned around.

“Hey, Gavin.”

He wore black scrubs today, the top way too small for his bulky frame. Either he was clueless when it came to shopping, or he was attempting to show off the muscles he seemed so proud of.