The Hookup Plan, page 19
Great, now she would get accused of buying contraband.
“Just make sure Kenneth doesn’t see them,” London told her.
“Why do you call Dad by his first name?” Miles asked.
“I…uh…”
How could she explain to her younger brother that she’d started calling their dad by his given name to piss him off? It was probably better to just stop doing so in front of Miles.
“I would hear my mom do it all the time, and I guess it just rubbed off,” London lied.
Miles rubbed his hands together, a mischievous grin lighting up his face. “I should call him honey the way Mom does.”
“Please don’t.” London laughed. Between Nina’s earrings and Miles’s new name for Kenneth, she would be lucky if she was ever permitted to take these kids anywhere again. She’d better check Koko’s pockets for cigarettes before they left this mall.
Although she couldn’t see her middle sister doing anything that would get her in trouble. Of the three, Koko reminded London most of herself. If only for her acerbic tongue. The one-liners she hurled at Nina were so good, London had made a mental note so she could use them on Samiah and Taylor.
Why was she just discovering that she liked hanging out with her siblings? Despite Miles and his endless, sometimes inappropriate questions, and Nina with her stank teenage attitude, London had enjoyed herself.
She worked with other people’s children all day long, but when it came to these three, London realized that she’d hardly gotten the chance to know them. She didn’t have to be the much older sister who saw her siblings only on holidays or their birthdays. She could be the sister who carted them to the mall on the weekends, and who FaceTimed during the week to check in on them.
She had to do better when it came to these three.
London pushed her own burrito bowl away as a heavy weight sank to the pit of her stomach. She’d missed so much of their childhood, and now that she’d decided to finally be the big sister she should have been all along, there was the possibility of her leaving Texas for her fellowship. She felt like shit.
“I’ve had a great time today,” London said. “I think we should do it more often. How about each of you getting your own day out with your big sister, where we each do something really special?”
“Can you take me to the BTS concert next month?” Koko asked.
“Uh, sure,” London said.
“It’s sold out,” Nina said with another eye roll.
“Oh. Well, maybe we can stop by the record store and buy their newest CD? Wait, is there a record store in this mall? There used to be one,” London said.
“No one uses CDs anymore,” Nina said.
“I do,” London said. “I prefer to own the music I buy, but we’ll stream BTS and have a dance party,” She looked at Nina. “But I think Nina’s day should be first since she’s the oldest. What do you say we go somewhere next weekend? Just the two of us.”
Nina shrugged. “Sure.”
Oh, she could not wait to get this one alone. They would talk about more than just the nude selfies.
They finished up their lunch and spent another hour walking around the mall. London had to stop herself from checking in with the hospital at least a dozen times, which said more about her than she cared to think about.
When they arrived back at April and Kenneth’s, her stepmom gave London a curious, questioning look. London imperceptibly shook her head. No, they hadn’t discussed the photos.
“I’ll see you next weekend?” she said to Nina. London looked to April. “I’ve promised each of the kids that they’ll get their own special day. I’m going to find something really fun for me and Nina to do next weekend.”
“Oh, that sounds great!” April said. “Yes, you should.”
London hugged the three kids before leaving. She felt only slightly guilty for not asking about Kenneth after his TIA scare, but if there was something wrong, April would have told her. She’d designated the rest of the day her “self-care day,” and talking with her father was the opposite of self-care.
An hour later, London was in her favorite chair adding a few rows to the stroller blanket she’d been crocheting for Samiah’s four-month-old niece, when her phone chimed with a text.
Looking for company?
She grinned. Sorry, not tonight. I’m practicing self-care.
We can practice self-care together.
“Yeah, right.” She knew exactly what kind of self-care he had in mind.
The only self-care I’ve planned for is crocheting and a bubble bath.
Three dots appeared as Drew typed a response. Perfect. You crochet a washcloth and I’ll use it to scrub your back.
London burst out laughing. She switched from the messaging app to the phone and called him.
“I am an excellent back scrubber,” Drew said by way of greeting.
“I have no doubts that you are, but you’re forgetting one thing,” London said. “We are not friends, and you coming over to my house is a bit more…friendly than I’m comfortable with.”
He sighed. “Come on, London. It won’t hurt you to invite an acquaintance into your home, especially one who can give you multiple orgasms.”
A shot of heat rippled through her. London put it on ice.
“Sorry, but it’s the wrong time of the month for orgasms,” she said.
“Well, I can rub your back or do whatever you need me to do,” he said. “Let me come over.” The earnest plea in his voice had her rethinking the hard-and-fast rule she’d set for herself.
London pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, debating the wisdom of taking this next step. Having him over shouldn’t be a big deal, but it felt that way. There was something too intimate about it, too…beyond friendly. It would push them out of hookup-partner territory and into something she wasn’t sure she was ready to explore.
Yes, you are, the voice in her head countered.
Tamping down the butterflies that had taken flight in her belly, London said, “I’ll text you my address.”
She heard Drew’s car pull up twenty minutes later. London set the yarn on the coffee table and fluffed her coils as she made her way to the door. The heat shot through her again at the sight of him. He’d traded in his usual suit for khaki slacks and a wheat-colored sweater that looked so soft London immediately wanted to curl into it.
He held out a bag.
“Dark chocolate and chamomile tea. The woman behind the counter at CVS said both were essential.”
“Dammit, Drew,” London said, taking the bag from him. Did he not understand how hookup partners worked?
“You don’t like dark chocolate?” he asked.
She loved dark chocolate. She didn’t like his being so sweet. It made it that much harder to resist these feelings she’d been trying to resist.
“Get in here,” London said, taking him by the hand. That’s when she noticed that his other hand held a briefcase. “Are you planning on working?” she asked him.
“I figured I could work while you crochet,” he said, his eyes roaming the entryway. “This is nice. Unexpected as hell, but nice.” He pointed to the baroque curio cabinet she’d found at an antiques shop back when she first bought her house. “This doesn’t seem like your style.”
“Well, I guess I’m just full of surprises,” she said.
She led him into the living room and couldn’t deny her own surprise when he opened the briefcase and took out a sheaf of documents. He was serious about working tonight?
Drew looked up at her. “You want me to make you a cup of the tea?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I can do it. Do you…uh…want a cup?”
“Nah, I’m good,” he said, returning to his documents.
She made herself some tea and settled in with her crocheting. London wasn’t sure she was comfortable with just how, well, comfortable this felt. But after a while, she relaxed and allowed herself to enjoy Drew’s quiet companionship. He asked her a question about County’s on-site pharmacy and explained that some hospitals had opted to shutter theirs due to cost, but then he promised not to ask anything else work related.
After an hour had passed and London had finished the interior square of her blanket, she rolled up the yarn and set her project aside.
“You ready for that bubble bath?” Drew asked.
She motioned to his briefcase. “Do you have a change of clothes in there?”
“Why would I need a change of clothes? I’m not getting in the bath with you.”
“Are you not even going to try to get in my pants tonight, Drew Sullivan?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“I think I may be offended,” she said.
“That wasn’t my intent.”
She knew what his intent was. He wanted to prove that there was more to what they had going on than just sex. It scared her to think he was right.
Determined to refute that thought, London walked over to where he sat on her couch and climbed onto his lap. Drew’s hands immediately clutched her waist. She crossed her wrists behind his head and went in for a kiss, plunging her tongue inside his warm mouth. The effect on her body was instant, her nipples tightening to sharp points as desire blossomed between her legs. She ground herself against his pelvis, smiling as she felt him growing hard beneath her.
“It won’t work,” Drew spoke against her lips.
“You wanna bet?” London asked.
He gripped her waist tighter, then lifted her off him.
“What the hell, Drew?” she asked as she bounced onto the couch.
He stood and straightened his clothes. It was hard to ignore the telltale bulge that remained behind his zipper.
“I’ll run you a bubble bath, massage your back, and feed you chocolate, but I’m not getting naked.”
London arched a brow. “Who’s being stubborn now?”
“I have my moments,” he said. “Only when warranted.” Drew leaned down and planted the sweetest kiss against her lips. “What’s your answer? Am I running you a bath, or should I get back to work?”
She pointed toward the hallway. “Second door on the right. There’s peony-scented bubble bath underneath the sink.”
He winked and kissed her again, this time on the tip of her nose. “Give me ten minutes.” He picked up the fat pillar candle she kept on her coffee table. “We can use this to create a soothing atmosphere. I hear that helps with cramps too.”
“Drew?” London called. He turned. “I like my water extra hot. Scalding.”
“I expected nothing less from you, she-devil.”
London burst out laughing. Once alone in the living room, she dropped her head back against the couch and sighed up at the ceiling. She would continue to deny it until she turned blue in the face, but one thing was becoming clearer by the second. She was totally falling for her hookup partner.
22
London, are you even listening to me?”
London sat up in her chair and looked over at her phone, which she’d propped against a stained coffee mug on her desk. Her mother glowered at her on the screen, that telltale V creasing the center of her forehead.
“Remember when you used to tell me to stop scowling, or my face would stay that way?” London asked her. “Now I understand what you were talking about.”
“Dammit.” Janette started massaging her forehead. “I’ve been meaning to schedule a Botox treatment. A regular facial isn’t doing shit for me anymore.”
“You look fine, Mom. Now, what were you saying? Because, you’re right, I wasn’t listening. I have a complicated surgery on my schedule today and I’ve got a list of important things I need to take care of before it starts,” she said as she scrolled through pages of locally dyed yarn from a shop just east of Austin.
Her idea of what was important probably differed from her mom’s, but whatever.
Besides, this wasn’t just yarn shopping, it was technically research for the outing her mom and April had insisted she have with Nina.
London had been at a loss trying to figure out where she and her sister should go for that conversation she was already dreading more than just about anything she’d dreaded in her life. She’d stalked Nina’s Instagram page, which was a shitty way to have to get to know your own sister, but that’s where she found herself.
London had learned that Nina wasn’t just into wearing jewelry; she liked making it, specifically charm bangles. She’d even sold a few pieces.
She’d decided she would take Nina shopping for jewelry-making supplies, and in the process of seeking out stores, had discovered an entire craft village in a small town about a half hour away. Now her biggest issue was limiting the amount of money she spent on hand-dyed yarn from one of the village’s cute yarn shops. Even though her nightly rendezvous with Drew these past few weeks had stolen much of her crocheting time, she was still buying up yarn like sheep were about to go on strike.
She put several skeins of dyed wool in her cart—only to remind herself to check them out once she could look at them in person—then minimized the page and turned her attention to the phone.
“I’m sorry,” London said again. “Now, what were you saying? Something about Renaldo? And nothing that will make me want to find mind bleach, please! I’m still your daughter, and I don’t need to hear about your sex life.”
Lord knows her mother had no problem sharing.
Granted, it had been much harder to listen to Janette go on and on about the younger man she was dating—he was forty-eight to her sixty—before London started hooking up with Drew. Still, she didn’t need to know the details.
“I was trying to tell you that we broke up,” her mother said. “Renaldo was too much of a homebody for me. He thought a drive down to San Antonio counted as a vacation.”
London would think the same.
“I tried to convince April to come with me to Vegas for the weekend,” her mother continued. “But with Nina going on her little trip to Houston and Kenneth having some conference or something, she’s stuck at home with Miles and Koko.”
“Excuse me?” London picked up the phone and brought it closer to her face. “Where is Nina going this weekend?”
“To Houston,” her mother said. Her eyes grew wide. “April didn’t tell you? Their band made the finals of some competition.”
“She’s letting her go on a trip with the marching band? The same marching band with the drummer Nina tried to send nudes to? What the fuck!”
Janette held her hands up. “I thought the same thing, but she’s not my child. Now, if that had been you, your butt would have been banished to your room for a month. But they don’t raise kids that way anymore.”
As footloose and fancy-free as her mother was these days, she’d had no qualms about being strict when it came to her only daughter. Of course, London hadn’t given her mom a reason to be strict back when she was Nina’s age.
She dropped her head into her palm. She should be buying her sister condoms instead of jewelry-making supplies.
“Well, I guess my weekend just opened up,” she said.
“Wanna go to Vegas?” her mom asked. London stared wordlessly at her. “Fine.” Janette rolled her eyes. “I need to find a more spontaneous group of friends. And younger. You people make me feel old.”
“You would tire out a bunch of middle schoolers,” London told her.
An alert popped up on her phone, reminding her to eat before today’s surgery. The fact that her phone had to tell her when to have lunch said so much about the current state of her life.
And, of course, she hadn’t thought to bring any lunch from home. Nor did she have time to go to the cafeteria for their rubber chicken and clumpy mashed potato special.
“I need to go, Mom. If you do go to Vegas, try not to marry a stranger at some chapel on the Strip, okay?”
“I make no promises,” Janette said before ending the call.
She would totally come back with a husband. Or, at the very least, a new, younger boyfriend.
Shit, maybe she should join her mom in Vegas, now that she wouldn’t be visiting the craft village. She’d probably spend less money at a casino than she would at the yarn shops.
She didn’t need Vegas or a yarn shop to have a good time. She had friends.
Except Samiah was on her way to Philadelphia to meet Daniel’s family, and Taylor had texted last night, canceling their plans for Thai food and math homework in exchange for a cookout at Jamar’s parents’ home near Houston.
“Thank goodness for Drew,” London muttered.
She sat up straight. It was hard to believe those four words had even crossed her lips. What kind of upside-down reality was she living in?
The kind where she was actually looking forward to seeing Drew Sullivan at the end of the day.
The most surprising part? The sex wasn’t the only reason she looked forward to seeing him. Sex had become more like dessert at the end of a good meal—the icing on a cake layered with thoughtful conversation, unbearably silly jokes, and the kind of teasing, lighthearted flirting a girl could become addicted to.
She was comparing time with Drew Sullivan to cake! She truly was living in the Upside Down.
London opened her bottom desk drawer and stared at her stash of snacks: a bag of salted peanuts, Funyuns, and two fun-size Kit Kat bars.
Was there any wonder why she was prehypertensive? She sighed and closed the drawer.
She quickly made her way down to the cafeteria and grabbed a premade spinach, feta, and grilled chicken salad, then spent ten minutes that she really couldn’t spare answering questions about the audit from the cafeteria’s cashier. London had been tasked with educating the nurses and fellow surgical residents about Trident’s role at County, but it seemed as if everyone came to her with their inquiries.
She brought the salad back to her office and scarfed it down while simultaneously reviewing the last of the charts she needed to tend to before Ahmad’s surgery. Then she texted the anesthesiologist, Dr. Samuels, to let him know she would be meeting the rest of the surgical team in the prep room so they could have one final walk-through of today’s surgery.
