No More Mr. Nice Guy by Jennifer Greene Read Free Book Online Page B

you find this extravagant man? These cost a fortune! I’ve never even seen that coral color in a rose…”
    Neither had Carroll, but it was a single white rose she lifted from the first box. A glisten of moisture shimmered on one soft petal, enhancing the most subtle of fragrances, the delicate scent of the bud.
    Her heart was suddenly beating tick-tock-tick like a clock. In one world, she chattered to Nancy as the two combed the apartment for vases, glasses, any containers that could hold water. In the other world, she never let go of the white rose, and her heart kept beating, and for some ridiculous reason her hands felt trembly. Alan did this? Alan?
    She suddenly couldn’t remember a single reason why she had to be sensible, or rational, or logical, or practical. So she’d been that way all her life. So she’d thought they had a strictly common-sense relationship, based solely on shared values and common goals and not at all on whimsical gestures, not on…romance. So the sudden change in Alan had raised a few uneasy worries at the back of her mind…
    The man was entitled to change.
    Nothing and no one was going to make her give up the white rose.
     
    On Thursday at four, when Alan was supposed to pick her up for the medical banquet, June Goodman called Carroll from his office.
    “Crisis time,” the nurse said flatly. “I know the man hasn’t called you, nor has he had a minute to look at his speech. Mind you, I didn’t schedule a single appointment after two, but it’s been one of those afternoons. Two sets of stitches, a little tyke with an asthma attack, and I’ve still got two in the waiting room. It’s going to take a bomb to get him out of here, and even that may not work.”
    Carroll chuckled. She’d met June months earlier. They hadn’t formed an instant friendship so much as a natural conspiracy. June was a born conspirator. “All right,” she said lightly. “I’ll pick him up there to save time, no problem.”
    Within a half hour, Carroll had zoomed to town, purchased a man’s shirt from a department store, driven to Alan’s office and was striding inside. Some women might be irritated to be neither called nor picked up for a date, particularly if they had spent money on a new mauve silk dress, dangling earrings and eyeshadow. Carroll had accepted the pitfalls of dating a pediatrician from the beginning.
    Actually, however strange the situation might be, her step was lighter than it had been all week. Yes, she’d adored the roses. For that matter, she could easily become addicted to caviar, and she’d loved dancing until dawn…but the roses and sportscar and beard and champagne all together had been just a little overwhelming. Walking on air was wonderful, but the chance to put her feet on the ground again wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t typical of Alan to be inconsiderate, but it was typical of him to be so involved in his work that he forgot to eat. That was the Alan she’d always known.
    June looked up with a cheerful smile when she walked in. “I have to warn you, he’s still got that beard.”
    “Hmm.” Carroll noted one more patient in the waiting room, a little girl curled up in her mother’s lap. She glanced at her watch. “He’ll still get to the banquet in time for his speech if we can hustle him out of here within an hour.”
    “Make that you, not we. ”
    “Has he been a bear today?” Carroll asked sympathetically, but she didn’t stop to talk. Alan’s office was just behind the reception area. She whisked through the door, slipped off her coat and removed the new shirt from the shopping bag. Plain blue—Alan had always liked plain blue. Not that he needed a new shirt, but he wouldn’t have time to go home and change at this late hour. Once she had hung up the shirt and shaken out the creases, she wandered to his desk. His speech had to be buried somewhere in the chaos of papers.
    “Beautiful dress,” June complimented from the doorway.
    “Thank you.” Carroll