Summer Kisses (143 page)

Kelsie looked at her friend questioningly.

“Movie ape,” Nanci corrected.

Dr. Andy’s gaze shifted her direction. “What?”

Kelsie released a long sigh. “His name is Cornelius. What could his parents have been thinking?”

“Must have been fans of
Planet of the Apes,”
Nanci said with a grin.

“Some friend you are,” she said with a frown, “reveling in my misery.”

“Ah, come on, Kels,” her friend replied. “You know my heart goes out to you.” The sincerity of her friend’s words was quickly diminished by the snort of laughter that followed them.

“Gee, thanks,”

“Just think,” Dr. Andy added, his toothy grin widening, “if you end up marrying this guy, his pet name can be Corny and the two of you can have lots of little niblets together.”

So much for sympathy.

“And to think you gave up the chance at fame on the comedy circuit to pursue dentistry,” she called out as he walked away. Dr. Andy disappeared into his office, closing the door behind him.

She turned to Nanci. “I’m so glad you two get so much enjoyment from my misery.”

“Don’t mention it,” she replied as she pulled her rainbow-print uniform top on over her shirt. “That’s what friends are for.”

“I wasn’t thanking you for being a pain in my ass.” Kelsie reached for her work smock that hung from one of several brass hooks by the office door. Shoving her arms into the sleeves, she added, “I suppose this is what I get for being dumb enough to answer my mother’s call this morning.”

Both women scooped up their stack of patient charts for the day and then headed over to grab a handful of individually wrapped toothbrushes from the supply cabinet.

“I have to admit I’m a little surprised you did,” Nanci said. “I would’ve thought you’d know better by now.”

“Yeah, but like you said she would have hunted me down anyway. Can you believe my mother actually told this guy I would go in-line skating with him?”

Her friend’s head snapped around. “She did what?”

“That was my reaction, too. I mean we’re talking me here. Her daughter with two left feet. No doubt about it, I’m going to break my neck.” She started in the direction of her room.

“Or at the very least a leg,” her friend called out behind her.

Kelsie froze mid-step as Nanci’s words settled into her sleep deprived mind. Break a leg. That was it! If she broke her leg that would guarantee an early end to her skate date...

She shook her head. What was she thinking? Okay, she’d clearly moved into desperation mode. She could only blame her thoughts on a shortage of sleep combined with a lack of caffeine in her system that morning. She had to consider the pain factor involved with a broken limb. Especially since she was not one that dealt well with pain, mental or physical.

After depositing her stack of charts into the plastic holder on the wall, she walked over and hung her day’s schedule by the door. Then she made a bee-line for the break room and the freshly brewed coffee that awaited her.

She grabbed a mug from the cupboard and filled it to the top with coffee. Bringing it to her nose, she took a moment to inhale the rich, caffeine-laden aroma, savoring it before taking a sip. “Mmm.”

She could feel her mood lifting already. It might have buoyed even higher if it weren’t for her upcoming date with Cornelius. Mug in hand, she made her way back to her room. There had to be some way to get out of this date.

“Think, Kelsie,” she muttered to herself. “You’re supposed to be the expert on date escapes.”

It wasn’t until the end of her work day that it came to her. Maybe she couldn’t ‘break’ a leg. She could, however, pretend to sprain her ankle. Cornelius wouldn’t expect her to continue their skate date if she had an injured ankle.

A slow smile spread across her face. It was the perfect plan. Now if she could only figure out a way to ‘escape’ her thoughts of a certain hunky firefighter...

The security intercom by the door buzzed, making Kelsie cringe. She walked over to it and pressed the button. “Hello?”

“Uh, yeah, I’m here for Kelsie,” a male voice replied.

He didn’t sound all that bad. No nasally whine. No feminine inflection in his voice. “I’ll be down in a sec,” she replied, feeling a lot less enthusiastic than she sounded.

Grabbing her purse, she stepped out into the hallway and locked her apartment door before heading downstairs. She made her way to the security gate at the apartment complex’s entrance where her blind date waited.

“Wow,” he exclaimed, giving her the once-over the second she opened the gate. “You’re better than I thought you’d be.”

You’re not.

Trying not to laugh as her gaze moved over him in an equally assessing manner, she managed a very forced, hopefully polite smile. What in the world had her mother been thinking when she picked this guy up?

It wasn’t that she judged men only by their looks, but he was wearing spandex pants for God sake! And it looked like he could pull a rabbit out of the crotch of them.

Scary.

Well, there was no need to look any further for Cornelius’ imperfections. He was a bad dresser with the ‘package’ of a porn star.

Yuck. So not for her.

She forced her gaze up from what was either a male oddity or a portable pet rabbit and continued to smile at her date. “Um, Cornelius, right?”

Just when she didn’t think it possible, his smile widened, reaching his three-inch long sideburns. Maybe he was an Elvis fan. “The one and only,” he replied with a slight bow.

She could only hope there was just
one
of him. The thought of Cornelius having a twin out there somewhere in the world was more than a little unsettling.

“I...uh, it’s nice to meet you.”
Not.

“Same here.” He looked around the complex. “Nice place.”

Yeah, well, don’t get too used to seeing it. You won’t be back.

“Thanks,” she managed with an inner shudder. The spandex thing was freaking her out. “Look, about our date...”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really sorry to make you come all the way here, but this isn’t going to work.”

Disappointment registered on his face. “Why not?”

Maybe because you’re wearing ballet pants?

“Because I don’t have any skates. I would’ve called to tell you, but I didn’t have your number.”

“Not a problem,” he assured her with a wave of his hand. “Your mother mentioned that you had recently donated your roller blades to a local charity drive.”

Funny how her mother had failed to mention that little tidbit of information when they’d spoken that morning. Apparently she’d just been teasing her about Cornelius taking her rollerblading.

She shrugged. “Afraid so.”

“Not a problem. That’s why I brought these.” His smile widened as he whipped a pair of in-line skates with hot pink laces out from behind his back.

“Roller blades,” she muttered in shock as she eyed the hot pink laces.

“Yeah, they’re my sister’s.”

Thank God. For a moment, she wondered if they were his.

“Your mother was nice enough to give me your skate size when I inquired. Lucky for us, my sister’s feet are small like yours. She let me borrow them for our date.”

Her mother was going to pay for this one!

“You didn’t have to go to so much trouble,” she said as she reached for the skates he was holding out to her.

“It was no trouble. Really. Besides, my sister can’t use them until the cast comes off.”

“Cast?”

He nodded. “She broke her arm rollerblading a few weeks ago at our church picnic.”

Oh, that was reassuring.

He pushed his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose. “So are you ready to go?”

No!

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said in resignation, wanting to get this date over with.

A few minutes later, they were on their way to the Olengtangy Parklands. For what normally would be a short ride, it seemed to go on forever. As did Cornelius’ attempts to impress her with his knowledge of facts and numbers and his financial status. It wasn’t working.

When they finally reached the park, he practically leapt from the car and raced around to the passenger side to open the door for her.

At least he was a gentleman.

“Thank you,” she said. Then her gaze drifted downward.
A gentleman in spandex.

“Something wrong?”

Her gaze shot up to meet his. “No. I mean yes. What I mean is that I feel like I’m a little overdressed in my jeans.”

“Don’t worry about it. There’s no dress code for skating here. Besides, you look great.” He grabbed their skates from the back seat of the freshly washed Acura and closed the door. “Take me for instance. I always wear my running pants when I roller blade. They’re both comfortable and breathable.”

She wasn’t even going to ask what needed to breathe down there. She already knew. It was
the rabbit
.

“Give me your purse,” he said, holding out his hand.

Her eyes widened. Her mother had set her up with a purse snatcher of all things. “There’s only about ten bucks in there.”
Taxi fare.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine in the trunk while we skate.”

“In your trunk?”

“Unless you want to wear it. I just thought it would be easier to skate without it.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. Her date wasn’t a thief, just a porn star look-alike. She handed her purse over to him. “Good idea.”

He locked it safely in the trunk of his car and then led her over to an empty park bench where they sat down and changed into their skates. Just her luck, they fit.

“Do you need help up?” Cornelius asked as he stood and pivoted to face her.

“No, thanks. I’m fine.”

But her attempt to get to her feet and remain there proved otherwise. Three seat drops onto the park bench, and one aching ass later, she finally succeeded in remaining upright on her skates.

“Way to go, Kelsie. Way to go,” her date chanted, loud enough to draw several curious looks from passersby.

Could the evening get any worse? That question was answered a few minutes later when she pretended to twist her ankle. The fall itself hadn’t been planned, but she used it to her advantage, adding a few moans and groans that would have made any Hollywood actress proud.

Her date turned and skated back to her. “Are you all right?”

“No,” she gasped. “I twisted my ankle.”

He knelt down beside her with a worried frown and began untying her skate. “Let’s get this off and have a look.”

She didn’t want his hands on her, but she wanted out of their date more. So she sat holding her breath while Cornelius removed her skate and examined her ‘injured’ ankle.

“It doesn’t appear to be swelling...”

“Uh, well, I’m lucky that way. I come from a long line of non-swellers.”

He looked up at her questioningly.

“Good genetics,” she explained with a sweet smile. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. I just need to go home and prop it up for a while.”

“Good genetics or not, I wouldn’t feel right just taking you home without having your ankle checked out first.”

And that was that. Cornelius helped her back to his car and then grabbed her purse from the trunk, handing it to her.

That’s what she got for being such a good actress. She’d been so convincing that her date made a bee-line for the emergency room at Riverside Methodist Hospital.

“Wait here,” he said as they pulled up to the emergency room curb. “I’ll go in and get a wheelchair.”

The second he disappeared through the emergency room doors, she snatched her cell phone out of her purse and dialed Nanci.

“Hello?”

“My mother is soooo dead.”

“Kelsie?”

“Yes.”

“Where are you?”

She glanced toward the emergency room’s entrance with a frown. “I’m at Riverside Methodist.”

Her friend gasped. “As in hospital?”

“Yes.”

“Oh my God, you really did break a leg!”

“No. I pretended to sprain my ankle to end the date early. Only Cornelius insisted on bringing me here instead. Now what do I do?”

“Looks like the only thing you can do is keep on pretending.”

“Damn, here he comes with a wheelchair. I’ve got to go.”

“Good luck!” her friend called out as Kelsie snapped the phone shut and shoved it back into her purse.

A second later, the passenger door opened and her date popped his head inside. “Need help getting out?”

“No, I think I can manage.”

She slung her purse over her shoulder and then scooted onto the wheelchair with a frown. Here she was, queen of date escapes, and she couldn’t think of any way to get out of this mess she’d gotten herself into. Other than the truth, which she wasn’t about to use and hurt Cornelius’ feelings.

Thankfully the waiting room was packed, guaranteeing them a very long stay. Maybe, just maybe, her date would decide the wait wasn’t worth it and take her home like she’d asked.

He didn’t.

An hour later, she found herself thinking the truth might not be such a bad thing after all. They hadn’t known each other long enough to develop any real feelings for each other. How hard could he take it?

“I have to tell you,” her date said, turning to face her. “I had my doubts, this being a blind date and all, but despite this little mishap I’ve really had a great time this evening. You’re everything your mother said you were.”

Had her mother included liar in her list of qualities?

This whole situation was her mother’s fault.

“Kelsie?”

She looked up, following the sound of that deep, husky, all too familiar voice. Sure enough, Nanci’s ‘calendar hunk’ from Casey’s Bar and Grill was making his way across the waiting room toward her. Only this time he was in full uniform and looking incredibly hot.

“Cole?”

She remembered his name. That kicked Cole’s pulse up a notch and he might very well have grinned with pleasure were he not concerned about why she was sitting in the emergency room in a wheelchair.