Loosen Up To Love: An AMBW Romance

By Nia Arthurs

A frazzled foster mother. Two adorable, trouble-maker boys. And the grouchy doctor who's helplessly drawn to them.
Ida Simpson has her life in perfect order and protects that order with everything in her.
Until her boyfriend of six months breaks up with her over the phone; a thief steals said phone in the middle of the devastating break-up, and she ends up accidentally hurling the robber into traffic.
When Ida accompanies the young criminal to the hospital, she meets the arrogant Dr. Park Kang-Dae. He’s handsome, grumpy and has the bedside manner of an undertaker.
They clash every time they meet and she’s pretty sure he lacks a heart.
Hers is still alive and well because, after hearing the thief’s tear-jerker of a story, Ida ends up fostering him and his little brother. Going from newly single to newly single with two kids is a rollercoaster ride that entails frequent trips to the hospital.
But with every visit, more of Dr. Park’s marshmallow heart is revealed and soon Ida finds herself falling for him. Can she juggle her patchwork family and a burgeoning romance? Or will her need for a rigidly ordered life ruin her chances of a happily ever after?

Loosen Up To Love is a heartfelt AMBW rom com with a swoony closed-door romance and tender family moments. There is no cheating and no cliffhangers and this can be read as a standalone. *Note: This book was previously titled ‘PLAY’

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nia Arthurs
• Release date: Apr 7, 2022

Book preview

1

The cell phone was suddenly heavy in her hand as Ida Simpson listened to the love of her life tear her world to pieces with five cold words.

I want to break up.

The scurry of movement on the sidewalk ceased to be.

Disgruntled mothers holding the hands of little children in school uniforms brushed into Ida’s shoulder.

Dark-skinned messengers on tall bicycles rang their bells in warning.

Jerry, you can’t be serious, she licked her lips. Is this because I said I love you last night? Because I really don’t care if you say it back. It was just a spur of the moment––

This isn’t about that, Ida.

Then what is it? Is it my Rump Shaking classes? I told you that weird guy that works the front desk means nothing to me. Tell me how to fix us! I can quit the classes or…

I’m sorry. It’s over.

But, Ida held on and did her best to change his mind. You can’t just break up! I had no idea you were unhappy. I made sure to be the best girlfriend I possibly could.

That’s the problem, Jerry snapped. You did everything with this desperation. It drove me nuts. Made me feel like you’d go crazy if I wasn’t happy.

Tears pooled in her eyes. What’s wrong with that?

I hope someone makes you happy in the future, Ida. But it won’t be me.

Jerry! Jerry, let’s talk about this!

Before Ida could say another word, her cell phone was snatched from her fingertips.

Hey! she bawled.

A figure in a hooded sweater and black jeans scurried away. Ida swung her purse around her shoulders and raced after him.

She had to get that phone back!

The guy dipped and weaved past the pedestrians walking to school and work.

Excuse me! she hopped over a child who was tying his shoes. Pardon me!

The thief prepared to dash across the street. Ida’s breath was coming hard and fast. She’d never catch up to him at this rate!

Thinking quickly, she stooped down and slid her sensible black pumps from her feet. The heavy shoes were not aesthetically pleasing, but they were firm with soft padding.

Ida used to play softball with her cousins in the abandoned yard behind her childhood home.

She lifted the pumps above her head and swung it hard and fast, hoping her hand still remembered the lessons.

The black shoe sailed into the air and caught the thief solidly on the back. He stumbled.

Ida took the opportunity to catch up to him.

Give it! she tugged the device.

The thief held firm, refusing to release the phone.

Jerry! Ida screamed as she fought. Jerry, if you can hear this, don’t break up with me!

You’re crazy, lady! the robber yelled.

He let his hands go, but the force of their tug-of-war propelled him into the busy street.

"Beeep!"

The thief let out a sickening scream as a car slammed into him. He went flying, landing a few yards away on the roadside.

The vehicle raced ahead without stopping as a crowd formed around his still body.

Oh no! Ida covered her mouth and frantically pleaded with the onlookers. Call 911!

Guilt slammed into her gut as she grabbed the phone from the street. She glanced at the screen.

Jerry had already hung up.

Ida pressed the dial button and called the ambulance.

Yes! A man’s been knocked down on Coney Street in front of the elementary school! Please, hurry!

When the operator assured her that help was on the way, Ida ended the call and stared at the thief.

His tan skin was knotted with sweat and blood. Fuzz covered the film of his upper lip. He looked young, about fifteen.

Ida felt every one of her own twenty-eight years as she stared at his unconscious face.

She hadn’t meant for this to happen. How was she supposed to know he’d stumble into moving traffic like that?

Sir! she checked his pulse.

It was still pumping, though faintly. Blood kept pouring out of somewhere, but she was too scared to prod any further.

As Ida was a data entry clerk and the farthest thing from a doctor, she drew her hand away and waited for the authorities to arrive.

The Belizeans forming a wall around their hunched figures grabbed their cell phones. She heard the whirs of cameras snapping on and off as if from a faraway place.

Jerry broke up with her.

Are you seriously thinking about him right now?

Yes. Yes, she was.

How could he do that to her? How could he dump her out of the blue like that?

Ida wanted to clutch her chest and yell her boyfriend’s, now ex-boyfriend’s, name to the sky. But the thief was in more agony and so she refrained.

After five long minutes, the shriek of the ambulance sounded in the crisp morning air. The crowd parted like the Red Sea to let the police and paramedics through.

As the medics rushed to do their thing, one of the police officers approached her.

Miss, how do you know this kid?

Uh, Ida struggled to answer the question. He tried to rob me.

He what?

Excuse me, the medics shoved Ida and the officer out of the way. We need to rush the young man to the hospital.

Exactly which hospital, miss? Ida asked.

The Medical Center.

Thanks.

Would you like to ride with us?

Ida bit her bottom lip. The thief looked so vulnerable on the white stretcher. She had put him there.

Riding along with him was the least she could do.

Alright, Ida agreed. Officer, would you excuse me?

I’ll meet you there, the officer said.

Ida got into the ambulance and tried to make herself as small as possible while the paramedics rushed to stabilize the young man’s breathing.

Don’t die. Please, don’t die.

The chant was more for her sake than his. What if this kid lost his life because of her stupid phone?

No matter whom he was or what he’d done, nobody deserved death over something so trivial.

The ride to the hospital took less than ten minutes. Ida nearly fell out of the truck when the ambulance doors burst open.

Thankfully, she managed to hold on to an iron bar while the paramedics pushed the stretcher to the concrete.

A pile of doctor jargon flew from their lips as the ambulance cried and shrieked. When the paramedics handed the stretcher to the hospital staff, Ida found the courage to move.

She focused on climbing out of the ambulance without falling on her face and managed to do so successfully.

The doctors and nurses were half-way to the surgical room before Ida’s feet had touched the ground.

She ran through the halls, following the sound of squeaking gurney wheels. The white hospital walls blurred together.

Ma’am! Ma’am, you can’t go in there! A nurse stopped her in front of two wide doors.

The sign above the doors read ‘Surgical Ward’.

Ida dipped her head. I’m sorry.

It’s okay, the nurse led her to the waiting chairs. Are you the guardian?

Um, not really.

Are you a friend, perhaps? the pretty lady in the white outfit prodded.

Not exactly.

The nurse furrowed her brow. Ida wasn’t thinking straight and it showed.

What’s wrong with him? Ida stared at the doors. Is he… dead?

No, the nurse assured her. The doctor will do everything he can to save your… I mean, the young man.

That’s a relief.

What’s your name?

Ida Simpson.

Ida, could you come fill out some forms for the patient?

Ida should say no. She didn’t know that kid outside of their little tango over her smart phone. She couldn’t fill any papers.

But for most of her life, Ida tensed up in situations like this.

Sure, she said.

I don’t know this guy. The only thing we have in common is an appreciation for good smart phones.

The nurse trotted off before Ida could come up with a polite way to tell her the truth.

For the next hour and a half, Ida tried to fill out a form for a person that she did not know.

After a while, she approached the blank slats as if she were creating an avatar for the latest video game.

Name?

Mike Wiener.

Ida snickered when the words took form.

Birth place?

Narnia.

The time went quickly as she managed to find the most outrageous responses to the standard questions.

She sincerely hoped that the young man recovered. If he died with this information, would he forever be remembered as Mike Wiener?

How unfortunate.

The doors flew open and Ida jumped. Realizing that the nurses and doctors that operated on the robber were emerging, she stood and waited for one of them to address her.

Anybody… any day now.

Like an invisible toaster, she watched them parade past.

Um, ex—

Pardon m—

Each time she tried to speak, the words got stuck in her throat. These important people would recognize her when they were ready.

Anytime now.

2

Park Kang-Dae, Parker to his friends, strode down the hallway.

His eyes burned, but he refrained from rubbing them in case the antiseptic worsened the sensation.

The scent of life and death mingled in the wards that brought healing to broken bodies and relief to pain.

His comfortable tennis shoes ate up the distance from the surgical hall to the nurses’ desk.

Sabrina, he said.

The young nurse tucked a loose strand of brown hair away from her face.

Sabrina was a beautiful woman with pale skin and long brown hair.

He knew she was interested in him, not because he paid attention to such nonsense, but because he’d stumbled upon a private conversation in which he was the subject.

Though Parker continued to remain professional, he was secretly wary of the nurse.

Yes, Doctor?

Is anyone here for the John Doe patient? I didn’t see anyone in the waiting room.

But someone was right there.

No, Parker shifted. I would have seen them.

Sabrina craned her neck and pointed a manicured finger. She’s right there, in the purple blouse.

Parker spun and focused in the direction that Sabrina indicated. As if she had popped out of thin air, he spotted a woman of average height.

She had dark brown skin, short, curly hair, and a harried expression. There was blood on her clothes and on her hands.

How had Parker missed her?

Thank you, Sabrina.

Yes, Doctor, she smiled.

Parker strode for the woman in the hallway. As he drew closer, he saw her take a deep breath and reach out to a nurse.

Excuse me, she said.

Her voice was low and breathy as if the very interaction was taking all of her courage.

Yes? the nurse raised an eyebrow. Ma’am, are you hurt?

No, nothing like that, she wrung her hands together. The patient you worked on… is he… will he be alright?

He’ll be fine, Parker said.

The woman jumped and looked up at him with big brown eyes. The impact of her guileless gaze slammed into Parker.

He frowned, wondering why he’d noticed.

A-are you the doctor?

I’m not the undertaker, he joked.

The woman obviously did not understand his dry humor. She winced. Parker wished he’d kept his attempt at witty speech to himself.

Are you John Doe’s guardian?

The woman kept her gaze to the floor. No.

Parker stared in confusion. Then how do you know the patient?

It’s a long story.

When Parker folded his arms and kept silent, the woman darted a look at him.

My boyfriend broke up with me over the phone.

Over the phone? the nurse gasped.

Parker glared and she paled.

I… I hear Sabrina calling.

The orderly scrambled away.

Parker nodded at the woman. Please, continue.

Well, her eyes skittered back to the floor. When I was talking, John Doe stole my phone.

Parker’s surprise did not register on his face, but he felt it all the way down to his toes.

What kind of woman looked after the guy that robbed her?

What happened next, he encouraged.

He ran with it and I followed him. He was getting away so I… I…

What did you do?

I threw my shoe at him.

Parker looked down and sure enough, the woman was shoeless on her left foot. She tried to hide her bare toes by pulling it behind her.

Anyway, she rushed through the rest of the account. It caught his head. I fought with him and he kind of fell into the street.

Where a car ran over him?

"It didn’t run over exactly. More like bumped," she swung her hip to demonstrate.

Parker nodded.

Excuse me! Sabrina’s voice interrupted their conversation.

Parker and the woman swung to face the counter.

Sabrina waved the girl over to where a policeman stood with his hat in his hands. It seemed the authorities were ready to question her.

He prepared to move away when the girl touched his wrist and quickly removed her hands.

He stared at the top of her head which was the only thing he could see with her face turned downward.

Thank you, she said.

For what?

For noticing.

Before he could question her further, she sprinted toward the police officer. Her lopsided gait amused him, but her words rattled around in his brain.

Thank you for noticing.

Noticing what? Whoever she was, the woman was strange indeed.

---

IDA STOPPED IN FRONT OF the officer, a little out of breath. Talking to the doctor had helped to calm her nerves.

She wasn’t as frightened as she would have been when the police sat her down for a questioning.

Ida received her lost shoe and met his inquisition calmly. The matter was over before she knew it.

Thank you for your cooperation, the officer closed the book he’d been taking notes in.

You’re welcome.

I’m very sorry this has disrupted your day.

It’s alright. I was only going to the bank. It’s my day off so there’s no harm.

The officer tutted. You’re very kind. The boy that stole from you is Mateo Hernandez. He’s a repeat offender though I think, this is the first time he’s met his match.

I didn’t mean to hurt him.

I know you didn’t, the officer patted her hand. I’m just saying that this accident might shake him up a bit.

Hm, Ida said. Are his parents coming soon?

She didn’t want to run off before the boy’s family arrived.

"He’s got no family. It’s just him and his little brother.

Reviews for Loosen Up To Love

[ehh · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Definitely an amazing read! It was a smooth romance. No unnecessary friction to make it more interesting. It was plenty good on its own.