“Dr. Jacobs, it’s a pleasure to meet you in person.” I juggle the tray of coffee and the bag of muffins in one hand so I can offer him my other. He shakes it heartedly, his smile wide.
“You’re early. Come on in. The other nurse, Lesa, hasn’t arrived just yet. Oh, muffins! And coffee? What a lovely surprise!” He leads me into the lobby and then through a door that takes us into the back. “Here, let me take that for you.” He grabs the muffin bag, setting it on a nearby counter.
“Thank you,” I murmur softly. “I’ve been a big believer in the philosophy that if you’re early, you’re on time and if you’re on time, you’re late.”
“Well, that will make two of us. Lesa is my daughter, and she hasn’t been on time for anything in her life. Including her birth. She was nearly two weeks late!”
I had forgotten that the good doctor always sounds like he’s talking in exclamation points! Everything is cheery, upbeat, and just shy of actual yelling. He stops talking long enough to open the bag of muffins and take a big bite of one of them. He makes appreciative noises while chewing. “These are delicious, Tristan! Thank you for bringing them!”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying them.”
“Yes, yes, now, let’s give you a quick tour before the day gets underway. You saw the small reception area when you first came in. This is the receptionists’ desk. We have a lovely woman who takes care of checking patients in and out and making appointments.” He moves down a short hallway, and I scurry to keep up. “Lab, nurse’s station, my office, and ten patient rooms. Lesa will give you a more thorough tour when she gets here. I have you shadowing her for this first week so you can learn the routine, the ins, and outs of our office.”
“Lesa and I are the only two nurses?”
“For right now, yes. There are a couple of nurses from the hospital over in Savannah who can come in and cover shifts when necessary. But, I think I’m going to hire another two nurses and a full-time doctor to help out with the practice. Broward is growing like crazy, and during the tourist season, this place can become a bit of a madhouse. We’ll see how the rest of the year goes and then go from there. Ah, there’s Lesa.” The back door chimes as it opens and a few moments later, a beautiful brunette makes her way toward us. She’s pulled her hair up into a neat ponytail that swings with each step she takes. She’s model tall, nearly as skinny as one, and as pretty as one. She’s dressed in pink scrubs that hug her body and show off the curves she does have. Her face is expertly done up with makeup, which I forewent this morning since most patients could care less if I’m wearing lipstick.
She’s so beautiful I want to hate her on sight, and you can’t help but think of all the popular girls from high school and college who were naturally beautiful and, quite frankly, bitchy with it. But the minute Lesa smiles and opens her mouth, she is nothing but a sweetheart.
“Tristan Maddox, what a pleasure to meet you!” She reaches one hand out to grasp mine before wrapping her other hand around both of ours. “I am so happy you are here to help keep this one on track.” She jerks her thumb in her father’s direction. “He can be a bit of a handful sometimes.”
“I’m happy to be here.”
“I hear you have the cutest little girl.” Her smile widens. “She was the talk of Mae’s Diner the other morning, and I hear that my boyfriend’s dog is madly in love with her.”
I pull up short, just barely keeping my smile firmly in place. She’s talking about Owen.
Owen has a girlfriend.
His comment that he could help me put down roots had stuck around in my head for the last couple of days, and seeing him with Stella at the beach yesterday? I spent the rest of the afternoon creating a variety of scenarios in my head, some where I put those roots down on my own, and some where I let him help like he said he would.
He was flirting with me. I know I might be rusty when it comes to that particular area since I hadn’t been on a date since Trevor had deployed that last time, and I sure as hell didn’t flirt with anyone. I had been too focused on finishing my degree, dealing with a pregnancy all on my own, and then juggling being a single mother in a new career. So it felt nice to have someone flirt with me and to think about flirting back.
Guess that won’t be happening again anytime soon.
“Yes.” I lick my suddenly dry lips, sucking in a quick breath of air. “Huck and Stella really hit it off. She talks about him constantly.”
“Owen said that Huck seemed quiet taken with Stella, as well. I think he was a little jealous that his dog was spending more time with her than him on Saturday.” Lesa reaches up and tightens her ponytail. “Well, are we ready to get this day started? The first patient should be here soon so we should take some time to start walking through the process before they arrive.”
The next several hours are spent trailing after Lesa. As much as I want to hate her merely for having something I want, she’s too sweet and pleasant to hate. She’s fantastic with the patients, knows them all by name, and enough tidbits about what’s going on in their lives to carry on a conversation with them.
She knows her stuff, that’s for sure, and she’s a master at making sure her father doesn’t stray too far from the hectic schedule that has been laid out for him.
He definitely has the right idea about bringing on another doctor and a couple more nurses. There’s enough business in the practice to potentially keep three doctors busy full-time. I get the impression that he was a little disappointed that his only child didn’t elect to go med school and follow in his footsteps, but Lesa seems to be quite content in her nursing role.
We’ve made it through the largest portion of the day when the door leading from the reception area to the back rooms is thrown open and Owen Gallahanger comes strolling through.
He’s dressed in a pair of blue jeans, with a khaki-collared shirt neatly tucked into them, and a badge hanging off the front, right pocket. I learned he took over the role of Chief a year ago after his father retired. At twenty-eight, he is the youngest chief the town of Broward has ever seen, but Nora said there wasn’t really anyone else considered for the job when his father decided to step down.
He’s forgone the baseball hat again today, his dark hair curling over his ears and teasing the back of his neck. He once again has the smattering of growth dusting along his jaw. I want to reach out and run my fingers through his hair, down the side of his neck, and along his jaw to see how it all feels beneath my fingers. Pretty sure that would piss Lesa off though, and not only is she my boss’s daughter, and my coworker, but I genuinely like her.
So I shove my hands in the pockets of my scrubs.
Then I notice the blood dripping down the left side of his face, over his brow, and down along his nose. He wipes at it absently, but almost immediately more blood slides down the same path. I move quickly across the room and have almost reached him when Lesa steps out of the nurse’s station.
“Owen, what happened?” She hurries past me to reach up with gentle fingers to examine the wound.
“I had to break up a scuffle over at the Oasis and took a beer bottle to the head. Hey, Tristan, how’s your first day going?”