“Hey, Cooper,” I say. “What brings you to the island today?”
“Oh, you know, had a meeting and then was going to go check on my parents, but my mom called and asked if I could pick up the refill prescription you have for my dad’s meds.”
“Yeah, let me see if I have that.”
I pull up Martin Chance’s chart on my computer and go to his medications.
“I don’t understand why the pharmacy won’t just let you send it or call it in. This is such a pain in the ass for everyone.”
I pull out a prescription pad from my desk and write out his medication and dosage with the pen my dad used to use when he’d write poems on his hikes. “It’s really okay on our end. Not a big deal at all.” Nervously, I reach for my water and take a drink, only to spill it over my shirt.
“Whoa, everything okay?” Cooper asks, looking around, probably for a napkin of some sort.
“Yeah.” I laugh nervously while picking up a napkin from my desk. “Sorry. Long night.”
“Storm was crazy, right?” Cooper asks just as there’s another knock on my door.
Tara pops her head in. “Dr. Beau, Palmer Chance is here with an emergency.”
Oh hell.
She joked at lunch how she was going to come to my office with an emergency, only to surprise me with her naked body in a trench coat, needing an “exam.”
Please, Jesus, don’t let her be in a trench coat. If she was embarrassed last night with the lab coat, she’d be horrified showing up in a trench coat, only to find her brother waiting for a prescription.
“Is she okay?” Cooper asks Tara, concern in his voice.
“She looks okay.”
Oh shit.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She’s in the trench coat.
“Um, tell her I’ll be right with—”
“Beau, I need your help,” Palmer says, coming into my office but stopping short when she sees her brother.
Thank God there’s no trench coat. I let out a sigh of relief. That could have been particularly awful for everyone involved.
I take that moment to look her up and down. That’s when I notice a few scratches on her legs and arms and . . . oh hell, what did she do to her cast?
“Cooper, what are you doing here?”
“Picking up Dad’s prescription.” He stands. “Palmer, you can’t just come barging in here when Dr. Beau is with other patients. That violates so many laws.”
“It’s fine,” I say, trying to calm the tension that seems to be brewing between them. “Palmer, I’ll be right with you. Wait for me in the exam room, okay?”
She eyes Cooper and then looks back at me. “What are you two talking about? Me?”
Jesus Christ.
“No—”
“Why would we talk about you?” Cooper asks. He looks back at me and then at Palmer.
Palmer folds her arms, her muddy cast highlighting her defiance. “Maybe because Beau and I slept together last night.”
What in the living hell is she thinking?
“You what?” Cooper turns toward me, and I hold up my arms.
“We didn’t sleep together, sleep together. Just shared a bed. Nothing like you’re thinking,” I say in panic. The number one thing I’m sure Cooper doesn’t want to hear: how his sister spent her night.
“And we kissed and—”
“Palmer,” I say, trying to send her a warning through my eyes.
“Do you have anything to admit, Cooper?” Palmer asks, her hip jutted out.
Why do I have a feeling that things are about to explode, and not in a good way at all? Defuse, quickly.
I pick up the script for Cooper, hand it to him, and then stride over to Palmer. Gently, I take her arm and guide her out the door. “Wait in the exam room. I’ll be right there.”
“I know what you’re doing, Cooper. I’m onto you,” Palmer says over her shoulder. “Watch your back, son.” I shut the door and take a deep breath.
Jesus, what did I get myself into?
I glance up to see Cooper standing there, script in hand, brows narrowed, not looking happy at all.
“You and my sister?” he asks.
“I found her out in the rain last night. She needed a place to stay. We’ve both had feelings for each other for a while, and we kissed.” The confession rushes out of me. I don’t know why I’m so nervous. Cooper and I are about the same size, but there’s just something about respecting the family of the person you’re interested in. He doesn’t need to know exactly what went on.
“Is that all you did?”
I clear my throat. “Um, there might have been some wandering hands, but that’s neither here nor there. What really matters is that my intentions are pure.”
Cooper steps up to me, inches away from my face, and I brace myself. “Good luck,” he says simply. “You’re going to need it.” And then he takes off.
Uhh . . .
What?
Good luck? No older-brother lecture?
No “don’t hurt my sister” threat?
That was not what I expected at all.
Leaning against my desk, I let out a deep, relieved sigh and wonder if that’s it, if that’s all the Chance-brother questioning I’m going to have to deal with. A part of me thinks I’m not that lucky, especially since the most protective brother still doesn’t know.
I make my way to the exam room and shut the door. Palmer is sitting on the table, one leg crossed over the other, looking very angry.
“So, care to explain to me why your new cast is muddy and wet?”
She points toward the door. “He’s up to something, Beau. I saw him with your sister.” She’s fidgety, excited, conspiratorial. Not the same girl from last night.
“With Larkin?” I ask, a stupid question since I only have one sister.
“Yes. At the sandwich shop. They were in there working together.”
“How do you know this?” I ask. “Were you spying on them?”
“Of course,” she answers, as if that was a dumb question.
“And this spying . . . did it lead to you needing another new cast?”
She glances down at her arm and then back up at me. “You know, a little support here.”
“I’m trying,” I answer. Because hell, I am trying. I’m trying to piece together what has gotten into her in the last half hour, since I left her with a parting kiss. “Just trying to get the whole story. So, you were spying . . . in the mud?”
“Of course not.” She rolls her eyes. “I was spying in the bushes. It’s why I have all these scratches, because I was battling relentless foliage. Actually, how is my forehead? One branch slapped me right between the eyes.”
I examine her face, trying not to be distracted by how beautiful she is, scratches and all. “It’s just a little red. Seems like a tough afternoon.” I attempt to hold back my chuckle, and the thought of Palmer squatting and hiding behind bushes to get closer to Larkin and Cooper and whatever they have going on. Knowing my sister, probably nothing of importance, but it’s cute seeing Palmer trying to “solve a crime.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I don’t need another bandage on my head.” She sighs. “Anyway, I lost my balance and fell backward into a puddle. It’s why I have a muddy ass again and why this cast is a mess.”