There’s a little girl with two fuzzy pigtails and a runny nose playing with a doll, and her “guardian” greets me with hopeful silver eyes.
“Hi, beautiful.”
“This is a low even for you.”
He bows his head in what clearly must be shame. Where on earth did he get this little girl from?
I crouch down to face my new little patient.
“And who are you?”
“I’m Janet.”
“Hi Janet, I’m doctor Hodges.”
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
I raise my eyebrows and look at Jason for an explanation as to why this little girl sounds like she’s straight out of a period drama.
“She watches a lot of public television.”
I turn my lips up.
“Well, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance as well. Are you feeling a little sick today?”
“Yes, Mommy says I have a bad cold.”
Oh my God, it just hit me. Could this little girl be Jason’s child?
I cut my eyes at him suspiciously as I continue talking to Janet.
“And so Daddy brought you to the doctor’s office to get checked out?”
Janet giggles as she wraps one of the doll’s curls around her finger.
“Daddy’s at work. This is my big brother, Jett.”
I’m both relieved and shocked, although I shouldn’t be surprised that I didn’t know that Jason had a sister. I pretty much just slept with a stranger, so of course I’m learning new things about him every single minute.
“Your brother?”
“My father remarried,” he explains delicately. “This is his stepdaughter, Janet… my new sister.”
I know how Jason feels about his father, so it’s nice to see that he at least has a relationship with his stepsister, but bringing her here as an excuse to see me isn’t cool. You don’t use a child like that.
“Penny, can you put them in room seven and I’ll see her as soon as I’m finished with the Dawson family?”
“Sure thing.”
I almost choke on my saliva as Penny bats her eyes adoringly at Jason. I’ve never seen her act like that in the years that I’ve known her, and we’ve had some pretty hot dads come through these doors. I guess seeing a football superstar up close and personal like Jason is a little different from gawking at a halfway hot soccer dad. It’s as if he’s completely hypnotized our normally very grounded head of nursing. Actually, now that I look around, he’s memorized the entire room. Moms are smoothing their hair back and texting on their phones, no doubt telling their friends who they’ve spotted in the waiting area.
I stop at my office for a moment to catch my breath. I wasn’t expecting to see Jason at all again, much less here at work, and I will not lie he looks hella hot. He’s wearing a pair of well-worn jeans, a cream Polo sweater, and dark brown boots.
Damn, he’s playing dirty.
I knock three times before I enter the room. Janet is sitting on the examining table swinging her little legs back and forth and Jason’s massive physique is awkwardly trying to get comfortable in a plastic chair that’s two sizes too small for him. His face beams when I enter the room, and it takes everything in me not to smile in return. I’ve missed him, I’m very much attracted to him, but I can’t ever trust him. I just can’t do it.
I roll my eyes for dramatic effect and shove a clipboard into his chest with some intake paperwork. “Fill these out,” I tell him sternly.
