“Oh.” I lift a brow. “This guy have a name?”
She laughs. “So, you can run a background check?”
I stare at her. “So, you don’t want me to?”
She presses her lips together, fighting a smile. “I’ll text you his Instagram.”
“Good,” I say, satisfied.
The curtain swishes open again and Charlize comes in with a wheelchair. I already met her boss, Caroline along with the on-call doc that filled in for Lore. It wasn’t how I expected to meet Lore’s colleagues, but that is how today went.
Charlize parks the chair beside the bed. “Alright, sweetheart, let’s get you out of here.”
Lore sits, and I steady her without thinking. Her fingers brush mine, and my heart leaps like an idiot. I try to play it off, but Charlize definitely sees it and absolutely files it away to gossip about later.
I don’t care.
All I care about is getting Lore home, getting her fed, and better. And after that, taking her on the best date of her life, which won’t be hard considering I’m the only serious person she has ever dated. It can’t be like our old date nights. It has to be something good, something that reminds her of why she married me in the first place.
“Dr Boise,” a voice calls from behind us.
Charlize pauses when David steps forward and rests a hand on the back of the wheelchair. “I’ll take this,” he says, already pushing Lore out. Lore’s eyes nearly pop out of her head, and she cringes as she mutters, “Chief Pratt.”
I fall into step beside them. David glances at Lore, then at me, and shakes my hand.
“Patrick,” he says. “I never imagined I would have to remind one of my best doctors to eat and drink.”
I nod. “That may be on me, sir.”
Lore looks at me, confused, but I keep going. “I’m working on rectifying that.”
David grunts in approval. “Good. I would hate to have to perform an unmedicated appendectomy just to make a point.”
I nod. “Of course, sir.”
By the time he finishes scaring the hell out of me, we’re outside. My car is waiting at the curb. Lore stands after a moment, a little too slowly, still unsteady. The chief pats her shoulder once.
“Be well,” he says, and with that he heads back inside.
Lore watches him go with wide eyes. “What just happened?”
I guide her toward the car. “I just got threatened,” I say simply.
She makes a face. “What? I don’t even understand what any of that meant.”
I open the passenger door for her. “That was your boss reminding me that if I don’t take care of you, he will remove my appendix with office scissors.”
Lore snorts and shakes her head. “Please stop talking.”
I grin as she settles into the seat. “No can do.”
The drive home is quick. The roads are clearer than they should be for this time of day, which doesn’t quite feel as satisfying as it should’ve.
“My dad picked up Milo,” I say, drumming my fingers lightly on the wheel. “I’m going to take the kids this week so you can rest.”
“I’m fine,” she says.
I huff. “At least today. So you can rest.”
