“I do.” Nathan set his menu down.
“Okay, I hate to say it, but that’s real stick-in-the-mud behavior.” She lifted her eyes from the menu and winked. Nathan chuckled.
“That’s me, a real stick-in-the-mud. What are you getting?”
“Well, after carefully looking over the options, I have an idea…” She winked.
When the waiter returned, Zoe ordered chocolate-chip pancakes and a second black coffee. Then she set her menu down, too, and leaned forward to rest her elbows on the flat tabletop between them.
“Shall we talk about the show?”
“Right to business, I see,” Nathan said in what he hoped was a joking tone. In reality, he was a little disappointed. He’d hoped that they’d chat a little more, like they had the evening before.
“Once we finish up with the business, we can get to the pleasure.” Zoe looked away as she said that last part, her cheeks pinking ever so slightly, and Nathan got the feeling that she hadn’t meant the double entendre.
“Fair enough,” he said. “So, what are you thinking about the show?”
“I’m thinking that we can find some middle ground, like you said.” Zoe tucked her hair behind her ear again. She clearly wasn’t used to wearing it down, so she touched it a lot morenow. “At my old company, we used to play a game called No Bad Ideas. We both share any ideas we have for the show, whether they’re wild or grounded or somewhere in between. Then, once we have a bunch of ideas up on the board, we can pick out which ones are acceptable to both of us.”
“That sounds fair,” Nathan said. “The only problem is that I don’t see a board around here.” He looked around with his eyebrows raised as though Zoe might be hiding a whiteboard behind one of the booths or under the table. Zoe laughed.
“That’s what technology is for.” She took a tablet out of her purse and set it on the table. “So, tell me. What wouldyoulike to see in the show?”
“I’d like to show the strength, beauty, and resilience of small towns like Islingburn,” Nathan said. “I think little places like this often get a bad rap.”
“Okay.” Zoe wrote that down. “I’d like to see a great hook, something that will make potential viewers sit up and pay attention.”
“I want to balance the needs of my patients with the needs of the show. And, as I’ve said, the needs of my patients need to come first.”
“I want people to see what a good person and doctor you are — and that you’re not just a robot.” Zoe made a robot gesture with her arms.
Nathan chuckled. “Point taken.”
They bounced ideas back and forth until their food came, at which point Zoe set the tablet aside and pulled her plate overwith enthusiasm. Nathan watched her douse her pancakes with syrup and take a big bite, her eyes closing with happiness.
“This is really good.”
“I’m glad.” Nathan couldn’t tear his eyes away from her for a long moment. Seeing her smile like that made his heart flutter in a very unscientific way. Then he quickly turned his attention to his own plate of potato hash, fried eggs, sausages, and toast. They ate for a few moments in silence before Zoe pointed at him with her fork.
“What if our hook isyou?”
“What?” Nathan took a sip of his coffee. “How?”
“Well, originally, I wanted the hook to be about some kind of big drama — a secret relationship or a hidden rivalry or a dark secret or something like that. But you don’t have any of those, and maybe thatisour hook. You’re the ‘Hottest Doctor Alive,’ a small-town doctor with a big heart, a strong community, and no dark secrets.”
“I don’t love that,” Nathan admitted.
“Which part?”
“The ‘Hottest Doctor Alive’ part. And the part that makes me sound like some kind of dreamy character instead of a real person.”
“I know.” Zoe smiled. “But the ‘Hottest Doctor Alive’ part will be there anyway, and this way, we don’t have to create drama. If I understand correctly, you don’t love it because you don’t want to be the star of anything, right? But you don’t think it would hurt your patients?”
“Right…”
“So, maybe it’s something we can both live with.” Zoe’s eyes glowed with enthusiasm. She seemed to have forgotten all about the pancakes she’d been relishing just moments ago. “We can showcase who you are, how hard you work, how much you love your community, all that. It can be the kind of heartwarming show that makes people feel better about the world.”
“Instead of being a dramatic and scandalous show that makes them feel worse about it,” Nathan filled in.
