“So tell them to cough it up. You’re Mr. Persuasive. I’ve seen the way you work the room when we have our charity dinners.” Mike took Max from Rachel and gave him a big kiss. “Be a good boy to your great-grandma.”
“Bye, Daddy.”
Max patted his father’s face, and Drew marveled at their resemblance. Despite Rachel having dark hair, Max was blond and blue-eyed like Mike, and from Rachel’s constant complaints about how fast he was growing and how much he ate, Drew suspected he’d inherited his father’s large and muscular build.
When Rachel left, Drew nudged Mike. “Fatherhood agrees with you.”
“So much so that we’re thinking of another one. You and Ash ever consider it?”
“Yeah.” Drew chewed on his lower lip. “I keep telling Ash he’d be a great father, no matter what happened to him when he was young. Not sure he believes me. But he insists if we do, the baby would come from my sperm.”
“You’ll both be great dads, from what I’ve seen. Max loves both of you. He always has the best time when he visits.”
“We love him to death.” So much so that the one time Max had slept over, Ash spent the night in a chair by his bed, making sure he didn’t wake up from any nightmares.
Mike touched the earpiece he wore in his left ear. The hearing in that ear had never been restored fully from his tour in Afghanistan, and he used the special device to make sure he knew when his patients were prepped and ready. Drew and Jordan used the intercom they’d installed when the clinic became busy.
“Okay, time to party.” He clapped Drew on his back. “Gotta go fix some teeth. Catch you later.”
Drew loved his job—loved working with his best friends and that he helped people whom society deemed throwaway. Every day he managed to help someone, he considered a win. With a spring in his step, he spotted the first of the board to show up, Elise Montgomery, a wealthy widow and philanthropist, and walked out to greet her.
The day hadbeen beastly at best. A fight at a basketball court had brought in a number of victims. One, a gunshot wound, was sent directly to the hospital, but the clinic was known to the EMTs, and he and Jordan dealt with knife wounds, a broken wrist, and sprained ankles. It was close to four o’clock before he sat down to have a cup of coffee, and his calendar pinged with an appointment reminder.
Dr. Goldfarb at 4:30. Annual Physical.
Shit.The last thing he wanted was to be poked and prodded, but it was almost two years since he’d had an examination. As he debated whether to go, Ash texted him.
If you even think of canceling that doctor’s appointment, I’ll make you regret it.
What will you do, spank me? I might like that, Drew answered, a smile on his face.
No. I’ll tell Esther and let you deal with her.
Bastard. His smile faded.
I’m going. I promise.
Text me when you’re done.
Ok.
He turned off his computer and slipped his phone into his pocket after calling for a car. On his way down the hallway, he met Jordan leading a very tall, lanky young man out with his arm in a sling.
“Don’t use it for a week, and come back for a checkup then. Make an appointment at the front.”
“Thanks, Doctor Jordan. You don’t think it’ll hurt my chances of playing basketball, right? I got a chance at a scholarship.”
“Not at all,” Jordan answered in his reassuring voice. “It’s only a sprain. Make sure though, that you don’t push it too soon, or you can damage it.”
“Thanks, I won’t. Promise.”
Jordan had halted by Drew’s side, and they watched the teenager stop by the desk and make the appointment.
“Where are you running off to, slacker?” Jordan smiled and nudged him.
Drew checked his phone, and the car was still several minutes away. “Annual physical. I can’t blow it off again like last year. Ash threatened me.”
“With what? Oh, I bet I can guess. He’d tell Esther. Good. If he didn’t, I would’ve. Don’t skimp on your health.”
