“Oh, come on, Max. It’ll be movies you like this time; I promise. I think I’ve got a copy of Brokeback Mountain hanging around somewhere...” Becca trailed off.
“Fuck you!” I laughed, shoving her playfully. She wobbled but remained standing.
“Please, Max?” she whined. “We haven’t hung out after work for so long.”
I sighed. “Alright, alright, but I’m going to the gym first, so it’ll have to be after that.”
“See, I knew the promise of seeing Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger ‘going at it’ would spark your interest.” Becca grinned wickedly.
I grabbed her waist, dragging her down from the wall, making her squeal. We tumbled inside the surgery, still laughing and play-fighting.
Rowan was just putting his own coat away, having recently returned from lunch himself. He looked up at our intrusion. “Hey.”
“Hi Rowan.” Becca smiled happily, hurrying past him and making a face at me from behind his back. I frowned, shooting her daggers. Rowan turned, following my line of sight and Becca managed to pull her features into a normal expression just in time. Rowan looked back at me questioningly and I just shrugged, removing my coat.
“Nice lunch?” he asked, clipping his ID back onto the pocket of his shirt.
“Sure, I guess. It was bloody cold though.”
Rowan laughed, and I felt my stomach clench. I bent down and unzipped my gym bag, throwing some loose change into one of the pockets.
“Which gym do you go to?” Rowan asked.
“SW Fitness, over the other side of town,” I replied.
“Yeah? Do you go often?”
I stood up and met his gaze. “As often as I can. I got pretty lazy with it through the summer, but I’m determined to get back into it. If I bring my kit to work, I’m more inclined to go.”
“Yeah, I know that feeling.” Rowan nodded and headed towards his room. I followed closely behind.
“What about you? You look like you spend your fair share of time in the gym as well.” The words were out of my mouth before I had a chance to consider them. I floundered, face flushing, before hurriedly adding: “If you don’t mind me saying.”
Thankfully, Rowan was oblivious. “Thanks, yeah, I go at least once a day for an hour, or so. If I’m having a shitty day, I’ll go at lunch, too.”
I waited patiently as Rowan unlocked the room and joined him inside. He sat at the computer and pulled a sheet of paper towards him, clicking the top of his pen in.
“Are we doing anything for Christmas?” I asked, fighting a smug smile when my phrasing caused him to drop his pen. He bent to pick it up before answering.
“We?” Our eyes locked, and for a moment, I could almost imagine there was a heat behind his gaze.
“Yeah, the practice. Do you do Christmas parties?”
“Oh, yeah. We usually do something. Becca is in charge of setting it all up.” Rowan looked away.
“Christ, we could end up bungee jumping or something then.” I grinned.
Rowan laughed and I tried my hardest to ignore the butterflies in my stomach.
???
“There you go, Mrs Harris.” Rowan helped yet another middle-aged woman up off his chair. “That tooth at the back is just sensitive, there’s nothing much I can do for it. Have you tried a toothpaste for sensitive teeth?”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought...” Mrs Harris gazed up longingly into Rowan’s eyes and I chewed my pen, irritated.
“Well, give that a try.” Rowan smiled, ushering the woman out. Over the weeks, I had become more than aware that over half of Dr Thompson’s patients had nothing wrong with their teeth. I had also noticed that these ‘time wasters’ were usually women, but what I had noticed most of all was how blissfully unaware Rowan was of therealreason ninety-nine percent of his patients were women.
“That was the last one for today, wasn’t it?” Rowan let himself back into the room. I saw him glance at me. He did a double–take and smirked, wandering over. “Have you been chewing your pen?”
