I chuckle, shaking my head and brushing the stress of the entire relationship off my shoulders as I stand, pushing the rolling chair into the desk. “Room two, suspected UTI, you said?”
***
“You called it,” I call over to Piper once I discharge our patient with a script for antibiotics and recommendations to push fluids. “That makes, what, our fourth UTI today?”
I pull out the rolling chair next to Piper, pushing my weight against the back to stretch out my aching muscles. My calves are on fire as I’m realizing I’m a little out of practice wearing heels all day.
The sun has started to lower in the sky, sending its colorful oranges and pinks through the large windows that surround the waiting room.
It’s only Piper and me closing the clinic tonight. There is another provider that works during the day when it’s a little busier, but once it hits five o’clock, patient traffic slows, and sometimes we sit around gossiping the last forty-five minutes or so before we lock up.
When Piper doesn’t answer, I twist my neck to look over at her, and she’s smiling at me. Her chin is resting in her palm with her elbow propped on the desk, as if she knows the juiciest gossip that I don’t.
I bring my frame forward, immediately sitting up in my chair. “What’s that look for?”
Her smile manages to grow even more, and she rolls her lips together as she leans back. “Is it your birthday any time soon?”
I furrow my brow at the abrupt change in conversation. “Nope. I’m a Christmas baby.” And with the winter weather gone and the sun promising that we are finally heading into the early days of summer, my birthday isn’t even on my mind.
“Damn,” she curses, seemingly bummed for a moment before her face perks up in another smile. “Oh well, I thought our next one would’ve been a perfect birthday present for you. Consider it a welcome back to the medical field gift.”
I hadn’t realized another patient had walked in. It’s two minutes until the doors close, so I had lingered with our last one, taking the time to talk to her and her caregiver since I expected them to be the last patient for the day.
I stand, peering down the hall to the doors of patient rooms to see that the green flag for door four is up, indicating they’re ready to be seen. “Room four?”
She nods slowly and that devilish look appears back on her face. I imagine all the scenarios that would make this a gift to me. Something rare, maybe a flesh eating bacteria. Something ridiculous that we’d giggle and gossip about later, like someone coming in with something inserted in a place that, well, let’s just say, isn’t naturally inserted.
I look at the closed door of room four, to Piper, then back and forth again before leaving my gaze on her. “What is it?” I ask. “You’re almost making me nervous.”
She leans back in her chair with a heavy sigh. “Behind door number four we have the eighth wonder of the world. God’s gift to women. A man written by women. A man so dreamy I could literally slip on my own drool.”
I chuckle under my breath at her rambling. “Who the heck is in room four?”
Piper claps her hands together and tucks them under her chin. “Grayson Hart has entered the building.”
I rack my brain at the name Grayson Hart, wondering if he’s an actor or someone locally famous that I should know about, but come up blank. “And he is special, why?”
“Because he’s the definition of a man. Aman, Dr. Carrington—capital M-A-N. I went to school with the Hart family. His younger sister Harper and I have been best friends our whole lives. Every girl has had a crush on Grayson or one of his brothers at one point in their life. It’s like a hormonal right of passage.”
I shake my head at her, chuckling at the difference in our age. With me being at least ten years older than her, I doubt there’s a man that could bring stars to my eyes like Grayson Hart apparently does for the women aroundhere. “And Grayson is that dreamy, hey? No one can withstand his charm?”
“Yes. But it’s not even that he’s charming. He’s charming without saying much, if that’s possible. And don’t take it the wrong way. He’s not an asshole or a playboy. He’s dated a little bit here and there from what I can get out of Harper, but he’s quiet. He keeps his head down, doesn’t go out much, and instead spends his days and nights working on the family farm.”
I stand from my chair, chuckling at her as I do. “Want me to put in a good word for you with this Grayson? Sounds like you have more than a little crush.”
I swear I see the faint pink of a blush crawl up her cheeks. “Oh my gosh, no. Harper would kill me. They’re all dreamy, all of her brothers, but they’re like family to me. But you,” she says, wiggling a finger up and down my frame. “You with your doctor brain and skinny waist and sexy high heels, you go in there and make us proud. Climb that Everest and then tell us all about it. Take one for the team, Doc.”
She turns to the computer, covering the mouse with her hand and wiggling it until the screen brightens. “He cut his forearm while working today. I’m going to draft a thank you letter to John Deere for excessively sharp mower blades while you go stitch him up.”
A laugh rolls out of me, and I playfully slap her shoulder as I walk around her toward the hall that houses patient rooms. “You’re ridiculous. He is a patient. I am a doctor. I just got out of a terrible engagement and my life is a hot mess. There is no way I’m going to take one for the team.”
I saunter toward his room, and when my hand curls around the silver handle, I hear Piper whisper-shout from the desk, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Chapter Two
Grayson
Ipace back and forth in the small room, two steps in one direction, then a spin of the heel and two more the other way. Spin again, and repeat. “Any day now, Doc,” I mutter under my breath.
