His enthusiasm was infectious, and I couldn’t fight the smile on my face. “You keep working hard, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Come on, buddy. I think someone deserves some ice cream for working so hard,” Mr. Green suggested.
Lucas squealed before racing to the door of the waiting room, causing us to chuckle. “I would suggest two scoops, but then I don’t have to go home with him,” I mused.
“Thanks again, Dr. Whitfield.”
“You’re welcome.”
I then followed Lucas’s parents across the waiting room to the door. After giving them a final wave, I exited the waiting room. I found several of my colleagues standing around the circular receptionist station. It was one of our end-of-the-day rituals–a way to let off some steam by chatting.
Although I wanted to talk to my bestie both in and outside of the practice, Tara, the sight of one doctor in particular caused me not to join them. Dr. Miles Stanton had recently joined our practice from New York. Although he was a very renowned speech-language pathologist, he gave me the creeps with the way he sometimes leered at me.
After throwing up my hand in greeting, I started to continue on to my office when Miles stepped in front of me. “Where’s the fire, Whitfield?”
With a tight smile, I replied, “Nowhere.”
“You sure seem to be rushing off somewhere.”
Before I could answer, Tara came over to sling her arm around my shoulder. “Sarah has dinner plans.”
Miles’s expression darkened. “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”
Since I didn’t want to give a creep like him any insight into my personal life, I gave an apathetic shrug of my shoulders. “We have a standing Wednesday dinner.”
“Sounds serious,” Miles remarked.
Tara waggled her brows. “Oh, it is.” When I shot her a look, she added, “Sarah’s been seeing him for years.”
With a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, Miles said, “Well, he’s a lucky man.”
“I’m the lucky one,” I countered.
“Right. Well, have a good evening.”
After Miles excused himself, Tara winked. “How long do you think it’ll take him to figure out the identity of your mystery man?”
With a roll of my eyes, I groaned, “It depends on which office busybody he interrogates first.”
She snorted. “And you know he will.”
“Why do the creepy ones always have it out for me?”
Tilting her head in thought, she suggested, “You have a head for business but a bod for sin.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Ew.”
“Or maybe it’s a misguided teacher fetish. He wants you to fuck the fluency out of him.”
“You’ve seriously got to get out more.”
Tara swept a hand to her chest. “I’mthe one who needs to get out more? You’re the one who spends way too many weekends at boring conferences.”
At the mention of how I spent my weekends, I decided to quickly change the subject. While she was my best friend, there were some aspects of my life that even she didn’t know about.
“On that note, I’m going to take my boring self to Sammy’s.”
