“Yes, very nice.” Angela took her cup and stepped back from the machine. She dithered a bit before taking a seat on the little couch by the window. “How about you?”
“Very nice.”
August wasn’t going to be telling Angela anything about him and Ryker dating a pretty boy. She’d be scarred for life.
Before August and Angela could be forced to continue their awkward chatting, his business partner Mary barged into the room.
She and August had gone to medical school together, and when Ryker got sick of August working too much and offered to bankroll a new clinic for him, she’d jumped at the chance to join in on the venture.
It had taken a few years to become profitable, but they were now firmly in the red and slowly but surely paying Ryker back what he’d invested.
“Good morning,” August said, taking a sip of his coffee.
Mary made a shooing motion with her hand, batting away his attempt at morning small talk, and crossed her arms. She looked up at him with a stern expression. At just under five feet, she didn’t reach higher than August’s abs, but she didn’t let that stop her from meeting his gaze.
“Have you been using exam room three?”
August really wasn’t about to be confronted about using the room for roleplaying purposes in front of their new nurse, was he?
“Maybe.” He tilted his head. “Why? Did I not pick up after myself?”
Mary sighed. “August, we’re not getting another shipment of equipment for the colonic machine until Friday. I can’t just send Cynthia out to buy hoses that fit our machine – they have to be special ordered.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose and made an irritated sound. “Why are you even giving your patients colonics, anyway?”
August tried to come up with an excuse on the spot, but there really was no way he’d give any of his patients a colonic. His opinion was that colonics were a fad with no scientific backing, and he’d made that opinion clear to Mary when she acquired the machine for the clinic.
Mary’s opinion was that if her rich patients wanted colonics, she would provide them and charge accordingly.
“I didn’t,” August blurted out. It was the truth, sort of. Dylan wasn’t really a patient, even though he was in their system and August had treated his mole. “I needed the hoses for my aquarium. I’m really sorry, it didn’t occur to me that they had to be special ordered.”
“It didn’t occur to you.” Mary gave him a look like she was trying to figure out where his brain had run off to. “And since when do you have fish?”
“I won’t do it again.” August held his coffee cup over his chest like a shield. “And since a while ago? They’re pretty to look at.”
He’d have to get a fish tank now. He wondered where he’d put it. Ryker’s office, maybe?
Mary threw up her hands. “I can’t believe you. Fine. Apology accepted, but don’t touch my stuff again without asking.”
“I won’t.” August fought to suppress an amused smile. “Was that what you wanted to meet me about before lunch?”
“Yes. You’re lucky I have just enough hoses to last me until Friday.” Mary poked him. “Or this conversation would have been far less pleasant.”
August couldn’t hold back his smile. “Noted.”
Mary rolled her eyes and left the room without saying goodbye. August glanced over to Angela, who’d watched the encounter with wide eyes.
“She sure told me, huh?” he joked, making her crack a smile.
“Yeah.” Angela cleared her throat. “She’s pretty great.”
It took her a second to realize how that might sound, the mortified expression on her face making August laugh.
“I just meant that-”
“I know what you meant,” August said, still grinning. “And I agree. Mary is pretty awesome.”
* * *
The rest of August’s morning went by quickly, his leisurely morning turning hectic when one of his patients came to the clinic without an appointment because of an unusual bout of shortness of breath. August had sent her straight to the hospital, though it took quite a bit of convincing to make her understand that he couldn’t just give her a pill and let her go home.
