Best. Bet. Ever.
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
Oaklee
“Good morning,” I sing as I enter the clinic and head for the nurses’ station.
Allison arrived minutes before me and spins around. “You’re awfully happy. I heard you had an exciting weekend out at the farm,” she suggests, waggling her eyebrows.
“Oh, stop it,” I tell her, slipping my purse into the cabinet for personal belongings. “Nothing happened.”
“Nothing?” she asks, tracking my movements with her eyes.
“Well, nothing but a little kissing.”
She gasps. “I knew it! Tell me everything!”
I shake my head, setting my coffee down on the desk beside the computer I use. “I don’t kiss and tell,” I tease.
“Of course you do!” she proclaims, grabbing her own coffee and spinning her chair to give me her undivided attention. “Spill.”
“Well, he invited me to come out to the fish fry and bonfire at Wyatt’s place. He knew I had never been on a four-wheeler, so he took me for a little trip around the property. I had a really good time. Met a lot of people who I’ll recognize moving forward but won’t remember their names,” I tell her with a chuckle. I’ve always been good with faces.
“Then…”
“Then, I had a few drinks around the bonfire. It was a good time, honestly. I’ve never laughed that hard in my life. Cade and his friends are something else.”
She nods. “Their antics are legendary,” she agrees. “Anyone could give you stories for days. Did he sing?”
I feel my cheeks heat up as I remember the sound of his voice. It was pure honey and sex, that’s for sure. “He did.”
“He’s good, isn’t he? I’ve heard him sing before, but usually somewhere when he just belts out a song,” she says with a laugh.
I can totally see it. Cade has that type of personality.
She sips her coffee and asks, “So, are you ready for today?”
Switching gears to talk about work, I start my computer and prepare to log in. “As ready as I can be.”
“I was told the physicians’ schedule is here. Apparently, there are three physicians going to be filling in for Doc. One Monday and Wednesday, another on Thursday and Saturday, and a third for Tuesday and Friday.”
“I nod. “Makes sense. I’m glad it’s a set schedule and we don’t find out who the doc is until they show up,” I say, going through my log in process. When the system is on my screen, I check today’s schedule over. The first appointments should be arriving any minute to truly get our day started.
When our phone buzzes, Allison grabs it first. “Yes?” She listens for a moment and adds, “We’ll be right up.” As soon as she replaces the phone on the receiver, she says, “Fiona would like us to come up front for a moment.”
I nod, grabbing my coffee and following Allison up to the office. Becky is at the front desk, checking in a patient, as we head to Fiona’s desk near the back. “Good morning,” she greets with a pleasant smile.
“Morning,” I reply.
“Okay, I’ll make this quick. Dina is on her way in and will work from here today. She has finalized the schedule for specialty services that we will begin utilizing here at the clinic. We’re starting with Podiatry services on Fridays, both morning and afternoon appointments, and also a combination of gastroenterology on Tuesday mornings and orthopedic on Thursday afternoons.”
“Wow, that’s great,” Allison says.
Fiona nods. “It really is. Dina and I talked, and on those days, Allison will take the specialty services patients, while Oaklee, you’ll handle the regular clinic patients.”
“Understood,” I reply.
