“So, how is Granddad? Is he okay? Did you find some help?”
“I did, actually. Her name is Harriet Smith, and I love everything about her except for her long-distance boyfriend who calls multiple times a day.”
“Ooh, that could be a problem. Is she gonna run off and get married like I did?”
“I don’t think he’s the one for her.”
“Well, you would know. You saw West’s potential before I did.”
Johnny complained about Emma’s lack of participation, so she picked up a dried orange and threw it at the wall. Okay, throwing these things was sort of satisfying. She threw another one, and Johnny whooped, launching one into the air. She caught it before it landed on his head, almost dropping her phone.
“Are you still there?” Emma asked, putting her phone back up to her ear.
“Yeppers. Is that my Johnny I hear?”
“Yeah, I’ll see if he wants to talk on the phone.” Emma tried to coax him over to say hello to Taylor, but he was not interested. As far as he was concerned, if Taylor wanted to talk to him she could appear in the flesh. He loved Emma chasing him, though. He ran away giggling, and she followed him around the tree. At this point, she’d take anything that kept him entertained and out of trouble.
“Emma, if you don’t think he’s the guy for her, I think you should maybe discuss some phone time boundaries and see how it goes. She’s either gonna get defensive real quick, and you’ll know you have a problem on your hands, or you might open her eyes to maybe backing away from him. Sorry, I shouldn’t butt in. It’s totally not my place anymore.”
“No, no. That actually makes sense. I’ll think about it.”
Harriet was coming later today, after Isabella’s visit. Maybe Emma would find a way to bring it up, though she hated to mess with a good thing, and having Harriet there was definitely a good thing.
“Hey, I have to go,” Taylor said. “You amazingly called me right at my break time. I’ll call you soon, okay?”
Emma said goodbye and tucked her phone in her back pocket right as Johnny dropped a handful of oranges on the ground and kicked at them.
“All done,” he said, waddling toward the house. His diaper probably needed a change. Isabella said potty-training with a new baby on the way was a lesson in futility. Having never potty-trained anyone, Emma was in no position to judge.
Emma ran and headed him off before he reached the door. “No, wait. We just need a target. Like a … monster or something.”
She ran over to the abandoned sidewalk chalk from the beginning of their visit and took a piece back to the wall. “Watch, Johnny.”
She drew a hulking figure with three googly eyes and big teeth. A few extra strokes and he had hair spurting out in random places. Johnny pointed. “Moster.”
“Yep, that’s a monster. Let’s get him.” She stepped back and threw one of the shriveled oranges at the chalk figure.
Johnny joined her, and they kept it up for another fifteen minutes until Isabella called them in for cookies. It was the hardest earned cookie break she’d ever had.
***
Dr. Perry stopped George as he exited their exam room. “Hey, I’ve hired someone for the receptionist position.”
“When?” Technically, it was Dr. Perry’s job to hire people, but George hadn’t expected him to actually get it done.
“This morning. She’s very experienced and motivated to work here. I guess her aunt and grandmother live on the premises, and she’s moving in with them.
“Betty Bates is her aunt, then?”
Dr. Perry’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You knew? Well, now I feel even better about it. She has some unpacking to do today, but she’ll be coming after lunch for a little bit of training. Her name is Jane Fairfax.”
“Sounds good.” George wiped down his laptop and headed to go wash his hands and change his lab coat. His last patient had coughed all over him, and tests would probably confirm pneumonia.
There was no use worrying about the receptionist until he met her, but the whole thing struck him as odd. Jane had to be either extremely practical or extremely desperate to want to live in a tiny apartment with her spinster aunt and grandmother. As far as he knew, she’d never visited before, so her decision to move in with them wasn’t out of love.
His curiosity about her stayed like a buzzing gnat through his next few appointments, until Jane herself came in the door and took off her sunglasses. She was younger and more attractive than he’d expected. He hoped that wasn’t the reason Dr. Perry had hired her. Being recently divorced, Dr. Perry’s bitterness had fueled a need to go through girlfriends like loads of laundry. An in-office romance like that would only end in disaster.
George went out to greet her and bring her into the back office. Her handshake was firm and her expression one of neutral interest. If she was nervous, she didn’t show it.
