“What is this Wellness Fair? And do I even dare ask what the annual office outing is?” I whispered to Tyler.
“Every year, Jay likes to do community service. There’s this fair where businesses set up booths in a park to offer free services and resources to anyone who needs them. Jay does screenings and gives away coupons for free fillings and other services. As for the office outing, it’s something we do every summer. We all get together and do something fun. Doc thinks it helps office morale,” Tyler explained, making air quotes beneath the table.
“I’ll have three stations at our booth: screenings, brushing demonstrations, and free resource pamphlets. Who is helping me with screenings?”
“We can,” Jenn said, raising her hand for herself and Erica.
“Thank you. And demonstrations?”
“We want that one!” Macey said, pointing at Tyler and me.
“Perfect. And then Shelby and Devin, are you okay with handing out the free resource pamphlets?”
“Yeah, we can do that,” Shelby said while Devin nodded.
“Perfect. It’s at Pine Ridge Park. If you can all arrive around nine, that would be great.” Jay clapped his hands together while a smile grew on his face. “Now let’s talk about what we want to do this year for our office outing.”
“I was thinking we could go on a picnic, maybe,” Jenn suggested, but her idea was met with silence. When no one immediately jumped on it, more ideas from the group poured in.
“I thought maybe we could go to a trampoline park,” Tyler offered.
“They have pottery-making on Saturday nights at the art gallery downtown,” Erica pitched in.
Ideas were bounced back and forth until Macey finally chimed in with the winner.
“I was thinking of something more like zip-lining.”
“Zip-lining?” Jay asked, his eyebrows raising.
“Yeah. There’s this place about an hour from here that does tours for groups like ours. It’s been proven that doing something that produces a bit more adrenaline can force employees to interact more, as everyone has to trust and support each other. At a picnic, you can break off into pairs and don’t have to engage as much,” Macey said with a beaming smile, though I sensed a bit of an evil smirk behind it.
Part of me would have loved to break off and chat with Macey and Tyler at an office picnic. Still, another part of me remembered going zip-lining in Oregon with Emily as a teenager and absolutely loving it. But I was older now, and things like zip-lining had become much scarier. When I was younger, I felt invincible; now I was much more aware of all the things that could kill me.
“I like that idea, Macey,” Dr. Jay said, seeming to warm to the suggestion. He scribbled something in his notepad before looking up again. “Is everyone alright with zip-lining?”
When everyone else raised their hands, I reluctantly raised mine too. What was I going to do—protest? If everyone else were willing, I would just have to suck it up.
“Great. Macey, why don’t you write down the name of the company, and I’ll give them a call this afternoon,” Jay said.
After the decision was made, everyone dispersed, and I stood up to head to my operatory, unable to fight back a yawn.
“Hope, may I speak to you for a moment in my office?” Jay called out.
With watery, post-yawn eyes, I turned in surprise at the sudden request. “Uh, yeah. Sure.”
Feeling like a kid being called into the principal’s office, anxiety immediately burned in my stomach. Was he going to say my anxiety attack the other day was unprofessional and kick me to the curb? Maybe he thought I was too emotional and didn’t want to deal with any more crying episodes.
He closed the door behind me before taking a seat in the chair behind his desk. I stood awkwardly, not meeting his gaze fully, my arms folded protectively across my chest.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, trying to keep my voice even.
“You seem a bit…” He paused. “Off. Is everything alright?”
My cheeks burned as I thought about my panic attack two days earlier and the moment we’d shared in the supply closet. I could distinctly remember how it felt when he touched my face.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“I don’t want you to be embarrassed about what happened the other day.”
