Avery hung his head. “Probably not.”
“Yeah.”
The door chimed as Etienne walked into the shop, pulling Ophelia and Avery out of their melancholy.
“Hey, E,” Ophelia greeted him.
“Hey, y’all,” responded Etienne as he leaned in to give Ophelia another one of those friendly hugs. “Avery, this place is awesome.” Avery and Etienne did one of those bro-clap-hug moves that Ophelia knew was supposed to look tough but always looked like a cute little made-up handshake.
“Thanks, man. When y’all are done, poke around, get a juice, and maybe pick up some beard oil for that ratchet mess on your face.”
Etienne stroked his perfectly groomed beard. “Ratchet, huh? What do you think, O?” he said, turning to Ophelia for her input.
Ophelia blushed and struggled not to ogle at his perfect face. She was at a loss for what to say at first. All witty comebacks had completely fled her brain, so she decided to go with the truth. “Your beard looks great. Dignified. Avery’s just jealous ’cause he can’t even grow a wisp of chest hair.”
Avery tsked. “Don’t y’all have work to do or sumthen?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Ophelia rolled her eyes in fake annoyance. She grabbed her notebook from her purse and gestured to the office door behind the counter. “This way, E.”
The room was bigger than what one would think of as an office. On one side of the room sat a large printer, random boxes for the shop, a filing cabinet, and Avery’s desk. This was clearly the office side. The other side was dedicated to Voodoo rituals. Avery had two comfortable chairs facing each other with a small table in between. The room was lit by soft yellow bulbs in a vintage chandelier.
“This is it. We’re going to remove Avery’s desk since he says he barely uses it anyway. I want to create some type of nice storage area for his files and printer. Maybe even hide it behind a partition. Then I’ll have a couple of chairs on my side and maybe an exam table. What do you think?”
“Yes to the chairs and exam table. You’ll want a place for someone to lie down in case you need to treat the lower body.”
“Got it. I want it to be comfortable in here, not scary doctor office vibes. No offense.”
“None taken.”
“I’ll add some plants, and I was going to hang some of my Mawmaw’s old photos and paintings in here too.”
Etienne nodded, all business. “What about supplies? Have you started a list?”
Ophelia flipped through her notebook. “Yes. I’ll need cloths, candles, face masks, and sanitization products. I have a note that says to ask you what kind. But that’s as far as I’ve gotten.”
“Oh boy. Okay. Get ready to write.”
Etienne rattled off dozens of supplies like gauze, disinfectant wipes, different size Band-Aids, cleaning products, gloves, and more. All the supplies made sense, but then he dovetailed into more serious medical supplies like sutures, scopes, and scalpels.
“Scalpels?” cried Ophelia.
Etienne regarded Ophelia in seriousness.
“You realize I’m not an actual doctor. If someone requires the use of a scalpel, I’ll call you.”
Etienne smiled to himself. “True. Let’s stick with the basics for now, then.”
“Great. By the way, can you get me a pair of pink scrubs? I heard they give scrubs away at the hospital.”
A funny look flashed across Etienne’s face at her question. But he recovered quickly and crossed his muscled arms over his chest as a slow grin crept across his face. “I’ll get you your pretty pink scrubs after you treat your first patient here. Deal?”
“Deal,” she said triumphantly.
CHAPTER FORTY
Over the holidays, Ophelia worked on her treatment room and spent time with her family. She was feeling more confident in her abilities and was going to pull the trigger and start treating at Prytania Botanica in the new year.
It was the first week of January, and Etienne was coming over later that night for a run and practice session.
