That wasn’t medical advice, she assured herself—just common sense. It still made her nervous to treat a child without a license, even under these seemingly innocuous circumstances. At least she had Liam to verify that she’d made it very clear—repeatedly—that she was not a doctor.
“I have to go,” Rose said, moving toward the door. “Parker and I are having dinner with my friend Vicky and her little boy, Jeremy. He’s just six months older than Parker. We’re having pizza. Parker loves pizza. I do, too, especially with extra cheese and pepperoni. Can I pay you for what you did for us, D—um, Anne? I can pay a little, just not as much as an emergency room visit would have cost.”
“Absolutely not.” Anne saw them to the door. “I enjoyed meeting you, Rose. And you, too, Parker,” she added, tickling the little boy’s chin and making him giggle.
“Thank you again. If there’s ever anything I can do for you, please let me know. Nice to meet you, Lee.”
“You, too, Rose. Bye-bye, Parker.”
Parker waved his now splinter-free hand in Liam’s direction. “Bye-bye.”
Anne sagged against the door when she closed it behind her downstairs neighbor. “Whew,” she said heartily. “That was an experience.”
Liam laughed. “I’d say so. I was surprised when you called me out of the bedroom.”
“I was afraid Rose was going to faint and the baby was going to keep screaming,” she admitted. “I didn’t think I could handle that by myself. Thanks for entertaining them both while I took care of the splinter.”
“No problem. And no harm was done, since she hadn’t a clue who I am.”
He dropped into a chair. “Maybe you should suggest to Rose that she take some first aid classes. I mean, if she freaks out like that over a splinter, what’s she going to do when Parker comes in with a busted head or a broken bone? Little boys are prone to that sort of thing, you know.”
“So are little girls,” Anne answered with a smile, fingering a thin, almost invisible scar beneath her chin. She had fallen off her bicycle when she was nine and then had run into her mother’s immaculate house screeching and dripping blood.
Following her motion, he grinned and nodded. “Oh, yes, I remember you telling me about that. Children and accidents just seem to be connected, don’t they?”
“I’m afraid so. If I see Rose again, maybe I will suggest first aid classes. It’s a good idea fo
r anyone, especially a single mom.”
“You’ll be a great mom yourself someday,” Liam said, his tone ultracasual. “You were very good with Parker. It’s easy to tell you like kids. And you’ll have your medical training to fall back on if they should get into a scrape.”
She swallowed hard. This conversation reminded her of the recent talk with her mother about a pregnant friend and the direction her thoughts had taken afterward. She summarized those conclusions again for Liam. “It will be years yet before I’m in a position to even consider the possibility.”
“Oh, I know. It’s not like either of us is in a hurry, with you in school and me traveling the globe. But I don’t know. Maybe someday?”
Keeping her eyes on her plate, she shrugged. “Sure. Someday. Maybe. Gosh, I’d better hurry. It’s almost time to leave for my study session.”
Liam let her get away with the change of subject. “I guess I’ll work on my revisions this evening while you’re gone. Maybe do a couple loads of laundry.”
“You don’t have to keep doing the housework,” she chided.
He shrugged. “Gives me something to do while I’m sitting here, trying to be creative. I’m not used to being in one place for very long.”
Which probably translated as he was already getting restless after being here less than a week, Anne thought glumly. She supposed she couldn’t blame him. For a man accustomed to a frantic schedule, constant traveling and lots of interaction with other people, sitting alone in her apartment for hours had to be incredibly boring. The high point of his day had probably been making faces at a crying toddler.
Had he anticipated solitary confinement when he’d chosen to stay here?
The study group seemed to enjoy the tale of the splinter later that evening. Anne gave them all the amusing details, though she carefully left out any reference to Liam. All the others confirmed that they, too, had already been consulted for medical advice by friends and family who’d learned that they were medical students.
“They have no idea how little we’ve actually learned about dealing with patients,” Haley groaned, looking at her stack of books and papers. “If they only knew that all we do is sit in class all day and try to memorize massive amounts of information that we’ll probably never remember after the tests are over.”
“I’ve been told we’ll remember more than we anticipate,” Connor commented. “I hope that’s true.”
“I just hope I can remember it all until the test Friday,” Haley muttered.
“Then maybe we should get started,” Ron said, opening a book with a thump.
Ron didn’t seem to be in the best of moods that evening, Anne mused. His usual grin and bad jokes were notably absent, leaving him uncharacteristically grumpy. She supposed the pressure was even getting to him. Maybe he hadn’t done as well on the last test as he’d hoped. Maybe he was worried about Step 1. Or maybe he had personal issues he hadn’t shared with them. Whatever his problem, she figured that the best remedy was to dive into their notes and make sure they all did well on Friday.