“A can-do attitude. I appreciate that. It means you get the job done, and I don't have to follow you around. I really don't have time to babysit you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t need to be babysat, I'm a grown man. Point me in the direction of my first patient and I'll get to work.”
He pointed me toward a room labeled AB one and I walked in to see a young girl sitting on the table with what mostly look like a scraped knee. I scanned through her chart as I introduced myself to her mother and realized why she was there. Previously she had some blood clotting issues, so a scraped knee for her meant a hospital visit. That sucked.
“I'm Dr. Brennan, but you can just call me Cole, what do we have here?”
Her mother introduced her as Olivia. “I know it's probably nothing, but she's had so many problems in the past, and I just felt like we needed to come in.”
I waved her concerns away. “Don't worry about it. Let's see that knee, Olivia. What were you doing anyway? Trying to partake in some type of rodeo?”
That elicited a small smile from the girl. “I'm not a cowgirl. I was just playing on the monkey bars and I fell. It's very simple doctor.”
She was sassy, and I appreciated it. “Monkey bars huh? How many did you get to?”
“Only three. Then I lost my grip, I fell in the mulch.”
I heard her mother sigh behind me. “I told you not to go on the monkey bars, they're dangerous.”
Olivia now sighed, matching her mother's tone almost perfectly. “And I told you I was careful. It was an accident Mom.”
I took a look at her chart again, someone had already come in and done some blood work on her and it seemed that her iron levels were normal. The blood had mostly dried on her knees and she looked pretty good overall.
“I like to do a full examination just to be safe, but I think she's fine. I'm going to send in a nurse to put a gown on her and we’ll get started.”
The mother nodded and she helped Olivia hop off the table. I walked out and closed the door behind me putting in my tablet that I needed a nurse's assistant. Someone arrived only a moment later and went in with a gown that had teddy bears on it. All the bright colors and sounds and kids were going to take some getting used to.
As I continued to look over her chart my cell phone started buzzing in my pocket. I figured I had a couple minutes to answer quickly when I realized it was my uncle calling. And he wanted exactly what I was expecting.
“So when do I get to meet this girl? How is the first day of work going?”
“Can’t you even say hello? The girl is great. And you can set up some fancy dinner for whenever you want. And so far the hospital’s not that bad. I do appreciate however that I'm not cleaning bedpans. Instead, I'm just fixing up a scraped knee.”
“I didn't want it to be a full prison sentence. You already did something similar to that in the past few days.”
“You're so charming when you're angry, do you know that?”
“I'm going to ignore that last comment. How about dinner at Poplopos, tomorrow?”
I nodded. “I'll make it work.” The nurse opened up the door again and I knew it was time to go.
“I've got your back to work. See you tomorrow.”
I ended the call and walked back into tend to Olivia's knee. Tomorrow, the ruse would begin.
Eleven
Addison
I looked around the fancy restaurant I was sitting in, still surprised because I got to visit such a place. It was still a lot to take in. The whole restaurant screamed money, and the customers wore clothes that were more costly than the monthly rent for my apartment. I’d never thought I would be the one to visit this kind of place—furnished with the most expensive things and materials. The gold crystal chandeliers were really sparkling, making me gape at them in awe, and there was even a live band that played classical music.
I’d also never thought I would be dressed in a really nice, satin dress with my straight hair and full makeup. I was in the middle of dinner with Cole and his uncle. I took a sip of my wine and brought my attention back to him. He was talking about something, and I tried to focus on him, but it was difficult since Cole was sitting next to me, and his nearness was making me tense.
Cole was wearing an expensive suit that made him even more attractive—if that was possible. His dark brown hair was slicked back and his expensive cologne was stirring everything inside me. From the moment I saw him I just wanted to jump on him and kiss the hell out of him.
I suddenly giggled, and both Cole and his uncle looked at me like I was weird, which was probably true. Here I was—supposed to enjoy this dinner and give my best to leave a good impression on Cole’s uncle—but I was acting like I was addicted to sex.
Addison, get a hold of yourself. Cole put his arm right next to mine on the table, and I felt hot and unable to breathe evenly. He was too near and I just wanted this dinner to end so I could get to kiss him again. I clenched my thighs together and reminded myself again to be a good girl.