Pucked Off (Pucked 5)

April’s eyes go wide and she holds out the cup, cringing away from me. “Wow. Do I need to stage an intervention?”

“I slept horribly last night.”

“Yeah. You look like you’re packing for a vacation under your eyes.”

“It’s not that bad.” I check my reflection in the mirror across the room.

April changes the subject. “Have you talked to Bernadette yet this morning?”

I shake my head. “My first appointment was early, so she wasn’t here when I came in. Why?”

She gives me an eyebrow waggle. “You need to come check out who’s booked into your schedule and on a wait list for you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think you mean who am I talking about. Bernadette’s been telling everyone who comes through the door. I think you might have a fan.”

“Is it that guy who smells like cheese? Please tell me it isn’t. I don’t think I can handle repeated hours of that.” Every time that guy comes in I’m off cheese for a good week, and normally I love cheese.

April makes one of her signature faces. “Oh, God. No. This is way, way better.”

“So who is it?” My stomach does a little flip, but I quash that quickly. It has to be someone else. It can’t be who I want it to be.

“Guess.”

“I have another appointment in a few minutes. I don’t have time to play guessing games.” I don’t have anyone for another twenty, but I’m not in the mood for this.

“Oh, come on! Why are you so grumpy? You’re ruining all my fun.”

“Fine. Is it that guy who won’t takes his socks off?” I know it’s not him. He only sees Marcie.

April throws her hands in the air. “It’s Lance! You know, the professional hockey player whose ass you had your hands all over last week? The one who asked for your number so you could be his emergency massage therapist?”

“April!” I throw a pillow at her. “Keep your voice down!” While it’s not against policy, I don’t want the whole clinic to know about that.

“That’s the reaction I get? Lance Romero, this famous, incredibly hot hockey player keeps calling to check for cancellations, and you’re worried about my volume? Where are your priorities? Are you sure he doesn’t remember you?”

“As far as I know. Wait. What do you mean he keeps calling?”

“He called yesterday and left messages, and he’s already called twice this morning.”

“It’s only nine.”

“Yeah. He left a message at, like, seven thirty.”

“You’re kidding.” I squeeze past April and root through my purse until I find my phone. I have missed texts and a voicemail from Lance.

Now it feels like Leprechauns are dancing in my stomach.

“Oh my God. He’s texting you? And he left a voicemail? You have to check them! You need to listen to it!”

I hold my phone close to my chest. “You need to calm down.”

“You need to be more excited!”

I roll my eyes but check my messages. I missed quite a lot sleeping through my alarm and being without coffee this morning.“Oh my God!” April rips the phone from my hand. “Did you read this? He needs you. Can’t you hear him saying that in his sexy Irish accent?”

“He’s Scottish.”

“Scottish, Irish, whatever—it’s sexy as hell. You need to find a way to fit him in.”

I’d like to fit him in all right.

She pushes me toward the door.

“What’re you doing?”

“You need to talk to Bernadette before your next appointment so you can call him back and tell him he can come in.”

“He’s getting on a plane; it can wait.”

“Are you crazy? You don’t make guys like Lance Romero wait.”

“I’m sure it’s a skill he could probably use a little help with,” I gripe. “And can we stop calling him by his first and last name? It’s a little weird.” But I stop fighting and let her push me. I’m curious to see what exactly Bernadette has to say about this and whether April is blowing it out of proportion.

As soon as Bernadette sees me, her eyes light up. “You’ll never believe who’s trying to get an appointment with you this week, and who’s booked appointments for the next two months.”

“Lance?”

Her face falls, and she shoots April a dirty look.

April lifts a shoulder. “I got excited.”

“How many appointments has he booked?” I ask.

“Twelve.”

“Pardon?”

“He’s booked twelve appointments. And he took a cancellation for next week, but he says he really needs to see you this week. I tried to explain that you don’t have any openings, but he didn’t sound very happy about it. That accent is so sexy. Where’s he from again? Australia?” Bernadette sighs.

“Scotland,” I reply. “Can I see the appointments?”

She turns her computer monitor toward me and flips through them. He has two appointments a week for seven weeks, starting the week after next since I’m already booked up until then.

I pull up my appointments for tomorrow on my phone. All I have are two half-hour breaks, one at eleven and one at three thirty. The clinic closes at eight on Tuesdays, but since I already have six appointments, Bernadette won’t schedule me another one, no matter how much time I have at the end of my day. As I’m contemplating whether it’s a good idea to give in to Lance, my phone rings.