Until Autumn

Ashleigh swallows over the lump in her throat before letting out a heavy breath and finally nodding in agreement. “You’re right. I can do this.”

“You can,” I tell her. “Now, what do you say we check out what’s going on with your baby and make sure that she’s just as strong as her mother?”

Ashleigh nods, and as I stand, she stands with me. “I’d like nothing more.”

Just like that, I lead her to my examination room, and after confirming that her daughter is measuring small, but is in fact strong like her mother, I prescribe a few things to help get her back on track.

By the time we’re finished with our appointment, the amazing women from one of the best shelters in town are waiting out in the lobby, ready to help her start her new life away from the fear of her abusive husband.

The afternoon sun shines down over the west side of the hospital, shining straight through my office window and making me feel as though I’m in some kind of sauna. My assistant has had the afternoon off, and apparently, remembering menial tasks like turning on the air conditioning is harder than it ought to be.

I get up from my desk and walk across my office to the door. I can’t even remember where the switch for the damn air conditioning is. How is it that I can perform complicated surgeries but can’t remember to press a damn button?

As I make my way out of my office and to my assistant’s desk out front, I check the time. I have a scheduled cesarean in an hour and will need to check in on my patient soon to make sure that she’s doing well and ready to go. Add the woman from this morning and the usual afternoon rush, and my afternoon is bound to be crazy.

I start searching for the switch for the air-conditioner and am just about to give up when a feminine throat clears by the entrance of the main door to my office. My head snaps up to find Autumn leaning against the doorframe with the four massive ‘Policies & Procedures’ folders.

I press my lips into a hard line, trying my damn hardest not to crack a grin as I take in the less than impressed glare in her eye. The folders nearly reach her chin, and I don’t doubt that they’re heavy, but she doesn’t make a move to put them down.

The ball is in her court here. I haven’t seen her since our little run-in at the bar yesterday, but already I feel as though something has changed.

The awkward professionalism from yesterday seems to be gone and all that’s left is a girl glaring at the guy who gave her a bullshit task that she couldn’t say no to.

“Looking for something?” she questions.

I straighten from Laura’s desk and raise a brow as I watch her. “The AC controller,” I explain. “Laura forgot to turn it on before she left, and now my office feels like a fucking sauna.”

Autumn holds back a grin and clears her throat, pointedly indicating to the space beside her head. “I highly doubt your assistant keeps the thermostat that’s screwed to the wall in her desk drawer.”

The cocky grin on my face falters as I follow her line of sight to the panel on the wall right beside her head. “Huh,” I breathe. “I’ve been in this office for just over four years and have never noticed that before.”

“Yeah,” she grumbles, welcoming herself into my office as I walk to the door and fiddle with the AC. “You’re a man. Why am I not surprised?”

I stand in the doorway, blocking the only exit as I watch her stride right through to my desk in the other room and dump the four big folders right in the middle. “Tell me,” I say, knowing damn well that she’s listening to every last word that rolls off my tongue. “Did you come over here just to insult me a little bit more? I thought after last night, you’d have nothing left to say.”

“Ha,” she laughs. “Trust me, I have plenty more to say, and every time you open your mouth, I only find a few more things. But if you must know, I came down here to tell you that I came in early this morning and finished reading over every last policy and procedure in those stupid folders. I can recite them forward or backward if you wanted me to.”

My brows fly up. “Bullshit,” I say, my heart kicking into gear knowing that if she’s finished, I don’t have any more excuses to keep her away from me. “That’s impossible. That should have taken you at least a week to get through.”

Autumn grins wide and it makes something inside of my chest ache. “I’m a fast reader,” she tells me with a proud smirk. “But those procedures are seriously outdated, so I went to the liberty of circling all the ones that need to be reviewed. After all, this hospital has a high standard, and we can’t possibly have our policies and procedures letting us down, can we?”