Intoxicated By You

“Yes, she graduated with Drake. We’ve never hung out, but I’ve heard great things about her. She’s the music teacher at the high school. Why?”

Hollis blushed like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “No reason. Why would you ask? Can’t I ask a question about a member of the Skagway community?”

It was hard to keep a straight face. Calmly, I stated, “Because we’ve seen twenty-two patients today, and not once have you acted goofy like this. Did something happen in there?”

Hollis looked at me like I was crazy. “I can guarantee that nothing happened in there.”

I teased, “Did you want something to happen in there?”

He stood straighter and blinked a few times. “You need some rest, Alexa. I’m not acting goofy, as you say. And… you’re delusional.”

“Or I’m totally on my game and see that the good ol’ doc has been bitten by the lovebug.”

Hollis rolled his eyes at me. He was protesting too much for this. Normally, when I was wrong, he shrugged and moved on.

“Skagway is too far north for lovebugs to reside. The southeastern United States is as far north as they’re typically found. I believe your diagnosis is wrong, Ms. Owens. The weather is not conducive to the lovebug species.”

I giggled. “Sometimes you’re too smart for your own good. You know that’s not what I meant. Metaphorically speaking, the lovebug got you. Admit it.”

Shaking his head, he replied, “I’m too tired for this nonsense. I’m going to head up to my place to read the medical journals that arrived.” He stopped and looked at the time. “No, I’m going to go get another coffee. That’s what I’m going to do.”

“And hope you run into a certain music teacher?”

That got no response. He stomped upstairs to get his keys. “Lovebug my ass. You know the threat of medicating me… it goes both ways.”

On his way back down, he looked at me, and I smiled before making a kissy face. He mumbled, “Sometimes I feel bad for Drake.”

“Night, Hollis. I’ve heard that asking someone out cures the lovebug.”

He said nothing. Yeah, he had it bad. We’d revisit the Devney topic the next time he irritated me, which was likely the next week. When he got to the door, I asked, “Do you want to come to dinner tomorrow night at our place? You could see the cabin and start thinking about what you want to do for yours. I’m going to make your favorite dessert.”

“You’re trying to bribe me.”

“Maybe. Is it working?”

“Count me in,” he said as he walked out the door.

I finished the filing and got prepped for Monday. When I was just about done, the door opened again, and Hollis came back in and hugged me. “On a serious note, thanks for convincing me to come here, Alexa. It really has been what I needed all along.”

I hugged him tighter. “Thank you for coming. It’s turned out better than I could ever have imagined.” Not only was there regular medical help, but people had a better chance of survival when there was an accident.

He raised his eyebrow. “But we need a receptionist.”

I began to agree, but he cut me off. “Seriously, I need you with me in there. We’ll never make it as a fully functioning clinic if we’re not doing what we were each trained to do. You’re spending too much time on administrative tasks.”

We were on the same page. “Okay, I’ll look for someone. Maybe we could start off with a part-time position.”

“Just get someone trustworthy. Part-time, full-time—it doesn’t matter. And we’ll pay whatever is fair for here.”

“I’ll start looking.”

Satisfied that reason had prevailed, Hollis said goodbye. He was right, of course. Things would be less stressful if I were able to actually focus on the nursing aspect and not have to check in patients, schedule appointments, and deal with insurance.

After locking up, I went to my truck. It wasn’t as late as I thought, and I’d beat Drake home by a few hours. Maybe I would make lasagna and start a fire. An easy night home sounded blissful.

As I reached my truck, a car pulled into the driveway, and I groaned. As terrible as it sounded, I hoped it wasn’t a patient who needed to be seen. I was beyond tired. The car stopped, and I realized it was Teagan. Great. I was still sore about how she’d left my stuff on her front porch and hadn’t bothered to return any of my calls or texts.

She rolled down her window. “Hi. I came to apologize for how I’ve been and see if I could take my best friend to dinner.”