"No, I'm good, thanks," she said as a small frown flickered across her lips. "I've got to stay a while longer and wait for Liz."
"Everything okay?" I asked as I marveled at how fresh she looked despite the fact that she'd been on duty all night. I rubbed my chin realizing the scruff had popped up and knew I'd have to shave before our date.
Just then, three young women all dressed in matching blue scrubs walked into the ER.
"Well, if it isn't Cam Connor!" the tall brunette said. "It's so good to see you, Cam."
Alex looked back and forth between me and the brunette with a surprised look. I shrugged as I tried to figure out how this woman knew me.
"It's Violet," she said, lightly laughing. "Violet Metzler? You know my father, Richard."
"Oh, yes, of course," I said, suddenly feeling a wave of dread wash over me. If Violet outed me as the owner of CSC before I'd told Alex about it, there would be a lot of explaining to do. "It's good to see you, Violet."
I held out my hand and the woman took it, but instead of shaking it, she pulled herself in close and whispered, "Oh, come on, you can do better than that, certainly," as she hugged me.
I saw the dark look cross Alex's face as I was pulled into Violet's forced but polite hug. I looked back at Alex and shook my head trying to covey the fact that I had no idea who this woman was.
"Have we actually ever met?" I asked as Violet stepped back and looked up at me. She was a pretty girl, but there was something about her that felt slightly off.
"Oh, you silly guy!" She laughed a little too loudly as she swatted my shoulder. "You know my daddy, Richard Metzler! You should know me, too!"
"Ah, I see," I said without commenting further. I knew that to address this issue here and now would bring up a lot of questions that I wasn't ready to answer. "Good to see you, then."
"You should come out with us sometime," Violet said. I knew she was after something other than a date with me because there was a hard look in her eyes as she issued the invitation.
"Yeah, well, my schedule's pretty booked these days," I said, looking over Violet's shoulder and trying to catch Alex's eye again. Alex refused to look up from the chart she was reading, and I knew I was going to have to do some explaining later. As a polite afterthought, I added, "But thanks for the invite."
"I see," Violet said, narrowing her eyes, then remembering she had an audience, she laughed lightly as she said, "Well, if you change your mind, we'll be over at Ricky's Diner for breakfast later."
"Uh huh, thanks," I said as I moved around the three girls and headed toward Alex. I stood behind her and quietly said, "I can explain all that. I don't know her, but I have done business with her father. It's nothing."
"Hey, no big deal," Alex said with a forced smile. "You gotta do what you gotta do."
"Alex, don't be like that," I said as she turned back to her file and ignored me. "I'm still picking you up at seven, so dress up, okay?"
"Uh huh, sure, I'll be ready," she said as she picked up the file and moved behind the desk, pointedly ignoring me.
"Fine, if you're going to be that way, then it's going to be a quiet night for us both, but I'm still picking you up at seven!" I said a little more loudly than I'd intended causing the staff behind the desk to look up.
"I'll be ready,
" Alex said before she walked away from the desk.
I marched out of the ER and back to the truck where Tesla lay curled up sleeping in the front seat. I started the truck and then slammed my fists on the steering wheel as I muttered, "Women!"
Tesla lifted her head up off of her paw and let out one quiet "Woof!" before she put her head back down.
"Not you, too?" I said in an exasperated tone. She ignored me the whole ride home.
Chapter Sixteen
Alex
After Cam left the ER, I went to find Liz. Leslie had been gone looking for her for a long time, and I'd started to get worried. As I walked down the hallway toward the pharmacy, Liz rounded the corner looking much better than she had a few hours before.
"Are you okay?" I asked with genuine concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Liz said, waving me off as she looked down. I could tell she was embarrassed, but I had no idea what had happened. "Just wasn't feeling very good earlier."