I shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah, well…” my voice trailed off, momentarily not knowing what else to say.
“I do believe he will be filling in for Dr. Nualli for however long she’s on break, or wherever she is. Why do you ask?”
I shrugged my shoulders again. “No reason, really.”
“Oh honey, you are such a terrible liar! That’s why you’ve got to meet my kids. They’ll give you some pointers.”
All I could do was shake my head and laugh.
“Handsome, isn’t he?” Molly said, wiggling her eyebrows.
“He’s all right,” I said. But the words even felt dishonest to my own tongue. The accurate words to describe Dr. Sholly’s looks were ‘perfection personified.’ ‘Drop dead gorgeous’ worked as well. My heart had practically stopped when I first laid eyes on him.
“Just all right, eh?” Molly said. “Maybe you need your eyes checked. Honey, Lord knows if I was just ten years younger at least!” She sighed.
“Okay. So he may be decent eye-candy, but his personality leaves a lot to be desired.”
Molly nodded. “Yeah well, you can’t always have it all.”
“How much do you know about him? Have you ever worked with him before? How come this is my first time seeing him?”
“He typically works the night shift. Every once in a while, I work the night shift, so I’ve encountered him a few times.”
“Is he always so careless and uptight?”
Molly shook her head. “Not all at. I think you just got the wrong impression of him, really. He’s a nice and decent man, from as far as I can tell. Give him another chance. I think the daylight hours just have him a little discombobulated.”
I huffed. “What do you mean, ‘give him a chance’? I’m not looking to date him or anything. I was just asking a question, that’s all.”
“Uh huh.” Molly paused for a moment. “So, just how are things going in your dating life, missy?”
I fought hard not to roll my eyes. “I don’t have time. I’m—”
“Dedicated to your work,” she finished my statement for me.
“Well, I am. It’s true.”
“And you know what that’s going to get you? A whole bunch of loneliness.”
“I’m not lonely. I have Lucy.”
“I love Lucy, but she’s not as handsome as Evan.”
“Evan?”
“Just rolls easily off your tongue, doesn’t it?”
“Doesn’t change the fact that he seems to be kind of a jerk.”
“I don’t think he means to come off that way. He really does care a lot about his job and his patients. His personality just seems a bit—what’s the word? Strict? I’m sure it has to do with his background though.”
“What’s his background?”
“He used to be in the military.”
“Ahh,” I said, nodding. “Yeah, I’ve known quite a few military. Had some in my family. They can be a bit rigid, but that never made them outright rude.”
Molly chuckled. “I think you just caught him off guard. You know how doctor egos can be. Not all of them are Dr. Nualli.” She leaned forward and whispered, “They can’t always take it when we’re smarter than them.”