Chapter 5
chapter
five
Lizzie
Carol wasn’t wrong when she said our schedule was packed. We’ve seen everything from double ear infections to your standard norovirus. Remarkably enough, Graham and I work together seamlessly. It’s pretty damn annoying when you think about it.
So far, everything we do together, we do it well. Except for that screaming match when I first walked into his office and got the shock of a lifetime.
I’m finally having a short break so I can inhale a protein smoothie I got at the local ice cream place, Sprinkles. While walking back to the office, I take a moment to send my sister a text.
ME: You are never going to believe this.
ANNABELLE: What?
ME: My hot silver fox one-night stand…
ANNABELLE: OMG! Did he call you?
ME: No, we didn’t even exchange last names. But he’s my new fucking boss!
ANNABELLE: Shut up!
ANNABELLE: Are you serious right now?
ME: This is NOT something I would joke about.
ANNABELLE: That means he’s your new landlord too!
ANNABELLE: Also, OMG, you totally banged the hot doc.
ME: Is that what people call him? Because I was expecting an old man.
ANNABELLE: Well, you know I haven’t been back in town for very long, but I know everyone loves him. He’s a huge financial backer for all kinds of things in the town and the county as a whole.
ME: He accused me of trying to trap him because of his fortune.
ANNABELLE: Oh damn. I’m sorry.
ME: How would I have even known he had a fortune? And seriously, who talks like that? I mean, we’re getting an inheritance, thanks to you, but I don’t go around calling it a ‘fortune.’
ANNABELLE: Well, I don’t know much, but I know enough to say that you know how some people have money and then some people have MONEY?
ME: Yeah, I gathered that much. He clearly thought I was some kind of gold digger.
ANNABELLE: What are you going to do?
ME: Find another job and another place to live.
ANNABELLE: Not back in Houston?
ME: I hope not. I don’t want to move the kids too much. But I can’t work with him. Not after that night.
Because he already made me want more with him. Today, watching him with the sick kids and holding the babies, gah, it’s a wonder I’m not currently pregnant. Despite his accusations, I know he’s a good man. You only have to be in the same room with him for five minutes to see that.
ANNABELLE: What was his house like in Crescent Bend?
ME: I’m not sure how the house itself was. We went into like a garage-level basement. I thought maybe he was the gardener.
ANNABELLE: *snort.
ANNABELLE: You just got here. I don’t want you to move away. I’ll talk to Greyson and see if he can think of anywhere you and the kids could stay.
ANNABELLE: I’d say our cabin, but you know it’s not big enough.
ME: I know. Thanks, sis.
ME: I gotta go and get back to work. We’ve been slammed with patients.
ANNABELLE: Good luck. You’ve got this!
But I did not have this. I was in way over my head and damn it all if I didn’t want to go home and crawl back into bed. Snuggle in with my kindle and read another small-town cowboy romance.
If I’ve learned anything about my life, though, it’s that it doesn’t resemble a romance novel in any way.