7. Competition Already
7
COMPETITION ALREADY
“ D id you have a good day off yesterday?” Coy asked Angel on Tuesday morning.
“I did,” she said. “How about you?”
“I just relaxed and spent the time with Spencer before he had to leave to get on the ferry.”
“I’ll have to get used to that,” she said. “That the ferry on and off is what is really dictating travel times or adding to it all.”
She’d been warned by Spencer and her parents that she might feel trapped.
She didn’t look at it that way.
Everything she could need was here on the island. If it took her a bit longer for other things, then so be it. She’d just plan better.
“It is,” he said. “There is always the helicopter but at a price. I don’t use it much, but my parents primarily go back and forth that way now. Even my brothers if it’s for business. Or if it’s business, they try to do everything they can while they are in Boston.”
“It’s nice to have a helicopter you can just call up when you want,” she said, laughing. Just another reminder of things she’d forgotten. His lifestyle was so much different than hers.
“True,” he said. “But not quite like that. Are you ready to get started today? You’re earlier than I thought you’d be.”
“Just really excited,” she said.
When she got there, the door was locked, which forced her to text Coy. She’d seen his Range Rover in the back but no other vehicles.
He came around to let her in and then handed her over a key and showed her how to set and disarm the security system.
“I’m glad,” he said. “Staff should be here in the next twenty minutes or so.”
“I’ll just hang up my stuff,” she said. “Put my food in the fridge. You don’t have to entertain me.”
“Nonsense,” he said. “I’ve got your laptop set up and when Maria gets here, she’ll give you what you need to sign on. Sarah will show you how to use the software.”
“I’ve used different software in college.”
“They are all pretty similar,” he said. “The dental assistants do put most of it in for me and then I check it over after office hours. It will be your choice what to do.”
“Oh,” she said.
“They start it or I do. Whoever gets to the computer first. But while I’m going to check on other patients and there is wait time for things, Miranda or Ellen will jump on the computer and enter information too. At the end of the day, I go over everything to make sure it’s set. There is just so much running around and time management, that typing in my notes during the day isn’t part of it.”
“Makes sense,” she said. “I’m going to assume you want people in and out faster than me doing my notes on time?”
“I’d like them done at the end of the day,” he said. “For billing purposes.”
“That is what I figured I’d do too. I’m adaptable. Do you normally stay late here to do them?”
Which would give them time together in the office when no one was around.
Talk about a reason to work that way.
“I do,” he said. “Unless I need to leave for some reason, but that’s not often. I lock up at the end of the day. I’m the last one to leave.”
“It’s probably nice to get the work done when it’s quiet,” she said.
“I think so,” he said. “But there is the on call service that happens at times too. Not too much.”
She turned her head when she heard voices. “Guess people are here.”
Three women popped their heads into the office where she and Coy were talking.
“You must be Dr. Jansen. I’m Maria, the office manager. I’ll meet with you soon and get all your new hire paperwork taken care of.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” she said, moving forward to shake her hand.
“I’m Sarah. I do the billing and when you’re done with Maria, she’ll bring you into my office and we’ll get you set up on the computer.”
“I’m Abby. I’m one of the dental hygienists. I look forward to working with you. It’s a great place to be employed. Coy is awesome.”
She saw the woman’s eyes land on Coy and smile. Flirt was more like it. Great. Competition already.
And if she could notice someone doing that to Coy, she wanted to make sure no one could see her doing it.
Abby’s phone rang and she walked away to answer it.
“I’m sure Angel knows I’m awesome,” Coy said, smirking at Sarah and Maria. “I’ve known her for years.”
“Oh,” Sarah said. “How?”
“Coy and my brother, Spencer, are best friends.”
“You’re Spencer’s sister,” Maria said. “Oh, my God. I hadn’t put it together with the last name. I know that Coy had said Spencer’s full name before, but I had no idea. Why didn’t you say anything, Coy?”
Maria had her hands on her ample hips. She looked to be in her forties with a wedding band on her hand.
“Angel being related to Spencer has nothing to do with it,” he said. “I hired a new dentist and am thrilled she was willing to come to the island and give it a try.”
“Anyone would be nuts not to want to live here. Or work for Coy,” Sarah said.
“I hope you’re right,” she said, smiling, then turned to wink at Coy.
“If you’re not doing anything,” Maria said. “You can come with me and we’ll get you started. I can show you around the building.”
Angel grabbed her bag and pulled her lunch out. “Coy showed me around on Saturday.”
“You came over already?” Maria asked when the two of them left the office.
“I was excited to see the practice and we met for him to give me a tour. My family was in town this weekend helping me get settled, but I was more focused on this.”
“Did Spencer come to town too?” Maria asked.
“He did,” she said. “He stayed at Coy’s like he always does. My parents were with me.”
No reason to say they were all at Coy’s on Sunday. If Coy didn’t tell people in advance who she was, she wasn’t going to add anything else. She was positive it would make the rounds who she was anyway.
It was the last thing she needed to worry about.
She really was here for her job first.
Second was to see what could happen between her and her boss.
They stopped in the break room that had a small kitchenette in it. She put her lunch bag in the fridge and then went to Maria’s office with her purse.
“You’ll have to ignore Abby,” Maria said quietly when they were seated. “She has a massive crush on Coy. He hates it but lets it go. He doesn’t give her any encouragement. He just wants to do his job. He hates when patients and anyone else flirt with him at work.”
“That has to be annoying,” she said. It’s not like she planned on doing that during working hours.
But then when else did she think she’d see Coy?
Urgh, yeah, she didn’t think this out at all.
For now, it was work mode only. The rest would just have to happen naturally.
Angel didn’t want to have doubts about anything, but after walking around his house, she realized she didn’t know him all that well.
Most of it was what she’d found out from her brother.
“He told me he doesn’t tolerate it with patients and staff. My brother is very protective of me. I know he asked Coy to watch out for me.”
“Coy is a good guy,” Maria said. “He is a great boss, but I’m positive he won’t be intrusive, regardless of what Spencer asked of him. And Sarah and I won’t say anything about your relationship with Coy either. No one needs to know. Let them get to know you for you.”
“Thank you for that,” she said. “But it’s not a problem if they do know. And I don’t think Coy is going to be all that intrusive either.” She sat down and pulled her ID all out to hand over, then was given her laptop and everything she needed to sign on and do her paperwork.
She noticed that Bond Dental fell under Bond Enterprises.
She wondered if that meant it was partly owned by Scott Bond.
Spencer had made comments before about how Scott owned so many properties and business ventures on the island. She’d done her research on the ancestors to add to what her brother had said for years.
There were two branches that were part of the billion-dollar fortune. Coy’s father, Scott, and his brother, Mitchell, had separate businesses but many together at the same time that were left to them by their father. Then there was the other extremely wealthy branch that owned The Retreat and many more investments as well.
Other branches had plenty of wealth too, but not as much as those two.
She’d bet that was why Coy hated women who approached him.
She’d overheard her brother telling her father once that Coy never got drunk unless Spencer was sober. That they swore to watch the other and cover their backs.
Since her brother was focused on his career young too, he was more than willing to do it.
No one ever wanted to worry about a stupid thing they did in college to come back and bite them in the rump.
Herself included.
It only took about twenty minutes for her to finish her paperwork, then she moved over to Sarah’s office with her laptop and was shown the software, and the routine of the office was explained. The color coding system and how it flowed.
It all seemed pretty easy to her.
She was introduced to the other two hygienists, Emma and Becky, when they were between patients. Then told there were two part timers that weren’t working today. The front desk staff were nice too and she was left standing in her office wondering what she was supposed to be doing.
“Hey. Are you all done?” Coy asked
“I am,” she said. “I didn’t want to bother you when you were with a patient.”
“No worries,” he said. “She’s being numbed now and I’m going to check on two other patients that are getting their cleanings. Why don’t you come with me? You can watch me do one and you can do the other.”
“Do you want me to do what you do?” she asked. Everyone had their own routine.
“Nope,” he said. “Do what you were trained and if something is missing or not, I’ll let you know. After this, you can do that for me today and then bop in for the patients I’ve got too. Tomorrow, if no one has an issue, I’ll let you do a few procedures.”
“Really?” she asked.
“Yep, might as well have you dive in. I’m not one for treating people with kid gloves.”
“Thanks for that,” she said. “I appreciate it.”
They moved into Emma’s room. “Hi, Troy. This is Dr. Jansen. She’s a new dentist in the practice. Today is her first day. Feel free to schedule anything with her if you need to.”
“I’m open to anyone,” Troy said. Coy moved over and did his exam, joked with his patient, asked about the guy’s granddaughter, and then moved on.
“Do you know everyone?” she asked.
“Most know me or like to tell me how they know me,” he said quietly. “You’ll remember people.”
“I’ve got a good memory,” she said.
The next room was Abby’s. “Hi, Tricia. This is Dr. Jansen,” Coy said.
“Oh, I heard you had a new dentist,” Tricia said. “Now maybe it won’t take so long to get in.”
Coy laughed. “That is the plan. I’m thrilled you’ve stuck it out with us for this long.”
“I wouldn’t go anywhere else,” Tricia said. She was in her thirties and being friendly more than flirting. At least she thought so since there were wedding rings on her finger too.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Angel said. “I’m just going to look over your chart quickly before I look in your mouth. Any issues or concerns today, Abby?”
“Nope,” Abby said. “Everything looks great. Tricia does a good job on her teeth.”
“Good to know,” she said. “Are you having any concerns that you’d like to address today?”
“Nope,” Tricia said. “No pain or anything.”
“That’s great,” she said. “Can you open wide?” She looked in Tricia’s mouth, saw it was nice and clean, no issues. “Can you stick your tongue out?” She put the gauze under Tricia’s tongue, flipped side to side to look underneath it and then threw the gauze out. “Everything looks great. Keep up the good work.”
“Thanks,” Tricia said.
They left the exam and went back to Coy’s office. She wasn’t sure why and was waiting to see if she did something wrong.
“That was good,” he said. “Nice and friendly, but I expected that much. You’ve always been so outgoing and nice. The patients are going to love it. The same with asking Abby first if there was anything and checking the records.”
“You did the same thing,” she said. She would have done it regardless of Coy doing it first. It was the right thing to do.
“True,” he said. “But I’ve had people in here before that ignore my staff and look at the records and barely make eye contact with them.”
“I’d never do that. You need them as much as they need you.”
“Exactly,” he said. “I think we are going to make a great team.”
“Me too,” she said softly.
“You’re on your own with the patients after their cleanings today unless someone wants to see me or you see an issue.”
“Really?” she asked.
“Yep. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to not be sweating my ass off running from patient to patient today.”
“Glad I can help.”
“Yep,” he said. “And I can tell your brother tonight that you did a great job because if he texts me one more time and asks how you’re doing I’m going to block him.”
She frowned. “What a jerk.”
Coy laughed and bumped his shoulder into hers in the hallway. The shocked look on his face told her that he hadn’t meant to do it. “Sorry,” he said. “Guess I was thinking of you as Spencer’s sister that I always talked to and not my employee. I won’t do it again. No reason to have gossip in the office that you’re getting special treatment or anything.”
“It’s fine,” she said. “What were you going to say before you apologized?”
“What?” he asked.
“You were laughing and bumped my shoulder. You were going to say something about Spencer I think?”
“Oh yeah,” he said. “Spencer knows you’re going to do a great job. He’s just excited and nervous for you at the same time. He’s like a parent watching their kid on training wheels.”
“He’s not my parent,” she argued. Talk about frustrating.
“As I’ve pointed out a few times,” he said. “Don’t worry. While you’re here in my office, I’m team Angel, not Spencer.”
And that was exactly the reason she fell in love with him so many years ago.