Chapter 19
Magnolia
I groaned as a beeping noise from somewhere jostled me from my sleep. I drank too much hot chocolate with whiskey in it, and I knew better. Today was my first day back at the clinic, and I was sporting a rather nasty hangover. Luckily, last night I was using the half brain cell I had left after drinking half a bottle of whiskey with Lex and set my alarm for an hour earlier than necessary so I could drown my irresponsible ass in a long shower and hot coffee.
“Make it stop,” Lex moaned from beside me.
“Jesus Christ.” I had no idea she was in here. In fact, I’m pretty sure we went to sleep in separate beds. “Could you warn a girl the next time you come sneaking into my bed?”
“I wanted to cuddle. Now, shut off your alarm, and be a good girl and get ready for work.” She winked at me, rolled back over, and was back to snoring in seconds.
Lucky bitch.
After a scalding thirty-minute shower and a half a pot of coffee, I was finally feeling human again and ready to make my way to the clinic. I dressed casually, opting for a pair of form-fitting jeans and a scrub top with my work boots. The air outside was cooler, in the low seventies, again reminding me that we were seeing the last of summer. The drive to the clinic was shorter than I remembered, but I had a feeling it was because I had to stop myself from speeding to get there.
Walking in, I couldn’t help the smile that overtook my face. There was something about the calm before the inevitable chaos of the day that I always loved.
“Well, we didn’t get to introduce ourselves last time, but I’m Louise,” the receptionist said. She was probably in her mid-forties, and her chocolatey brown hair had strands of silver running through it. It was short, sitting against her chin, and bone straight. She had harsh features, but her voice was soft, which seemed to work well for her.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’m…”
“Dr. Evans, or Magnolia, what is it you prefer?”
“Oh, whatever it is you’re more comfortable with.”
“I’d prefer it if you told me what address you as,” she said in a no-nonsense way.
I couldn’t help but chuckle, I liked her. “Magnolia is great.”
“Perfect, now that that’s out of the way, let me show you around. I’d say we could wait for Dr. Lewis and Ben, but those boys are always running late.”
Funny how she called them both boys, even though there is no way she was older than Dr. Lewis. She ushered me into the back area and started showing me where they kept everything: syringes, needles, medications. She was about to start touching on the new computer system software, which had been upgraded significantly since I was here last, when Ben came in. He made a beeline for me and looked almost as if he were about to pull me in for a hug, thought better of it, and went with a handshake instead.
“Magnolia, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m sorry I’m behind this morning. Twin boys, you see…” His half-frazzled appearance and tardiness made all the sense in the world now.
“There’s a pot of coffee in the kitchen, dear,” Louis said.
“Bless you, Louise,” he said to her but kept his attention on me. “Would you want to join me for a cup, and we can get to know each other before the first appointment at eight-thirty gets here?”
“Absolutely. Let’s.”
He took the lead to the kitchen area, grabbed two cups from the cabinet, and poured us coffee.
“Cream or sugar?” he questioned.
“Black is fine.”
We both sat at the small dining table that had a direct window view to the acres in back with a stall set up for horses. I noticed there were none currently.
“So, how’d you make your way to Rockland, Ben? Dr. Lewis mentioned that you had moved here with your partner.”
“Yes, I’m gay. I figure it’s better to just come out and say it. His name is Martin, and we have two adopted twin boys—they are seven and terrors. We were living in Arkansas, but the prejudice there was real, and while we could make the most of it, it wasn’t fair to our kids who were constantly being bullied. When I saw the job posting here and applied, we didn’t hesitate when I was offered it.”
I frowned at him. “I’m so sorry that people suck. There is absolutely no judgment from me, and I grew up here. Everyone respects everyone; it was a great place to grow up.” I couldn’t help but reach over and grab his hand in support. He offered me a genuine smile.
“So sorry I’m late, but that’s my every day. Magnolia, so happy you are here!” Dr. Lewis’ boisterous voice broke up the seriousness of the conversation. “Let’s go over a few things. Come, come.” He turned on his heel and started walking back toward the treatment area.
The morning passed by quickly, and if I wasn’t seeing a patient with Ben, then I was being filled in on everything by Dr. Lewis or Louise. The computer software they used was much like the one back in Iowa, so I had it figured out in no time. Before long, the clock read eleven a.m..
“I was thinking about getting everyone lunch today to celebrate Magnolia’s first day here,” Dr. Lewis said.
“Oh, that’s really not necessary…”
“Hush now, child, you never say no to a free meal,” Louise quipped. “Let’s get Montgomery’s. They deliver, and I’ve been craving one of their patty melts for days.”
“That settles it! Magnolia, do you need a menu?” Dr. Lewis asked.
“Oh no, a patty melt works for me, too.” Of course they would order from Montgomery’s. My only saving grace was that since Sloan owned the place, there was no way he’d be making a delivery. That thought instantly brightened my mood back to positively cheerful as it had been only a few moments ago.
“Fabulous. I’ll go put the order in; you two boys want your usual?” Louise asked over her shoulder, not bothering to turn around since she seemed to already know the answer.
I was eyeball-deep in catching up on some medical notes from this afternoon when the overhead bell rang, signaling the arrival of lunch. Currently, Louise was back talking to Dr. Lewis about how Mr. Featherington’s owner was demanding to bring him by because she was concerned he wasn’t eating enough. Dr. Lewis groaned, “That damn bird. He does this so he can come in and antagonize me, Louise! You know this!”
“Yes, well, I told her to swing him by around twelve-forty-five and you would look at him. Now don’t pout; you would feel awful if something were wrong.”
She turned her gaze to me. “Magnolia, dear, will you go grab the food? I’m in the middle of dealing with a toddler and a temper tantrum.”
“Now, Louise, that’s not fair…”
Walking away from those two, I chuckled. They were really something else.
“Hey, Louise, I got your order here…”
Sloan. He was rifling through the bags, not realizing it wasn’t Louise he was talking to. What were the chances he would turn around and walk out without sparing a glance at me when I grabbed the bags? And why did he have to not look terrible? He had a backward baseball cap on, and Jesus. Listen, I know I shouldn’t think he’s attractive—I still want to punch him in his stupid pretty face—but I’m not blind and I’m not an idiot. Ignoring the fact that I find him attractive would only get me in trouble in the long run. I found him attractive, but his personality sucked. That’s it. Unfortunately, I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t think to grab the bags from him, which prompted him to look up.
“Magnolia. Hi.” His eyes did a slow perusal of me in my scrub top and jeans, appreciation shown through them.
Good, see it and weep.
“Sloan. I see your dad still hasn’t promoted you yet.”
He laughed, and I’d forgotten how much I liked his laugh. It made my heart jolt in a way it hadn’t in years.
“Now I bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He smirked. “Unfortunately, being the boss means you have to fill in at any time, like when someone calls out sick.”
“Cassie must hate that.” I couldn’t believe I just said that, my mouth hanging open in shock. I just couldn’t help myself.
He dropped the bags on the reception desk since I still hadn’t grabbed them and he crowded my personal space. “Listen to me, Magnolia. There is no Cassie, not anymore.”
“There will always be Cassie for me.”
Pain flashed in his eyes, the raw kind you couldn’t mask, no matter how hard you tried. It almost brought me to my knees seeing him look at me with that kind of devastation, but I couldn’t take back what I said, and even if I could, I didn’t think I would want to.
“I deserve that, and more.”
“Look, I don’t want to hurt you unnecessarily. It’s just difficult to be around you.” I was old enough and in control of my emotions to be honest. Being around him brought up painful memories, memories and feelings I spent a long time trying to bury.
“I know you don’t owe me anything, but would you ever consider sitting down and having a conversation with me?”
I looked at him. I could see the regret etched all over his face, almost like he had aged ten years since walking into the clinic. I had been considering this after what Lexie had said to me a few days ago, and the fact that I had run into him multiple times already—this being the third time.
I weighed my options for a few seconds. Should I risk a conversation with him where I’m unprepared, like today. Or should I have one later, when I could prepare myself. I went with the latter.
“It might be better if we do.”
Shock crossed his face, but he quickly recovered. “Just say when. Can I get your number?”
“Uh, no. But we can meet at Montgomery’s tonight at seven.” His eyebrows raised at my refusal. “What? You thought I’d just hand over my number to you after all this time?” I raised my eyebrow at him.
“Dr. E…Magnolia, what on earth is the hold up? We have starving people back here.” Louise came through the doors looking a little peeved. “Oh, Sloan, it’s you.” She grabbed the bags from the desk and made her way to the back, looking at me with her eyebrow raised and a tilt of her head, letting me know it was time to wrap whatever this was up.
“I had heard you were a doctor. It looks good on you.”
“I know it does.” I turned to walk away and let him get on with his day.
“I’ll see you at seven sharp, Magnolia.”
The way his voice did something to me made me realize I might have just made a very grave miscalculation.