Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
“You look really pretty today, May,” Ivy said, cleaning up after the third patient of the day.
May jerked and looked up at her friend before glancing down at her jeans and blue shirt beneath her lab coat. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. There’s some sort of glow around your face.”
Heat instantly spiraled into May’s cheeks. She turned away under the pretense of organizing a tray of instruments. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but thank you.”
“You bet.” Ivy closed the biohazard container and scribbled a quick note on the chart before setting it aside. Outside, sunlight streamed through the front windows, bright after the storm, promising more good weather to come. “I kind of needed to talk to you.”
“Oh.” May turned and rested back against the counter, crossing her arms. “What’s up?”
“Well…” Ivy swallowed. Actually swallowed. That was new.
May straightened a little. “You okay?”
“I went on another date with Jack Jones last night.”
May didn’t see that romance ending until Jack left town, considering he was already sending flowers. “Oh. Somewhere other than night fishing again?”
“Yeah.” Ivy’s eyes filled with something soft and hopeful. “He’s really nice. He’s in marketing and helping with the campaign. He’s originally from New York,” she added quickly. “Can you believe it?”
“Sure,” May said.
“He just seems so natural out here that it’s hard to believe he’s from a big city.” Ivy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “We just went to the movie at the Moosejaw.”
May reached for some lotion to rub into her hands. The cinema was really just a converted community hall with folding seats and a popcorn machine that squealed when it heated up. Still, it was something to do in Knife’s Edge. “I’m glad you had fun.”
“I just thought I should tell you that it was more than just that one fishing night, with me and Jack,” Ivy said.
May turned back toward her. “I figured that, but you don’t have to tell me about your personal life.”
Ivy hesitated. “Yeah, but you’re my friend first and boss second.”
May softened. “You’re my friend, too.” But she wasn’t going to share about her night with Ace.
Not yet. The experience had been more explosive and emotional than she’d expected, and it definitely hadn’t felt like a one-night anything.
He’d even kissed her in full view of everyone in his truck before dropping her off at the clinic this morning.
Not that anyone had been around, but still. He wasn’t subtle.
And she hadn’t protested.
She had kissed him right back.
The memory made her stomach flip in a way that had nothing to do with nerves and everything to do with anticipation. His hand on her jaw. The way he’d looked at her like she mattered. She turned her focus back on Ivy. Later, she’d figure out her love life. “Did you have fun on your date?”
“I did.” Ivy perched on the edge of the exam table. “Okay. I’m going to say it.”
“Say what?”
“You did not get that glow from better sleep,” Ivy noted.
May tried not to blush.
“I’m not asking for details, but something happened.”
May opened her mouth to deny it, then closed it. The truth hovered there between them, warm and alive. She wasn’t embarrassed. She was…shaken. In a good way. In a terrifying way. “Maybe,” she said carefully.
Ivy’s eyes widened. “May.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Of course it is. It’s you.”
May laughed despite herself. Outside, the sun flashed off a passing truck. Somewhere down the street a hammer pounded rhythmically, someone already repairing storm damage. The whole town felt scrubbed clean. “I just don’t know what it means yet.”
Ivy nodded. “Then don’t decide today.”
That was fair. May pushed off the counter and reached for the next chart. “How’s Jack’s ankle, anyway?”
“Good. He iced it off and on, and he’s walking okay with just a slight limp.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Flipping over the top page of the chart, May’s hands were steady.
Her mind wasn’t. Ace Osprey had kissed her like he planned to do it again, and the part of her that always calculated risk had gone strangely silent.
The morning had been pretty great with him cooking her breakfast, barefoot, jeans on, no shirt. It had been seriously sexy.
“Hey, May?” Ivy grinned, oblivious to the chaos in May’s head. Today she wore jeans with a short-sleeved white sweater, her hair pulled up into a ponytail that bounced when she moved. “Jack wanted me to ask you something.”
May stilled. “That sounds ominous.”
Ivy winced. “I know you dated the senator. It didn’t work out. But Jack thinks it would really help the campaign if you’d do some publicity shots with Kyle. Kyle is really into protecting the Alaskan environment, from the salmon to the air.”
May tried to remember that Ivy was innocent in all of this. Kyle couldn’t care less about the environment or a fish. He just wanted to get reelected.
“I’m just the messenger,” Ivy rushed on. “They don’t have to confirm anything. Just some photos of you two would get social media buzzing. People love a little mystery, and that’s all it would be. Unless there was a bad breakup. Was there?”
May swallowed. The room suddenly felt smaller. “I just left. There wasn’t a scene or a fight.” She crossed her arms. “But he’s not a good guy.”
Ivy blinked. “Jack says he’s great. Fun. Kind with everybody. Generous.” She tilted her head. “Is this just a bad ex-boyfriend thing, or was he really not a good guy?”
May drew in a slow breath. The clinic hummed softly around them. She wasn’t going to lie about this. To anybody. “He really was not a good guy.”
Ivy’s expression changed, losing the teasing edge. “Did he hit you?”
“No.” May shook her head. “Which makes it harder to explain. He didn’t yell, but he did bruise me.
” She looked down at her hands. “He also undermined me. Constantly making little comments and slight corrections that made me doubt myself.” Her throat tightened, but she pushed through it.
“He started getting threatening when I wouldn’t fall in line. ”
Ivy’s eyes widened. “Threatening how?”
“It was more of a tone. A shift.” May met her gaze. “He did grab me once, hard enough to leave marks. That was enough.”
“Oh.” Ivy stepped closer. “May.”
“It was that gut feeling,” May continued quietly. “The one that tells you something is about to go bad. I listened to it and left.”
Ivy’s eyes softened. “I trust your instincts.”
Relief moved through May. “Thank you.”
“I’ll tell Jack no,” Ivy said firmly. “No publicity shots or hinted romances. And maybe he needs to take a better look at his boss.”
May felt a flicker of warmth for her friend. “Ivy, don’t blow up something good because of me. Just be careful.”
“I will.” Ivy straightened, determination settling in her features. “And for the record, you don’t owe anybody a photo op.”
Movement sounded outside in the hallway, and Lance Fredrickson poked his head into the exam room. “I just put another patient into Exam Room Two.”
May blinked. “Lance? What are you doing here? I thought you were helping coach football camp all day.”
He stepped fully inside, tall and graceful.
Dark hair fell into his eyes, and his brown gaze held a permanent hint of mischief.
“The coach had to repair his roof after the storm, so we don’t have to go in until the afternoon.
I told Nancy I’d take the early shift, so I think she went to get her hair done.
” He grinned. “A couple of us did offer to help the coach out, but he told us to go study for our summer classes.” He and several other kids attended college remotely and even took classes in the summer.
May tucked the patient chart beneath her arm. “Sounds like he needed a break.”
Lance rolled his eyes. “Probably. The next patient is bleeding all over. He went to the hospital first and they sent him here. I guess it seemed easier than having you go there.”
May chuckled as she reached for a clean pair of gloves.
“Since I’m the only doctor in either place today, I suppose it doesn’t matter.
” She walked down the short hallway and pushed open the door to the other exam room.
Mick Thompson sat on the table again, a white towel wrapped tightly around his left hand.
The towel was already soaked through, bright red bleeding into cotton. “Mr. Thompson, you’re back.”
“Yeah.” He grimaced. “I guess I am, and please call me Mick.”
“What happened this time?” She snapped on latex gloves.
“I was cleaning a fish.”
She lifted a brow. “Of course you were.”
He carefully turned his hand over. “I can’t even blame my brother for this one.”
She peeled the bloody towel away with steady fingers. A deep slice ran across the center of his palm, clean but wide, the edges parted. “You got yourself pretty good.”
“I slipped.” The scent of bourbon drifted toward her.
She looked at him directly. “Have you been drinking?”
“Oh yeah, we’re on vacation,” he said easily. His eyes were clear, though. “I can handle a knife. I just slipped.”
“All right.” She reached for sterile gauze and pressed it gently over the cut to slow the bleeding. “You’re going to need stitches.”
His chest moved. “I figured.”
“How much have you had to drink?”
“Not much. Just a shot with my coffee.”
She exhaled slowly. “I’m going to give you a local anesthetic.
” She drew up lidocaine into a syringe and cleaned the area thoroughly with antiseptic solution, working from the center of the wound outward in careful circles.
She injected small amounts along both edges of the laceration, watching his face for any reaction.
“That burns a little,” he hissed.
“It will,” she said calmly. “Give it a minute.”
Once the area numbed, she irrigated the wound with saline to flush out debris, holding his hand steady over a basin. The cut was deep but clean with no jagged tearing. She aligned the edges carefully with forceps, ensuring the tissue sat naturally without tension.