Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
JOSH
I followed Erika up front, curious if it was one of my clients or someone new.
I also had to unglue my eyes from her scrubs outfit.
The pants were the trendy type that tapered to a tight ankle fit and hugged her butt.
I couldn’t be staring at her this way. She was my business colleague.
Business partner. Colleague. Saying it over and over didn’t help.
I had to break up with Milly. I hated other people butting into my business and putting words in my mouth like she’d done this morning. I would never call Erika an “annoyance who was bad for business.” She might irritate me a lot, maybe exasperate me, but I wanted her here.
Maybe I wanted her here as more than just as a business partner.
Of course I did. Dante was right. He was always right when it came to relationships. He had a freakish talent for understanding people, like he’d been issued the instruction manual the rest of us never got.
Whatever was going on with Erika needed to stay professional.
But I couldn’t focus on anything except the infuriating urge to both kiss her and argue with her at the same time.
In the meantime, it wasn’t fair to pretend I had room for anyone else.
I needed to be straight with Milly. Tonight. I’d do it tonight.
When I got up front Marty called out, “Dr. Hurst, don’t forget to stop by the Sawyer farm to check on that lame cow on your way down to the Harrington place.” She jingled her car keys. “I’m off to Raleigh.”
I threw her a thumbs-up sign.
Bunny Tadlock rushed into the lobby carrying the little shark, Lexi. I opened my mouth to welcome her, but Erika squealed. I took a step back. I don’t think I’d ever heard her make that noise.
She ran to Bunny. The two hugged. There was a rush of a lot of words. Her hand extended to pet Lexi. I opened my mouth to warn her the dog might bite, but…
The dog jumped out of her mom’s arms and into Erika’s. Damn if Erika wasn’t crooning over the little piranha. The dog wasn’t biting her. I was more than a tad jealous.
“She remembers me, Bunny,” Erika said with a smile.
“’Course she does, hon. You raised that little munchkin while I was out riding.”
“Is she sick?” She pulled the land shark into her chest without an ounce of fear.
“She’s got diarrhea again. The pills from last week aren’t working.”
“Oh, Lexi.” Erika rocked the dog back and forth against her. “Let’s get her sorted out. I’ll meet you over in room three.” She handed back the dog and pointed to the door. “I need to grab my stethoscope.”
Once Bunny was out of the lobby, Erika asked, “If you’re leaving and Marty is gone, should we put up a sign or have people sign in for the appointments today?”
“Sure.”
Erika gave me an odd look. She chewed on her lower lip as if stewing about something.
“I agreed to go on a date with Drew. We’ll probably do the spring festival at the park, which I think isn’t this weekend, but the next.
Just putting it out there. Don’t be weird about it to him, if you see him today. ”
Show nothing. Don’t snap. It was hard when my mind detonated a loud oh-hell-no. I managed to get out, “Okay. That’s pretty far in the future for a date.”
“I’ve got a lot of things to sort through.” She watched me closely.
“Are you wanting me to congratulate you on your date?”
She rolled her eyes and brushed by me. She strode into the office, dropping her oversized purse onto the counter. One by one she pulled out a water bottle, a few pens, and her stethoscope, like she was arming herself.
I stood in the doorway, silent. I wanted… hell, I didn’t know what I wanted other than to not have a visual of Drew and her as a thing. I should grab the keys to the work truck and leave.
She turned my way. “Do we have more to talk about today?”
“Drew—”
“No,” she interrupted. “You have your date, and I have mine, even if it is in the future. Maybe I’ll see you at the festival?
” She made an oops-face because she knew more than anyone that I didn’t do those events.
“I’m sorry. Maybe not. All that is non-work stuff.
I won’t judge your for being stupid in who you choose to date. And you—”
“You just did.”
Her mouth flattened into a razor-thin line.
“We’ll make our own mistakes, or…” She lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “Maybe we won’t. But one thing we will do is forget what happened in here on Sunday.”
“I can’t.”
“We have to.” She slipped her stethoscope around her neck, the gesture sharp and final.
It stung to be labeled something she was determined to erase. I reached past her, stretching to snag the truck key from the peg behind her shoulder.
“You’re not going to run on to Drew about it either,” she added without looking at me.
Which, unfortunately, was exactly what I wanted to do.
“Josh?”
I stopped my exit. “What?”
She chewed her lower lip again.
“Fine. I won’t tear into Drew. Happy now?” My arms crossed tight, holding in everything I wanted to throw. The promise tasted like blood and wasn’t anywhere close to what I planned.
She gave me a small nod.
“Are you thinking you’re serious about Drew?” My voice scraped out, low and reckless. “Does he make you lose your mind like—” I jerked my chin toward the space between us, to the scene where we’d just about torn each other’s clothes off days ago.
Her mouth trembled, tugging at both corners like the words were fighting their way out.
“What?” I snapped, impatience crackling under my skin.
“You and me, whatever this is…” She exhaled like it burned.
“No one else makes me act stupid the way you do. No one else, ever. We should be past it, so far beyond it.” Her eyes lifted, slow and weighted, catching mine like a collision.
“Somehow, we have to figure out how to work together without…” Her throat tightened, the swallow visible and painful.
The silence shuddered between us, thick as smoke.
“Yeah,” I said hoarsely. “We have to avoid that. Agreed. So, you’re for sure staying for a while?”
“Here is the best place for Vinny. Long term, I never saw myself living in my dead father’s house, running his struggling mixed practice, and raising my brother.
Life has thrown me a few curve balls.” She loaded the pens in her pockets.
“Time for me to go make you some money so we can be done with this debt thing.”
“Wait.” I’d almost forgotten. I pulled a York peppermint patty out of my pocket and handed it to her. I hoped I hadn’t smashed it too much.
She stared at it in her hand. “What’s this?”
A peace offering. “Welcome to the clinic.”
“Thanks?” Her fingers curled around the wrapper, and for a heartbeat I swear her face softened, something warm flickering through all the tension. Then she turned and disappeared into the exam room.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
Thank you, Mom.