Chapter 16
Igot my first paycheck the very next day. I’d gotten lucky and my first day had been the last day of the pay period. Perfect timing, really because it let me buy some mouse traps and set them up around my cabin, and even pick up some fresh groceries.
Setting the traps wasn’t easy, and I nearly lost a finger once or twice as I set them up around the kitchen. I didn’t know if there were mice in other places, but I didn’t want to think too hard about where else they might be hiding, or I’d surely lose my sanity.
Once the traps were set, I finally sat down and wrote a chapter or two of my novel. For the first time in a long time, the words flowed onto the page without hesitation. I didn’t even realize it was getting dark outside until a text lit up my phone and I glimpsed the time. It was nearly eight.
The text was from my Mom.
MOM: Hope, please come home. We need to talk. I’m worried about you.
I hadn’t responded the other day when she’d sent her last message. The fact that neither of my parents had even bothered to call me made my blood boil. If they really cared about where I was, wouldn’t they call?
I gritted my teeth and picked up the phone, sending a text I hoped would end this false show of worry.
HOPE: I’m fine, Mom. I have a new job here, and I don’t plan on coming home anytime soon. You don’t need to worry about me.
On my second day at the office, Jay didn’t show up at my doorstep to take me to work. But he’d definitely been over at some point because my porch stairs and railing were no longer broken. He was like a sneaky Christmas elf.
Evidence of the bear was gone entirely, and there were even new LED lights attached to my garage that flicked on when motion was detected. I was grateful he’d been discreet; I was still trying to avoid running into him. After our last encounter, I didn’t feel ready to face him just yet.
I drove to work with the windows down, a light breeze blowing through my hair.
I tried not to think too hard about where I was going, or I’d work myself into an anxious state.
Instead, I lost myself in the music and pretended I wasn’t headed to a dental office to clean people’s teeth.
I imagined I was going to the lake for fish and chips at the dockside restaurant.
The music and the view also helped, and by the time I pulled up to the office, I wasn’t nearly as anxious as I had been the last time.
But I’d worked up a severe craving for fish and chips.
“Good morning,” Shelby greeted as I walked in.
Devin gave me a polite nod.
“Good morning,” I replied with a small smile, making my way back to the break room.
I walked in just in time to catch Tyler and Macey in an intense conversation.
They were sitting on the couch, Tyler with his arms behind his head and his feet crossed on the coffee table, while Macey told her story, munching on Ritz crackers and making emphatic hand gestures.
“Wait, so he really carried a wand around with him?” Tyler asked, brow furrowed, as if trying to picture the scene.
I was thirty minutes early out of habit and tried not to eavesdrop as I put my lunch sack in my locker and took out my loupe glasses. But it was hard not to listen when my coworkers weren’t being quiet, and their conversation was far from boring.
Macey visibly shuddered. “It was next-level Harry Potter creepiness, Ty. He kept telling me his wand was made from unicorn hairs and the feather of a white phoenix.”
I bit my lip, trying not to show I was listening, but I couldn’t hide my amusement.
“Can’t there be any normal guys in this town?” Macey groaned, putting her head in her hands.
Tyler reached out to pat her back. “I’m sorry your date wasn’t as magical as you thought it would be,” he said with a smirk. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Macey lift her head and shoot him a death glare.
“What are we talking about here?” I asked, unsure why I was inserting myself, but needing to know why they were talking about Harry Potter wands.
“Just Macey’s date last night. Her date believed he was a wizard,” Tyler explained, stifling a snort. “Like, he truly thought he was a wizard.”
“It was horrible,” Macey groaned.
I bit my lip again.
“Does he role-play in the parks on Friday nights? Maybe we can go LARPing with him?” Tyler teased, adding fuel to the fire. Macey looked like she might actually hurt him.
“There are sharp instruments in the other room, Ty. I would be careful. My mental state is not stable right now,” she warned.
“You know, I have a cousin. Maybe I can set you up,” Tyler suddenly said.
“Really?” Macey’s eyes widened, and she sat up a little straighter, all thoughts of her terrible date forgotten.
“Yeah, and he’s much cooler than all the college kids from Redlands. I’ll text him,” Tyler said, pulling out his phone.
“Hey, we are college kids from Redlands,” Macey pouted.
Tyler waved her off and kept typing. I watched this whiplash-like exchange, pleasantly surprised by my new coworkers and their sense of humor.
“Ask him if he has a Harry Potter fetish. I really don’t want a repeat of last night,” Macey shuddered, and I stifled a laugh.
Just then, a knock sounded at the door, and Jay appeared.
“Good morning, everyone,” he greeted.
I turned to see him dressed in blue scrubs and a white lab coat. His dark hair was styled across his forehead, some tucked behind his ears, and his navy blue eyes met mine.
“Good to see you back again, Hope,” he said easily, his expression giving nothing away.
“Yeah, no problem,” I said, my heart doing a nervous flip.
“Hey, Jay, Macey went on a date with a wizard last night,” Tyler said, grinning.
Jay’s brow furrowed, but a smile tugged at his lips. “Is that so?”
“He’s just torturing me. You can go now,” Macey said, shooting another glare at Tyler.
Jay chuckled and disappeared down the hall.
I felt unsettled by the interaction between him and his assistants. It was so casual. So easy.
“You really just call him Jay?” I asked.
“I don’t think I even know his last name,” Macey admitted.
“It’s Alarcón,” Tyler said, looking at Macey like she’d lost her mind.
“Oh, that’s right,” Macey giggled.
Macey ended up assisting me that morning, helping with my first four patients. She talked more than Tyler, but I didn’t mind. Listening to Macey chatter about her life made the day go by faster.
We zoomed through the first few patients with ease, despite the underlying anxiety that someone might yell at me for replacing the old hygienist. Thankfully, no old ladies yelled at me, and we made it through the morning.
Every patient I had from eight until noon was very nice, and I loved nothing more than nice patients.
I was especially grateful to one patient named Lucy. She lived on the lake and talked about her four Bernedoodles. She complimented my pink scrubs and even thanked me for cleaning her teeth.
When the afternoon rolled around, I was surprised that nothing horrific had happened yet.
My next patient was Connor Reeves, nineteen years old, with only one medical alert—Asthma. Everything was going smoothly until I got the X-rays back and spotted at least eight cavities.
“How many years has it been since you’ve been to the dentist again?” I asked, and Connor sighed.
“Probably at least seven years,” he said, giving me a sheepish look. “Is it looking pretty bad?”
“Well, unfortunately, I’m unable to tell you what I’m seeing on the X-rays, but I will go grab Dr. Jay to take a look.”
I wasn’t legally allowed to diagnose X-rays. Despite that, it was pretty much expected by dentists that the hygienist would look them over and figure out as much as possible before the dentist came in. But there was one small problem: I was pretty bad at it.
I excelled in almost every area of my schoolwork, but when it came to radiology, I had struggled a bit.
So I never seemed to write down exactly what the doctor ended up diagnosing.
At my father’s clinic, Dr. Pike had insulted my intelligence and belittled me daily for not accurately noting every single cavity before the exam.
Diagnosing X-rays was my personal nemesis, and over time, my confidence had been—well, obliterated. All it took was a few instances of being belittled or yelled at for me to believe I was terrible at diagnosing X-rays, which made me dread the entire process.
Numbness spread into my fingertips like venom, and I did my best not to panic.
I stared at the X-rays and wrote down with shaking hands what I thought the treatment plan would be.
I had no idea how Dr. Jay was going to react—all the patients I’d had so far while working here had been either cavity-free or they’d only had one or two very noticeable ones that hadn’t been hard to spot.
I’d lucked out so far, but now I was about to face the music.
“Everything okay?” Macey asked, peeking into the exam room to see me still staring at the X-rays on the screen.
“Yeah. Could you grab Dr. Jay? I’m ready for an exam.”
“Sure thing,” Macey said, leaving to get the doctor.
My stomach turned with nervousness as I waited for the dreaded moment when he’d look at the sticky note with my suggestions and tell me I was wrong.
Dr. Jay entered the room a few minutes later, instantly reaching out to shake the new patient’s hand.
“Hello, Connor. I’m Dr. Jay. Welcome to our office.” They exchanged greetings, and after getting to know each other a bit, Jay leaned Connor back in the chair.
I held my breath as Jay grabbed the explorer off the tray and began examining Connor’s teeth.
“DO on three. MOD on five. MO on fifteen. DOL on thirty-one,” Dr. Jay spouted off, the numbers representing the teeth and the letters indicating the surfaces with cavities.
I quickly wrote down the treatment, feeling a spike of panic when I realized he hadn’t mentioned an MO on twenty-eight. I’d messed up.
“I’m sorry, I thought I saw something on twenty-eight,” I mumbled, unable to meet his gaze.
“No worries. I appreciate you being thorough and checking. You have a great eye,” Jay said, and I looked up, eyes widening.
I was shocked at his words, momentarily speechless. Before I could process what he’d said, he was standing up to leave. “Nice to meet you, Connor. See you in six months!”
Did he just praise me?
It was small, nothing major—but he’d said I had a great eye?
I jumped a little when he gently touched the small of my back on his way out. He leaned down ever so slightly so only I could hear him.
“Respira, Amapolita,” he commanded gently before leaving the room.
Respira—a word I actually remembered from high school Spanish class. He was telling me to breathe.
I sucked in a breath just as his footsteps faded down the hallway.
I was caught off guard by that small compliment. The only conclusion I could draw was that he must be trying to keep me around because he was desperate for a hygienist.
That had to be the only plausible option. If it weren’t, it would mean he was a dentist who could actually be encouraging and kind… maybe even reasonable.
And that would be blasphemous.