Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Allison

I woke up the next morning with fresh enthusiasm for my new job. Seeing how Jackson had changed his life and made a place for himself here in Rosemary Mountain made me believe I could too. While I wasn’t at all certain I wanted to spend the rest of my life here, my contract committed me for at least two years. It was up to me to make sure they were happy ones.

But all of my enthusiasm drained away the moment I walked through the clinic doors and saw Beverly give me the side eye from where she was whispering to a scrawny man in wrinkled blue scrubs. She looked at the clock and raised her eyebrows.

“Yes, I know, I’m three minutes late,” I said, forcing myself to not roll my eyes as I held up the packages I was carrying in my very full hands. “I stopped to buy coffee and donuts for everyone, and it took longer than I expected.”

“Yes, well, you should know Anna’s extremely busy in the mornings and you need to call ahead for large orders,” Beverly said, those overly groomed eyebrows still arched as high as she could possibly get them.

“Three coffees and a dozen donuts is hardly a large order,” I said before realizing it was pointless to argue. “I’m putting these in the breakroom. Help yourselves.”

I carried them myself, along with my purse and the heavy medical bag that was about to take my arm off, since neither of them offered to help. I knew I needed to introduce myself to the man, who was presumably the nurse who hadn’t shown up the day before, but I couldn’t even begin to do that until I got some relief for my arms.

Thankfully, he followed me down the hallway to the breakroom, which gave me a chance to chat with him—though I was seriously annoyed he didn’t offer to carry anything.

He did at least hold the break room door for me, which I appreciated.

“Hi,” I finally said when I had slid the coffees and the box of donuts onto the table. “I’m Dr. Bell.” I held out a hand to shake.

“I know,” he said, cocking his head and ignoring my hand. “Don’t you remember me, Allison?”

I searched my childhood memories for his face and almost said no, but then the recognition finally dawned. “Oh my goodness. Danny?”

“That’s right.” He grinned at me.

“Danny Rogers. I can’t believe it.” I shook my head.

When I had accepted the job in Rosemary Mountain, it had never crossed my mind that I would be working with people I had gone to grade school with. I had forgotten what a small world this town really was. Danny Rogers, of all people. I blushed, wondering if he would remember the fact that he had been my first kiss. Boyfriend number two, at age thirteen. We had technically still been “going steady” when my mama had moved us away in the middle of the night.

Funnily enough, I hadn’t even thought to write him a letter the way I had with Jackson.

“I couldn’t believe it, either,” he said. “I remember back then you used to talk about wanting to be a doctor someday, and it looks like you did it.”

“I did,” I said. “You talked about that too, though!” In fact, it was the only reason I had agreed to be his “girlfriend.” As Doc Rogers’s nephew, he had access to all of Doc’s medical textbooks and sometimes helped out in the clinic, which I had thought was ridiculously cool back then.

“Yeah,” he said, his face changing from a smile to something a bit darker. “Well, plans don’t always work out for everyone. Went to nursing school instead.”

“RN?”

“LPN,” he said, obviously growing more uncomfortable by the second.

“That’s great,” I said, realizing I had stuck my foot in my mouth. “I’m so glad to have you on the team here.”

“Yeah. Hey, listen, can I take you out to dinner tonight? Catch up, for old time’s sake? I mean, we never technically broke up, so I think that means you’re still my girlfriend.” He winked at me before laughing awkwardly.

I felt like a deer caught in the headlights. “Well, Danny, I don’t know. I mean, I just got out of a relationship, and I’m just not ready to…” I felt myself babbling and clamped my mouth shut. You’re his boss, I reminded myself. It was inappropriate for him to even ask. I didn’t have to give any excuses or justify saying no.

“Right,” he said as his face turned bright red. “Well. I’m just going to grab a coffee.” He reached around me and grabbed a cup. Then he fled the room.

Three hours later, any enthusiasm I’d had for this job was completely gone. In fact, I was poring over my contract, looking for a loophole that would allow me to leave without notice. Not that I’d do it. Once I committed to something, I saw it through.

But with the day I was having, I wanted to at least know what my options were.

I jumped when my office door flew open. My cheeks flamed when I saw Beverly’s smug smile. She had caught me with my head in my hands, feeling totally defeated—and the look on her face told me she liked it.

“Hi, Beverly. I’d appreciate it if you’d knock in the future. Can I help you with something?” I asked, forcing a smile on my face.

“You told me to let you know when your patients are checked in,” she said in that falsely sweet Southern accent of hers.

My first four patients of the day had sat in their rooms for nearly half an hour past their appointment times, simply because nobody had bothered to tell me they had arrived—or update their status on the electronic health record I kept eyes on while in my office.

“Yes, thank you. I’ll be right there.”

“I wouldn’t keep this one waiting,” she warned. “We take care of our own around here, and Detective Ford is a town VIP. Frankly, I’m surprised he’s here at all.” She sniffed, looking at me in disdain. “But since he is, don’t screw it up.”

I bit my lip, fighting back all the retorts I wanted to give her. Beverly was a snake, but unfortunately, she was a snake who seemed to have more job security than I did at the moment. Thankfully, the mention of Jackson was a balm that helped me keep my cool.

“Oh, Jackson. Good,” I said, nodding. “Let me pull his chart and I’ll be right in.”

She raised her eyebrow at the use of his first name. I felt a tiny bit of guilt at using him to gain some leverage with her, but I had a feeling he’d understand and approve.

There was almost nothing in Jackson’s chart other than his required annual physicals for work. He wasn’t on any medications and seemed to never get sick. The note for today’s visit said he was feeling rundown. He had seemed fine last night. Had something happened? Maybe a virus that had hit him in between now and then?

Or…was it possible he was here just to see me?

I leaned back in my office chair, gazing at the ceiling as I let my mind wander there. Jackson was…attractive. To say the least. It had caught me off guard the night before. All these years, he had lived in my memories as a kid. Blond hair, blue eyes, long limbs tanned by the sun. Wiry and athletic, always climbing trees or balancing his way across the boulders in the creeks. He had been a gorgeous little boy—when he wasn’t black and blue from the bruises his father loved marring his face with. But he had been a boy, nonetheless. A boy frozen in time in my memories.

The Jackson I’d met last night wasn’t a boy. That wavy hair had darkened some since he was a kid. He wasn’t skinny anymore—he was built to impress, with that little bit of sexy swagger that came from wearing the uniform. Those blue eyes were still bright though, and when he grinned—well, that grin took me right back to the best days of my childhood. The days when it felt like I might actually reach the clouds if he pushed me hard enough on the swing. The nights we stayed up giggling, scaring ourselves silly with ghost stories that weren’t half as terrifying as the ghosts he lived with at home.

My heart ached just thinking about those days and the closeness we had shared. It had been completely platonic. Just two kids trying to make it in a crazy world. After all, he was younger than me, so even when I hit the boy-crazy stage, I hadn’t put him in that category. But I had known he had been half in love with me in that innocent, childlike way.

After seeing him again, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe there was a spark of that left.

I opened the door to the exam room and saw Jackson sitting on the table, wearing a polite smile as Beverly openly flirted with him. She was wearing a skin-tight dress cut deeply enough to show off her ample cleavage, and she knew how to strike a pose on my stool to put her curves on perfect display.

“ Finally ,” she said before looking at Jackson and rolling her eyes like they were in on some sort of joke together. “I’m so sorry, Detective. I’m afraid our new doctor hasn’t quite figured out how things work around here.”

“Hey, Allison,” Jackson said, a boyish grin lighting up his face. It was so much better than the polite smile he wore for her.

“Hey, Jackson.” I gave him a smile back, hugging my tablet to my chest. When Beverly made no move to leave, I looked at her pointedly. “I’ve got this, Beverly. And the phone is ringing up front.”

She just rolled her eyes again and huffed off.

“Wow,” Jackson said, raising his eyebrows. “I’ve dealt with a couple of coworkers who didn’t like me, but man. This is a whole new level.”

I just sighed and let myself plop onto my stool like I was at a bar with my best friend instead of a new physician in a professional clinic. It was wrong to be so casual with a patient, yet, with Jackson, it felt right. Like it would have been weird for me to wear my professional mask in front of him. How could I? He had known me since we were kids. Despite the years that had passed, I suspected he’d see right through it anyway.

“It’s been a rough day,” I said.

“Wanna talk about it?” His eyes were filled with genuine concern.

I shook my head. “No. Not here anyway. Besides, you’re the one who’s sick.” I cocked my head as I did a visual scan. He looked perfectly healthy from where I was sitting. “What’s going on? You seemed to be feeling okay last night.”

He gave me another grin. “Aw, I’m probably fine. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, so I looked a little rough this morning. The sheriff’s worried I’m coming down with the flu or something. Says it’s going around.”

“It’s not really flu season, but maybe,” I said. “Let’s check you out.”

I moved to take his vitals and he gave me a weird look.

“Danny already did that,” he said.

“I know,” I said, sighing again. I’d realized quickly that I’d have to double check Danny’s work, because he’d entered incorrect information on every patient of the day. I wasn’t sure if he was completely incompetent or if he was just having a bad day. “But I’m going to check you over myself.”

“Okay,” he said, swallowing hard.

I pulled out the thermometer and scanned his forehead. “No fever,” I said, showing him. “Let me look at your throat.” I checked out his throat, eyes, ears, and nose, and I listened to his heart and lungs. “Any symptoms other than the difficulty sleeping? Sore throat, body aches, anything?”

“Nope,” he said, shaking his head.

“You seem perfectly healthy,” I said, shrugging. “I don’t even see any reason to swab you for the flu.”

“I told you, I’m fine. Sheriff Morrison probably just saw this as a great way to force me to finally take a sick day before I lose them. Besides,” he said before clearing his throat. “I decided I didn’t mind having an excuse to see you again.”

“Oh really?” I asked, feeling my own heart rate pick up. This was entirely unprofessional. I shouldn’t have been feeling, well, anything while examining a patient. But standing so close to Jackson suddenly had my mouth going dry.

“Really,” he said, grinning. “We never got to finish our conversation last night. Are you free for dinner? I’d love to continue catching up.”

Now I was the one swallowing hard. On one hand, there was nothing I wanted more than to go to dinner with Jackson. He was a friendly face in a town where I hadn’t seen many of them. I felt completely comfortable with him, like our friendship had never missed a beat. On top of that, I was attracted to him in a way I really shouldn’t have been.

But there was the problem. For one thing, I had just turned Danny down, and things had been awkward there ever since. If he saw me go out with Jackson after I’d told him I had just gotten out of a relationship, it would make things even worse.

Plus, like Beverly had said, Jackson was a town VIP. Getting involved with him only to have a public breakup—because in small towns like Rosemary Mountain, every breakup was public—would worsen my reputation. I knew that, no matter the true circumstances, the public would decide I was the one at fault and hate me for breaking his heart. It would be the final nail in the coffin.

“I don’t know,” I said slowly. “Jackson, I got out of a relationship recently, and—”

“Whoa,” he said, holding up his hands. “I didn’t mean on a date. I’m talking about dinner as friends.”

“Just friends?” I asked.

“Sure.” He flashed that grin at me again and I thought I saw a little challenge underneath it.

“Okay,” I agreed, despite knowing it was still a bad idea. “Why not?”

“What time do you get off work?” he asked.

I just laughed. “Whenever the work is done.” I checked the schedule. “Looks like my last patient is at four twenty. Assuming everything goes well, I should be wrapped up here by five. I’ll want to grab a shower. We could meet around six thirty?”

“Sounds good,” he agreed. “You name the place.”

“Is Marco’s still in business?” I asked, my mouth watering at the thought of the pizza from my childhood.

He laughed. “No, it’s not. That’s a long story. But we have a new pizza place now. It’s not Marco’s, but it’s not bad. It’s right off the highway, on the north side of town.”

“Sounds perfect,” I said with a smile.

Pizza was safe. Pizza was friendly. Pizza wasn’t a date.

Even if part of me sort of wanted it to be.