Page 26 of A Future in the Bay

Olivia cocked an eyebrow, glancing over at him. “She’s very nice and she knows what she’s doing. And besides, she’s closer than the hospital.”

He gave her a look, and then stuck his tongue out at her for good measure. She grinned at him.

“I’ll park the car and then wander around and shop while I wait for you,” she said. “Text me when you’re done?”

“I will. Thanks, Olivia.”

“Of course!”

He got out of the car and started to walk toward the clinic. Olivia had bandaged his cut, but it was still bleeding so much that the bandage was red, and it hurt whenever pressure was applied to it. He was glad he hadn’t had to drive himself—that would have been tricky.

He felt a flutter of nervousness as he stepped through the door of the clinic, but he told himself that he was being silly. Asmiling young woman sitting behind the reception desk greeted him.

“Hi. Do you have an appointment?”

He held up his bandaged hand. “Nope. This was unplanned.”

“Oh my goodness,” she said, standing up. “Dr. Gwen is just doing some paperwork in her office. I’ll take you into the examination room and then send her right in.”

“Thanks,” he said.

The nurse led him into a small, clean examination room with mint green walls and a little window looking out over a back garden. It was decidedly the most pleasant doctor’s office he’d ever been in, he thought.

“It won’t be long at all,” the nurse assured him, and stepped out of the room.

A minute later, the door opened and Dr. Gwen stepped inside. He was immediately struck by how pretty she looked—and then he noticed how blank her expression was.

“Hi,” he said, grinning at her. “Remember me?”

She nodded, stiffly. He couldn’t blame her for being less than enthusiastic to see him, considering what their last interaction had been. She looked immediately at his hand, frowning at it in a clinical way.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Well,” he said, lifting one shoulder wryly, “I’m building a playground for Little Clams, and I decided that it wouldn’t be any fun if I didn’t try to impale my hand while I was at it.”

She looked at him with a deadpan expression and blinked a couple of times.

“Do you ever laugh?” he asked, grinning. Then his voice got a little quieter. “Or are you still annoyed with me for almost backing into you?”

“Let’s get your hand cleaned up,” she said, ignoring his question as if he hadn’t asked it. She took his hand and began to unwrap the bandage carefully. “How long has this been on?”

“Less than half an hour. It’s a fresh cut.”

“Mm, you’re bleeding a lot.”

“Do you think I’m going to make it?” he asked, teasing, as she picked up a metal tool that looked like some kind of medical grade tweezers.

“I think you have a small chance of survival,” she said, her lips twitching a little as she brought the tweezers close to his cut.

He laughed, cheered by the fact that she was bantering with him and even looked like she was holding back a smile. In the next moment, she pulled a small metal sliver out of the palm of his hand.

“There,” she said briskly. She examined his hand closely for a few moments. “That’s the only splinter, so that’s good news. Unfortunately, you will need stitches.”

She began to safely dispose of the splinter, and he watched her in admiration. She was clearly very good at her job—quick and efficient. He wondered if maybe she’d only been bantering with him to distract him from the pain of having the splinter removed.

“Don’t worry, Doc,” he teased, “I’m pretty tough. I can handle some stitches.”

“I’m sure you can,” she said. “And thankfully, the cut isn’t very long.”

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