Page 13 of Doctor Frost

“Great, thank you, Amelia.”

“No problem.”

I’d takenmy time finishing up at the holiday market before heading home to get ready. I showered, pulled my hair back in a bun, and quickly did my makeup before I hopped into my car and made my way over. I pulled up outside the two-story home, put my car in park, and cut the engine. Grabbing my purse, I made my way to the front door, careful not to slip on the snow-covered walkway.

I was about to knock when the door opened abruptly, and there stood Dalton. At first, I thought I was at the wrong house and looked up to make sure it was the right place. I barely recognized him. He wore blue jeans and a T-shirt, and I couldn’t help but notice he was barefoot. He looked so different dressed in casual clothing.

“Amelia, thank you so much for coming over,” he said, an actual smile on his face.

Where is Dalton Frost and what have you done with him, I thought to myself as I stared at this incredibly sexy man. That was the only thing running through my mind as I stepped into his house and he closed the door behind me.

“I hope you didn’t mind me calling you. Claire has been having a terrible morning. Mrs. Jenkins would normally deal with her, but she is on her weekend off and, well, I didn’t want to call her, but I didn’t know what to do. She insisted she couldn’t talk to me about it. She claimed it was a woman’s issue.”

I smiled, almost laughed. It sounded funny that she wouldn’t talk to her father about a woman’s issue, considering he was a gynecologist.

“What’s so funny?’ he questioned.

“I think you know what is funny,” I added as I followed behind him, glancing into the living room as we walked through into the kitchen where I found Claire sitting at the kitchen table, her cheeks flushed, her eyes red. Had she been crying?

“Hey, Claire,” I said, smiling down at her.

“Amelia, you came!” she said, jumping up and running over to me, wrapping her arms around my waist.

“What’s going on?” I questioned, giving her a one-armed hug.

I glanced over at Dalton, who stood there, coffee mug in his hand, watching us. He leaned up against the counter, and for the first time, I noticed how his muscles flexed in his forearms and how strong his hands were. I’d worked with this man daily for a year and had noticed none of this before. When I looked back down at Claire, I noticed she glanced over to Dalton and then back at me.

“Can we go talk in private?” she whispered.

I looked back over to Dalton, who cleared his throat. I was expecting him to force her to talk to me here, but he surprised me.

“You can use the backyard if you like.” He nodded, gently smiling at Claire.

“Thanks.” I looked down at Claire, who slipped her hand into mine and led me to the backdoor.

Once outside, Claire nodded to four empty chairs in the middle of the backyard. I followed her over, and we both took a seat.

“So, what is going on that you can’t talk to your dad about?” I questioned.

Her cheeks flushed, and she shook her head. “It’s embarrassing,” she mumbled.

“Okay, well, how about you just take a deep breath and tell me?” I smiled.

Claire did as I suggested and, without looking at me, she murmured, “I woke up this morning and there was blood in my bed,” she said, almost near tears.

I gently smiled, remembering when I’d gotten my first period. It was almost identical to what had happened to Claire. The only difference was I had my mother to talk about it with.

“Mrs. Jenkins wasn’t here, and I couldn’t tell my dad.” Tears filled her eyes.

“It’s okay. No need to cry. I can help you with this, no problem.” I smiled, reaching into my purse and pulling out a pad. “You’ve gone over these things in health class, I take it?”

Claire nodded. “I just had nothing in the house, and I didn’t want to ask Dad to take me to the drugstore because I’d rather die. I was going to wait until Monday when Mrs. Jenkins was here, but I wasn’t sure I should.”

“No problem. How about I take you to the drugstore? We can get you some supplies and you can ask me all the questions you’d like to ask in private. Sound good?”

Claire nodded, smiling at me. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Now why don’t you head on up to your room, get ready, and I will take you to the drugstore.”

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