Page 16 of Shared By the Mountain Men

She laughed, a carefree sound that was at-odds with the attitude I’d seen from her so far. “So, what’s good here?”

“The chicken salad sandwich is the best in the Rockies,” I said.

“Ohh, I love chicken salad! I don’t know if I’m hungry enough for a whole sandwich, though. Especially if it comes with fries.”

“Tell you what. Let’s split one,” I suggested.

“Oh, I don’t want you to only eat half a lunch though…”

“Not a problem at all!” I replied. “I usually only eat half and take the leftovers to the hospital, but the smell bothers all the nurses.”

The waitress came up with her notepad to take our orders. I put down my menu and said, “Hey there Jenny, we’re going to split a chicken salad sandwich. And I’ll have a root beer.”

“Coffee for me,” Melissa said. Then she leaned across the table and added, “A doctor drinking sugary pop? What would your patients think?”

I smirked back at her. “Root beer is my one weakness, which I indulge in once a week when I get lunch at Marlene’s.”

She squinted at me. “I don’t believe you.”

Yep. Stubborn. Fortunately, I was extremely good at dealing with stubborn patients. Jenny returned with our drinks, and I asked her, “Remind me, do I get free refills on my drink?”

Jenny reacted like I’d asked her to dump Tabasco sauce in my coffee. “You’re fixing to drink asecondroot beer this week? Are you feeling all right, Doc?”

“I’m feeling great, I just couldn’t remember Marlene’s policy. Thanks, Jenny.”

She walked away, shaking her head.

“You paid her to say that.”

“Ask anyone else in here,” I said. “They know my routine.”

“Fine. I retract my jab,” Melissa said.

Stubborn, but could be convinced. I could work with that.

“Now how about you explain what you were doing when you rolled that ankle,” I said. “You were backpacking, right?”

“Thru-hiking the Colorado Trail.”

I whistled. “No wonder you’re antsy to get back on your feet.”

“I’m way behind schedule,” she complained. “I was hoping to complete the hike in thirty days, but I realized on the second day that I wouldn’t be able to move that fast.”

“That’s an ambitious pace,” I agreed.

“I was too ambitious about the entire damn hike.” She leaned back in the booth and sighed, brushing a lock of hair away from her face. “I thought I could do this. I thought I was capable of doinganything. Or at least, I wanted to feel like I was. Spoilers: it had the opposite effect.”

“Speed bumps happen in life,” I said.

“Tell me about it,” she muttered.

“I know you’re not being literal, but I ran into a speed bump in my medical career.”

“What happened? You failed some big test in med school?”

“Close,” I replied. “I got blown up by a bomb.”

She did a double-take. “What?”

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