Page 9 of Shared By the Mountain Men

Noah smiled, and I smiled with him. My entire mood had changed in the blink of an eye. Was I really so shallow that a good-looking doctor could make me forget all about my throbbing ankle?

“Your grumpiness was theonlything Jackie told me about,” Noah said cheerfully. “But I’m guessing from the ice pack that you twisted your ankle?”

“Rolled it on the trail,” I admitted.

“Let’s pop that shoe off and take a look.”

I untied my hiking boots and pulled my foot out, wincing because of the pain, and because I knew my foot smelled like I’d been hiking all day. Giving him a whiff of my sweaty socks wasn’t the kind of first impression I wanted to make with a cute doctor like Noah.

But I stopped caring about that as he gently examined my ankle. Noah radiated a sense of caring and compassion. I felt safe with him in a way I hadn’t felt since beginning my journey a week ago, and that feeling of safety caused my entire body to relax.

It also helped that he smelledamazing. I tried to pretend like I wasn’t inhaling every molecule of his scent while he twisted my foot in one direction, then the other.

“I’m pretty confident nothing is torn,” he said. “Normally, I would order some scans to be certain, but your lack of insurance makes that tricky. For now, you should stay off it until the swelling and pain go down. I’ll wrap it; compression helps. And if you don’t see improvement in a day or two, we’ll get you back here and order the scans after all.”

“I don’t know how much an X-ray costs without insurance, but I, uh, definitely can’t afford it,” I admitted.

Noah’s smile was warm and comforting. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve to get it done off-the-books, if we need to go that route. But I don’t think it’ll be necessary, and you should see improvement in two days.”

“So I’ll be able to hike again in two days?” I asked hopefully.

Noah chuckled. “Oh, you’re a funny one. The swelling shouldstartcoming down in two days, but it will be at least a week before you can hike again.”

I groaned. More delay. My plans were officially off the rails.

“Try to stay off the ankle as much as possible,” he explained a few minutes later on the way back to the waiting room. “Keep it elevated, and ice it periodically. Are you sure you don’t need anything for the pain?”

“I’ve got Ibuprofen.”

He gave me a lopsided smile. “You remind me of my sister. She’s tough as nails, too. If the pain gets to the point that Ibuprofen doesn’t cut it, come see me. And stay off the ankle! Seriously, it’ll heal faster if you let it rest for the first few days.”

Great. I remind him of his sister. Not that it mattered, since I was just passing through. But a girl could entertain the idea of a crush if she wanted..

We reached the check-in desk in the waiting room. There was a new woman sitting behind the desk. “Theresa will get you all settled. Best of luck to you, Melissa.”

“Thanks, Doctor Noah.” I winced. “I mean, Doctor Rich… I can’t remember your name.”

“Noah’s fine,” he said with that easygoing smile. “And stay off the ankle!”

I watched him disappear back into the medical center.

“All right,” Theresa said. “We have the examination, ice pack, and the wrapping materials… your insurance has it all covered. You’re good to go!”

She gave me a slow, overly-dramatic wink.

“Thank you,” I said, pulling out my phone to look for a hotel. Then I put it away and asked, “Do you know of a good place to stay around here? The cheaper, the better. I’m, uh, kind of low on cash.”

She brightened. “I know just the place! The owner owes me a favor, so I can get you a good rate.”

“That would beamazing,” I replied. It was nice to rely on a woman rather than big, strange men. Even if they did save my ass by carrying me down the mountain and bringing me to a hospital.

“The place is only a mile away if you…” she trailed off, looking at my ankle and my massive backpack. “Oh, silly me. I’m just watching the front desk until Amy gets back from her break, if you wait twenty minutes I’ll drive you there! It’s on my way home.”

While waiting for Theresa, I sat on the bench outside and stared at my phone. My parents would want to know what had happened. They were tracking my progress on Find My Friends; as soon as it updated and showed my location almost two hundred miles from where I was supposed to be, they would flip out and start calling the authorities. Better to defuse that bomb first.

“Mel!” my dad picked up the phone. “We were just talking about you at dinner. The Mahers think it’s wonderful what you’re doing.”

“I still think it’s crazy!” my mom said, crowding close to speak into the receiver. “But we love you anyway.”

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