Page 16 of One Little Spark

“I guess,” Aiden agreed. He could have cheerfully choked the life out of the man at that moment, but he just gripped the countertop with both hands and tried not to grind his teeth too loudly.

“Must be nice to have such charming company. Always good to have family around.”

Aiden smiled faintly and clenched his jaw harder. He didn’t trust himself not to tell the guy to fuck off.

“Well, I must be going.” When Bryson got up, Hazel stood as well, and he reached over and squeezed her shoulder with one hand. “It was so nice chatting with you, Hazel. Thanks for the breakfast.”

“It was my pleasure. I’ll walk you out,” she offered.

Aiden was trying to think of a way to stop her that didn’t involve tackling her when Bryson did it for him. “That’s fine. I can find my own way. You just sit and rest a bit. You’ve hada long night, too. You must be exhausted. We’ll chat soon.” He turned to Aiden and nodded once. “Nice to meet you, Aiden.”

Aiden plastered a fake smile on his face and inclined his head slightly. Then Bryson headed down the hallway and out the front door.

“Sorry for springing him on you. I kind of couldn’t find a way to say no when he asked for a cup of coffee.”

Aiden’s gut clenched. “He asked you for coffee?”

“Yeah. He said he was tired, and he was afraid he’d fall asleep on the way home, so would I mind very much making him coffee? What could I say? He’d just driven me home, so I said yes. Then he made a comment about breakfast, and I figured I was hungry, too, so I just scrambled up some eggs.”

He let out a long breath. “Hazel, in the future, please say the coffee maker is broken if some man asks you for a cup of coffee.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“Because he was trying to get you into bed.”

“What?” Her eyebrows hit her hairline. “You’re so wrong. He’s one of the good doctors at the hospital. He was just being friendly.”

“Did his demeanor change at all when you told him I was asleep upstairs?” He studied her face. “You did tell him, didn’t you?”

“Yes! I did. God, you’re worse than Jory. No, his demeanor didn’t change at all. He was just being nice by driving me home and then wanted some coffee and breakfast. It’s hard to be on your own all the time. It’s not a big deal.”

It was a very big fucking deal, but he wasn’t going to say any more about it. It would just lead to a fight, and he did not want to fight with Hazel. He wanted to take her to bed and never let her out of his sight. He took another large gulp of coffee and burnt his mouth all over again.

Chapter Eight

Hazel glanced out the window behind her but didn’t see anything. It was especially dark tonight, and with the bright glow of the overhead light she could barely make out the rose bushes outside. She turned back and realized old Doc Lawrence had been speaking to her. “Sorry, Doc, I wasn’t paying attention. What did you say?”

Doc was standing next to an overstuffed filing cabinet, rifling through papers. “That’s the third time you’ve looked out the window. Something catch your attention?” His gaze shifted to the window as if to figure out what she was looking at.

“I don’t know, Doc. I just have this feeling…like someone is watching us.” She shook her head. “I’m probably just overtired. I’ve been working long hours this week. I guess burning the candle at both ends is catching up with me.”

Doc sat down in the chair in the middle of the room and took the file Hazel offered to him from where she was sitting on the floor. The paunch around his middle was encased in a loud Hawaiian shirt, and his gold wire-rimmed glasses along with his flowing white hair and beard made him look like a hippy version of Santa Claus. “Why are you working long hours this week? I thought you moved out already. Is young Aiden charging you too much rent?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

She grinned. Doc always knew all the gossip in town, so she wasn’t surprised he knew she’d moved in with Aiden. “Aiden isn’t young. He’s over thirty! Actually, he’s not charging me any rent. I’d agreed to do all these extra shifts at the hospital before I moved in with Aiden. This is the last week of them. I’ll be sticking to my normal schedule after this.”

“Everyone is young when you’re my age.” He grinned. “But I’m glad to hear you are going to slow down and get a life.Why don’t you go close the blinds?”

Hazel got up off the floor and went over to the window. She hadn’t said anything about getting a life, but she took his point. She pulled the cord, and the blind clattered closed, releasing all kinds of dust into the air. She immediately sneezed and then sneezed again. Turning, she looked at Doc, and the two of them burst out laughing.

“I guess that blind hasn’t been closed in a long time,” Doc said with a sheepish grin.

Hazel wiped the dust off her face and shirt and sneezed once again. “I guess not.” She went over and sat back down on the floor in front of the file box they’d been working on. Glancing around the room, she wondered again why they were doing this. The old Victorian house Doc had worked out of for the last fifty years was in bad shape. The walls of this room were covered with faded pink rose vine wallpaper. The room itself was small, maybe ten by ten, and it was filled with file boxes and overstuffed cabinets. Patient histories, Doc had said.

She glanced at the elderly gentleman in front of her. Doc had been her physician as a child. Everyone in town had gone to him. He knew every citizen and all their business. Why was he rereading files now? Was it because he was retiring in a couple of months?

“Doc?” she said hesitantly, “why are we doing this?” There, she finally asked the question. He’d asked her several months ago to help with the project and offered to pay her. She’d assumed it was because he’d heard she wanted to raise money to move out, but she’d never asked him why he was looking at every single one of his old files.

He looked up from the file he’d just finished. “I was wondering if you were ever going to ask me. It’s why I asked for your help in the first place.”

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