Page 51 of The Doctor's Simple Life

“I thought you said there weren’t any best parts,” I say, staring him down, looking deep into those pretty blue eyes of his that have suddenly filled with doubt. But I don’t blink first.

He glances between me and Mikey, and for a second, I think he’s going to say something true. Then he actually says, once again to Mikey and not me, “I didn’t say ‘good.’ I said ‘best.’ You can give us the real small-town experience in a way I can’t. Come on, let’s just go to the bar. One drink. I’ll buy it.”

“Honestly, I’m kind of tired,” I say. “I’ve just come off shift.”

“You don’t want Mikey to think this is a town full of spoilsports, do you?” he pouts.

What I want to say isNo, but I wouldn’t have thought you would want to show Mikey that you’re a two-faced liar,or maybeNo, and whatever happened to not coercing people into things they don’t want to do,but I have a feeling that that will lead to an argument I don’t want to have.

What I actually say is, “Fine, one drink. But I’m not staying long, so if you want me to drive you home, you have to leave early, okay?”

Mikey sneers at me. “You’re going to let your girl talk to you like this, Reece? This town really has made you soft.”

“I’m not his girl,” I snap.

At the same time, Reece blurts, “A town like this can’t make me soft.”

Our eyes meet, both of us aware that Mikey is watching our every move. Carefully, Reece says, “I’m just respecting women. You know that makes them like you, right?”

Mikey laughs again, and already I’m getting sick of that sound.

“The trick is to get them towantyou, not like you.”

For a second, the tension between us crackles like a standoff. I don’t dare say anything else because I don’t trust myself enough to say something professional. That’s what I am. Professional.

I’m not hurt at all. I’ll feel that later.

But to my relief, there’s no more arguing. They move towards the door, and I follow them, watching them as they laugh and mock and act like the kinds of people I thought Reece was when he first arrived. Watching as he slips back into his true self like an old coat. Watching as he leaves me behind.

CHAPTER 25

REECE

Iorder another round of drinks and wink at Jenna, the server, as I do. She smiles back, and I catch Mikey’s approving nod out of the corner of my eye.

Meanwhile, Sienna’s being boring and just gets another soda. Whatever, though, because Mikey and I are going hard. We’re two tequila shots down, and I’ve decided I want cocktails.

“You sure you don’t want a cocktail?” I ask Sienna before Jenna goes, and she shakes her head and says nothing.

The entire time we’ve been out, she’s hardly said two words. I guess she’s probably shy around Mikey, just like she was with me, but she could at least try to be friendly. I know Mikey is an interesting kind of person, but she doesn’t have to be rude.

This is one of my friends. I had at least hoped she could pretend to like him.

Instead, it’s like that cold, detached, unfriendly woman I met has come out with us. It’s giving her and the town a bad look. If I want any chance of persuading Mikey that this place isn’t so bad, I need her to be on my side. I need her to act like her normal self around him.

At least I’ve still got his attention. I’m halfway through telling a story about one of the old men who’s been through the hospital recently. Sienna is frowning as I tell it, but Mikey is absorbing every word.

“He was like, I think my finger might be broken. And I look at it, and it’s half hanging off, and I want to say, no shit, son, I think so too.”

Mikey laughs heartily, and a warm surge of validation rushes through me. I’ve always liked it when people in power like me. I guess that’s why Mikey and I get on so well. He’s my boss, and he definitely does think I’m funny. At least he laughs at my jokes.

I can take that. It’s as good a base for a friendship as anything else.

“It was funny, wasn’t it?” I say to Sienna.

She shrugs. “I guess.”

“Oh, Reece,” Mikey sneers at her. “You forgot. We take medicine so totally seriously in a small town.”

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