Page 41 of The Doctor's Simple Life

“Okay!” He sighs dramatically, then squares his shoulders and turns to the door. He hesitates, turns back to me, and kisses me squarely on the lips.

It takes me by surprise, and I sink into it before I realize what I’m doing. He pulls away a second later and spins around on his heel to push the door open and walk out into the corridor.

My head reels, and it takes me a second before I realize that he’s leaving me behind.

Still dizzy from his ups and downs and my traitorous heart wanting more, I follow Reece into the ward.

Our first stop today is with Mrs. Hill, a woman who’s renowned for being hard to deal with, irritating, and almost impossible to help. On the scale of difficult patients, she would be right at the top. No amount of pandering to her makes up for the fact that nothing is ever right.

She’s always been fond of me, as far as fondness goes for her, but even that has never been very nice. Still, since her operation, she hasn’t been quite the same as she used to be. I might almost say she’s mellowed. Slightly.

I’ve been doing my best to care for her because she doesn’t really have any family, but now that she’s wise to all the sneaky ways I try to look after her, she’s trying to cut me out of those too. Obviously, nobody’s best is good enough for her, because my best is damn good.

And even if she hates it, I’m not going to stop trying.

Reece takes a deep breath before we enter Mrs. Hill’s room. He flashes me a smile, then pushes open the door and strides in. “Mrs. Hill. How are you doing today?”

“Like you care,” she huffs.

“I do, in fact. And you’ll find today that I can prove it.”

We both look at him, confused. What the hell is he talking about?

Mrs. Hill gives him her very best challenging glare and says, “No, you can’t.”

Reece smiles again, and I know that smile. He’s got something up his sleeve. That’s his badly kept secret smile. That’s his springing-a-surprise-on-you smile.

“Well,” he says, shoving his hands in his pockets, “I did a little bit of research, and…”

From out of nowhere, he produces a small bag of candy, some bright red sweets that look like they’re coated in sugar and will rot your teeth out in a second. It’s exactly the kind of thing you would bring to someone in the hospital to cheer them up.

She blinks at them, eyeing them up with suspicion like they might be about to explode. “They’re my favorite.”

“I know,” says Reece, beaming. “They’re for you.”

There will be no dealing with him for the rest of the day now. He’s got that cat-who-got-the-cream look. He’ll be more smug than ever before.

And the worst bit is he’s completely right to be smug. This is going to be the first smile Mrs. Hill has given us in months.

“How did you know?” she glares.

“Because, my dear Mrs. Hill, much as your general demeanor would suggest otherwise, you do have friends, and these friends know what you like.”

“How do you know who my friends are?” she spits. It’s a wonder this woman can keep a friend. Maybe she’s not like this outside of the hospital.

Somehow, that seems unlikely.

“Did you know,” says Reece, matching her bitterness with his own smugness, “that your friends are on your emergency contact list?”

“You’re not supposed to call them unless it’s an emergency.”

He shrugs and throws me a grin. What else does he have up his sleeve? “It was an emergency,” he says with the most sympathy I’ve ever heard from him. “I wanted to know how to cheer up a special lady.”

“Don’t you go sweet-talking me,” grumbles Mrs. Hill, but she takes the candy anyway, and her eyes brighten in a way that I haven’t seen in months.

We make sure that she’s comfortable and doesn’t need anything, and then we move on.

“I didn’t know you could be like that,” I say to Reece as we head back down the corridor.

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