Page 22 of The Grumpy Doc's Surprise Delivery

“Let’s go?” He gestures for me to step ahead of him. We’re going for lunch at the hotel restaurant, so even though it’s nothing special, it will still be nice.

I take a step and wince as I put weight on my foot. It still hurts from my fall in the forest, even though I’ve been trying my best to keep my weight off it. Fortunately, we’ve been doing a lot of sitting down during the training course, so that has helped.

“How’s it feeling today?” Liam asks.

I shrug. “Not as bad as it did. I can walk on it now, at least.”

“You shouldn’t push yourself too far,” he warns.

“Yes, thank you, doctor,” I say sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.

He huffs in mock offense, but it doesn’t make his smile waver.

It’s not busy when we get to the restaurant. I guess now that most of the doctors are gone, it’s back to their regular tourists and businessmen. It’s nicer though, not to be bustling. It feels more like a real vacation.

We get seated, and a waiter brings over some menus. “Thank you,” I say.

“What looks good?” Liam asks, staring at the menu.

The list is long, and everything catches my interest as I scan it: pork, figs, plantains. It’s a real mix of tradition and stuff that will appeal to the American palate, so of course there are fries as aside. I don’t believe in getting food I could get at home when I’m away, though.

I don’t go on vacation often, so I have to use this opportunity to try something new.

“I’ll probably get the fish special,” I say eventually. “It’s caught locally.”

Liam gives me a look to sayhow impressive, then waves the waiter over so we can order. To my surprise, he says please and thank you to the server. Maybe I’m rubbing off on him. I’d like it if that were true.

As we chat through lunch, I’m starting to see a totally different man than I did during the training course. Then he was, nominally, in professional mode, but now that he’s fully on vacation, he’s relaxed and almost a nice person.

And he tells the most outrageous stories about work.

“So this one nurse…” he says, leaning in over the table. There are tears in my eyes from laughing at him. “She has this unique laugh, and I feel bad sometimes laughing at it, but it’s like a little mouse, and sometimes she speaks to patients who are going through the most difficult stuff you can imagine, you know: chemo, grief, surgery. And she makes these dumb jokes with them and laughs, trying to keep their spirits up.”

He does an impression of the laugh, and my hand flies to my mouth to stifle my own. “Liam!”

“I know she means well and has a heart of gold. But imagine how hard it is not to laugh when you hear this nurse goingaheeaheeahee!”

“You’re awful,” I say, but the way I’m laughing is doing nothing to back up my words.

“And yet you’re still here with me,” he points out, a twinkle in his eye.

“Yes,” I concede. “Yes, I am.”

To be honest, it’s quite refreshing to be able to have these conversations with someone. Phoebe listens to me talk about work often enough, and as a lawyer she has more than her fair share of strange characters to deal with, but it’s not the same. Liam really gets the struggles unique to the hospital.

He’s making me see that I’m not the only one who gets frustrated or sees things as funny that others wouldn’t understand. There is at least one other person on earth who cares in the same way that I do.

As we’re finishing up our meal, Liam says, out of nowhere, “Come to the beach with me this afternoon.”

“It’s already this afternoon.”

“Yeah, so let’s go.” He has such a look of sincerity about him that I can’t look away from his face.

Not for the first time, I take in his sharp jawline and high cheekbones. He has an elegant nose and a dusting of stubble on his chin, like he’s not shaved in a couple of days. It makes him look more handsome than ever.

Surely it can’t be wrong to hang out with him? We’re having fun, aren’t we?

“Okay, yeah,” I say. “The beach. I want to change first, though.”

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