Page 21 of Family Bonds- Garrett & Justine

He laughed, two dimples popping out that she hadn’t noticed before.

“I’m not sure it’s possible for you to get fat. You’re just a little thing.”

“I’ve been told that before,” she said. “It’s not fun to be the shortest of all your friends.”

She wasn’t sure why she volunteered that piece of information when she hated to talk about personal things at work.

“I didn’t have that problem,” he said.

Her eyes traveled half the length of him. Just what she could see. She’d peg him a few inches over six feet.

“Lucky you,” she said. “Anything I can help you with or you just wanted to make sure your patients got their medications on time? And I should apologize if I was out of line last week. First day jitters and all.”

Once she got into a routine, it wasn’t that hard to get his stuff together quickly and it was only three days a week. One day this week it was just three patients.

“I have no complaints,” he said. “How was your first week after those jitters went away?”

“Not bad,” she said. “Glad there are no complaints.”

She hadn’t heard any from anyone either, but she’d been running like crazy trying to get things out on time until she got a good handle on who was who and where things were located.

“What are you doing back here?”

Garrett turned his head to the man who walked to the counter. “Making nice, what about you?”

“Guess you beat me to it,” the guy said, then turned to her.

“Dr. Mills. Another one of my cousins.”

“Do I have to guess which one you are?” she asked. “I can safely say not Ava or Gabriela.”

Garrett laughed. “Gabriela is my sister.”

“Ava is mine,” the other doctor said. “I’m Hudson. ER,” he added, his hand coming out. “My twin, Carson, doesn't have as many needs as me in terms of the pharmacy.”

“The radiologist,” Justine said. She remembered that now.

“That’s him. He spends his time looking at pictures,” Hudson said.

She nodded. “My sister says I spend my time counting.”

Garrett laughed. “We all have our little jokes. My sister soothes crying toddlers or makes them cry. Depends on the day.”

“So then Michael and Richard are your fathers?” she asked. She was figuring it out now.

“My father is Richard,” Garrett said. “He’s in oncology with me but rarely on the island.”

She saw Richard was a department head.

“Michael is my father,” Hudson said, “and not here much unless they are short-staffed or he’s on the island and there is an emergency and they need a surgeon.”

“Got it,” she said. “Whether I remember it or not, who knows?”

“You’ll remember it,” Troy said, coming in. “Hi, Dr. Mills. Both of you. Dang, who brought food and what is it? I love it when everyone sucks up to us.”

Her jaw dropped when they were both called out on it. “Garrett brought us bagels this morning. Hudson is just saying hi. Guess he needs to catch up.”

Garrett smirked when she said that and she hoped he accepted her apology and realized she wasn’t always so uptight.

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