Page 7 of Family Bonds- Garrett & Justine

That assumption bit her in the rump and most likely made her look like a cold jerk in his eyes.

Not the best way to start her first day.

“My cousin is a nurse back there,” Troy said. “Part time. She’s part time in the hospital too. She said Dr. Mills is awesome to work for. He’s been here for years filling in, but is now on the island for a year temporarily.”

“Gee, did he get stuck like me?” she asked. She wasn’t even being sarcastic about it. More like sympathetic that it was twice as long as her.

The apartment the hospital was supplying for her was bigger than the one she had in Boston. She was a five-minute walk from the beach and it was a quiet area.

She didn’t have a ton to complain about there.

Her biggest complaint was that she moved over on Saturday and only had two days to unpack and get food and settle in.

She was more tired than anything in the past three weeks since she found out. She hadn’t had more than one day off in a row and not enough time to come here and look around at her new temporary home.

But hey, the commute to work was pretty sweet. Ten minutes compared to fighting traffic or mass transportation.

So yeah, so far, it wasn’t too bad for forty-eight hours.

Troy frowned. “No,” he said. “He volunteered for it.”

“Why?” she asked.

Someone like him had to have a significant other. That would make life harder if that was the case. Or even kids.

“He has family here. And a home,” Troy said. “You know about this island, right?”

“Not really,” she said. “I moved to Boston from Indiana a few months ago.”

“Oh boy,” Troy said, rubbing his hands together. “Let me fill you in on the history of Amore Island and the Bond family.”

“I’ve heard about that,” she said. “What does that have to do with Dr. Mills?”

“He’s from the Bond family,” Troy said. “Catherine’s side. They are pretty much all doctors.”

“Oh,” she said. “I saw a bunch of Mills on the doctor registry.”

“His sister and father both work in Boston but do rotations here like Garrett used to. Then he’s got three cousins that are here full time. Their father, Garrett’s uncle, is semi retired, just filling in when needed.”

“Makes sense,” she said. “And I wasn’t trying to be a hard ass to him about procedure.”

The last thing she wanted to do was start off on the wrong foot. Or rub people the wrong way.

“I figured as much,” Troy said. “And trust me, there will be plenty that will come in here and try to sway you to put them first. But we have an unspoken rule to get the oncology department out of the way. They only do treatment three days a week and never have over six patients. By ten, all their patients are set and going. We get little more from them after that unless there is a problem or someone needs a script refilled, but it’s not a rush either.”

“That is slow,” she said. She expected to be slammed more with that, like in the Boston hospital.

“It’s a small office. The people getting treatment here live on the island. Many don’t even have Dr. Mills as their actual doctor, but go to a specialist in Boston. What he is doing here is monitoring them and signing off on their treatment while keeping their specialist in the loop. It’s too much for people to take a ferry over for treatment and back if they can avoid it.”

“I guess I’ll learn those things on the island,” she said.

“I love it here,” Troy said. “But it’s difficult for most. Or many don’t make it. You’re lucky.”

She heard her computer going off and moved back to it to see the scripts coming in while she ate her donut. “Why is that?”

“Because you get the best of both worlds. You only have to stay here for six months. It’s like a trial run. Maybe you’ll love it and want to stay. Guess it depends on if you like life in the fast lane or not?”

She snorted. “Not really.”

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