Page 28 of Flirt

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“I’m sorry we ruinedyour day, Dr. Agassi. You didn’t need to come in and check on her. We should have brought her straight to the ER instead of calling your office. But when I couldn’t get the gummy out of Dana’s nose, and she started crying, struggling to breathe, I panicked. If I had taken a few seconds to think, I would have remembered it was the weekend. Your service would answer,” Beth Michaels apologized for what felt like the hundredth time since I walked into the exam room.

“Again, it wasn’t a problem. I knew she would be taken care of in the ER. I just wanted to come in and check on Dana to make sure the asthma attack was indeed due to being upset over the stuffed-up nose. Not her medication dosage being too low.”

“Dana hasn’t had an attack since you prescribed meds for her. She didn’t get upset today until we tried to get the gummies out ourselves,” Mr. Michaels said from beside his wife. “Who knew a three-year-old’s nostril was that deep.”

I smiled at Mr. Michaels. “Oh, you would be surprised what they can fit up the nose and in their ears. It all ended well, and she’s going to be fine. That is the important thing.”

“Thank God. Took ten years off my life,” Beth said while she looked down at Dana, who was asleep on the bed.

“I’m going to head out. A nurse will come back with Dana’s discharge paperwork once Dr. Booker signs off on it. Have a good weekend and watch those gummies.” The Michaels’ smiled, and after they said goodbye, I walked out of the room.

As I walked toward the exit doors, I pulled my phone out and checked for any missed messages or calls. I slipped it into my back jean pocket and reached in my front pocket for my keys.

“Heading home, Brie?”

If I hadn’t been standing in the middle of the ER, I would have groaned out loud. Yet, I wasn’t able to stop rolling my eyes as I turned my head toward the nurses’ station and the person who spoke.

“Dr. Booker,” I acknowledged with a forced smile.

“Did you find anything wrong with my medical assessment? We could go to the cafeteria for coffee and discuss it.”

Good grief, what had I seen in the man to accept a dinner invitation? Loneliness was the reason. New town, no friends, just acquaintances, so I accepted his offer for dinner and regretted it five minutes after we had sat down at the table that evening. I hadn’t answered any of his calls, and I avoided him when I came to the hospital as much as professionally possible. It was my bad luck he was working the ER today.

I ignored the first part of his statement and addressed the second. “Sorry, no time for coffee. I’m a little rushed for time,” I easily lied, and without waiting for a response, I turned and continued to the exit doors. It seemed easier than politely standing there when I knew it would be only a matter of time that he brought up the unanswered calls. Or like the couple messages he’d left, another dinner invite. I had hoped my lack of interest would have him moving on to the next woman.

When I reached my car, I opened the door and got in. By the time I pulled out of the parking lot, I had placed the last couple of hours out of my mind and focused on the road. Last night’s activity, coupled with the regular weekend morning and chores, had tiredness creeping in.

Once I picked Sawyer up at Sami’s house, maybe we would grab some takeout and then veg on the couch and watch a movie or two for the rest of the day.

“Do you know Ally’sdad and Neely’s da...brother was in the Army?” Sawyer asked, then sucked the Lo Mein noodle into her mouth before it slipped from the chopsticks she was determined to eat with.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” I answered and shook my head when Sawyer stabbed a chopstick into a piece of chicken. “You sure you wouldn’t rather use a fork?”

“Nope,” she said, and bit the chicken off the end and chewed. “Flirt is a SEAL,” she added, stabbing another piece of meat.

“You mean hewasa SEAL, sweetie. The men are no longer in the service.”

“I know, but Flirt said once a SEAL, always a SEAL. He said Speed and Devil were eni...envious.”

“He did, huh? What did Speed and Devil say to that?” I asked as I closed the container of rice. When Eleanor hadn’t been home for me to ask if she would watch Sawyer while I ran to the hospital, I planned to take Sawyer with me and let her sit in a chair at the nurses’ station while I checked on Dana. Instead, it worked out for the better when as we were getting ready to leave the house, Sami called and invited Sawyer to come play with Ally.

Flirt was the only one I hadn’t met out of the group, but evidently, he had made a big impression on my daughter because she had talked about him the entire car ride back to town after I had picked her up at Sami’s house. She continued talking about him while we were in the Chinese place waiting for our food order. When we came into the house, she’d finally run out of things to say about him. At least it was what I thought.

“Yep. They called him a dick, and then they both handed Ally a dollar. Is dick a bad word? Ain’t it a man’s name?” Sawyer asked.

I slapped my chest and coughed, then reached for my glass and took a large drink.

“Well, it can be a name and also a bad word,” I answered, didn’t bother to correct her on using the wordain’t, and hoped she’d accept the response and drop it—no such luck.

“Then what’s it mean?”

“Sometimes men or boys will use it to refer to their private parts,” I explained the easiest way I knew how.

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh. But it isn’t something little girls should say or repeat,” I stressed.

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