Page 57 of What We Keep
Elsa
My cheeks were probably going to melt off today.
On the heels of a muffled laugh, Rachel cleared her throat. “Elsa, this is Dr. Franklin. She prefers to go by Charlie, or Dr. Charlie.”
“Nice to meet you.” My voice was squeaky. I was doomed to mortify myself with these women. “I’m Elsa, and I do stay out at Heartfire Falls. I grew up next door, and I just moved back to town. This is my old doctor’s office.”
“He retired, but I bet your records are still here,” Dr. Charlie said, politely ignoring Tommy’s teasing about Haven allegedly having a crush on me.
Nobody needed to know that I had way more than a crush on Haven.
The doctor reviewed everything with Tommy, checked all his vitals, and proclaimed him the healthiest Tommy Silver she’d ever known in the universe.
At which point, Tommy stood, thrust both fists in the air, and let out a whoop. “I am! Do I get a lollipop?”
Dr. Charlie studied him. “You know, I wanted to get rid of the lollipops because they have a lot of sugar.”
“But there have been a lot of complaints,” Rachel added, her eyes wide as she emphasized each word dramatically.
“Well, what the f—” Tommy cut in. “The front door?” he corrected at the last minute. “I’m not supposed to swear as much as I do,” he added.
Dr. Charlie pressed her lips together. “Learning the appropriate places to say certain words is good.”
“You mean swear words?” Tommy pressed.
“Yes. Swear words.”
“Do you swear, Dr. Charlie?” he asked next.
Rachel cleared her throat to cover up her laugh.
“I swear sometimes, Tommy. But just like you, I had to learn where I could and couldn’t swear. You definitely can’t swear in school,” Dr. Charlie said, her lips twitching with a smile.
Tommy’s sigh was enormous. “I know. That’s what my teacher says all the time.”
“Do you have any questions, Elsa, before we finish up with Tommy?” She looked over at me.
“I don’t think so. I was just making sure Tommy got here because Haven is tied up. I don’t really know what happened. Something to do with equipment,” I fumbled through my reply.
“Do I get to go out front and pick out my lollipop?” Tommy asked, barely waiting for an answer.
“Go for it,” Dr. Charlie waved him out.
He ran so fast I was surprised dust didn’t kick up behind him. “It’s nice to meet you. I don’t think I’ve met either one of you before. Are you both new to town?” I asked.
“That we are,” Rachel replied. “We both came to Willow Brook for different reasons.”
“And you know the Silver family?” I asked.
“Hard not to know them. There are six of them. They’re all firefighters, at least periodically, and we are both married to firefighters,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes. “Word on the street is Haven had a crush on you in high school.”
“How does everybody know everything? I didn’t know that!” I burst out.
“There’s gossip in this town. You’re just gonna have to deal with it,” Rachel said dryly. “But somebody should lay claim to that man because I might be married, but those Silver boys...” She gave an exaggerated brow waggle. “They’re all handsome.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “They are.”
“So about you and Haven?” she prompted with a lazy circle of her hand in the air.
