Page 27 of Doctorshipped
“If you’ll excuse me, Miss Blanchard, I was about to take my daughter out for dinner. I need to clean up and get ready. It was nice of you to pop by to introduce yourself.”
“Cherry. Please. Call me Cherry. You know, like the fruit?”
“Yes. I’m familiar with the fruit.”
She beams at this fact. As if most people haven’t heard of a cherry or wouldn’t know that it’s a fruit.
In an agricultural town, I’m relatively sure the entire male population could identify a cherry, and probably cultivate and grow their own orchard if they were so inclined.
“Well, maybe we can meet up for coffee sometime, Grant.”
“It’s Doctor Grant,” I clarify.
“Mmmm. Doctor.” she says, and then she runs her finger across her lower lip.
I turn my back toward her and carefully walk toward my desk keeping my eyes on the floor to make sure my path is free of frogs.
“Good day, Miss Blanchard.”
“I’ll see you arouuu … Ahhhhgggghhhhh!” she screams.
I turn to see the third frog—Jeremy?—leap an impressive distance directly at Cherry. He bounds straight between her legs and out the doors of my study.
“After him!” I shout to Fiona.
“Please show yourself out,” I say to Cherry as I dash past her after my daughter into the hallway, my eyes set on the frog with a singular focus.
“I see him, Daddy. Stand still.”
I hear the click of Cherry’s heels followed by the front door opening and shutting behind her just as Fiona hurls herself toward the frog, cupping her hands and capturing him.
“No frogs in the house.” I dictate on an exhale. “None. We are absolutely not keeping frogs as indoor pets.”
“I see your point,” Fiona concedes.
“You may play with them in the yard. But leave them wild. They need to access water.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
“And,” I add with a proud smile. “Those were some impressive moves.”
“Thanks!” she says, brightening.
With all three frogs in the tupperware, Fiona walks out the back door. I return to my office, straighten my desk, clean the puddle left by Ribbit, and wash my hands.
If I were any other man, I would be thinking about a woman in a red dress who obviously wanted to give me her own version of a welcome to our new town. But, I’m not that man. Instead, my thoughts roam to a certain woman and what her brown eyes and expressive face will look like when Fiona inevitably tells her about our adventure with the frogs.
10
JAYME
“Do you want to change?” Shannon asks when she comes in the door. The cats scatter from off my lap and over my shoulders when the door shuts.
I look down at my T-shirt and jeans. “Do I need to?”
“Nope. We’re just going to Mad River anyway. Girls’ night out and wedding prep discussion all in one, with onion rings and a bacon cheeseburger! That’s what I’m talkin’ about, baby!”
I chuckle.
