Page 14 of Heal Me
Kate sat up straighter. “Oh, well, I’d like to go home and clean up so I don’t smell like animals.”
Ric chuckled. “Don’t worry, where we’re going, it won’t matter. I’ll see you at six. Bye, Doc.”
He hung up before she could object and Kate stared at the phone for a moment. Where were they going? She didn’t want to meet him wearing scrubs and Crocs.
“Jeans! I have jeans in the truck!” Kate stood up so fast that she banged her knee on her desk. “Shit!”
She always kept a change of clothes in her truck because she never knew what she’d come up against when she got called out to a farm. That way, she was always prepared. It was her saving grace right then.
Hurrying out the back door, she ran to her truck and retrieved the duffle bag behind the driver’s seat. Back inside, she ran into Robert Chambers, her office manager and best friend.
“There you are. I wanted to talk to you about one of our purchase orders,” he said.
“Oh, uh, sure,” she said. “Just be quick about it because I have a few things to do before I leave at six.”
Robert nodded. “Okay.”
He followed Kate into her office and they went over an order for surgical supplies that needed to be changed. Kate kept glancing at the clock on the wall.
“Am I keeping you from something?” Robert asked.
Kate gave him an apologetic smile. “Well, sort of. I’m meeting someone after work and I need to change.”
Robert lifted a dark eyebrow. “Oh, I see. Who is he?”
“I’d rather not say. We just had lunch together. There’s not much to tell,” Kate said.
“This is a big step for you. Are you sure you’re ready?” Robert asked.
Kate nodded. “Neither one of us want anything serious. Just some companionship and fun. We’re keeping it light.”
Concern shone in Robert’s brown eyes. “I think that’s a good idea. I’m not trying to be a killjoy. God knows you deserve some fun, but I just don’t want you to jump too far, too fast.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Kate agreed. “I don’t have the time or the heart for anything serious. I’m not ready for that. Someday, but not now.” She smiled. “But in the meantime, I think some fun is just what the doctor ordered.”
Robert groaned at her bad pun. “You need to brush up on your witty banter, Kate.”
“Get out of here.” She shoved him playfully. “I have to get ready.”
“At least tell me what he looks like,” Robert said.
“Blond hair, blue eyes, and a body to die for.”
“Like Brad Pitt?”
Kate laughed. “He makes Brad Pitt look like an ugly duckling.”
Robert’s eyes widened. “Holy shit. That hot, huh?”
“Yes. Now go!” Kate said.
Although she could tell that Robert wanted to ask more questions, he reluctantly left her office. Kate locked the door and quickly got rid of her scrubs. Yanking open her bottom desk drawer, she found deodorant, a small vial of perfume and a couple of pairs of earrings.
She was glad to see that the jeans in her duffel bag weren’t too wrinkled as she shimmied into them. Then she yanked the lavender cable-knit sweater over her head and settled it into place. Looking in the mirror on the back of her office door, Kate saw that her hair was full of static and stuck up here and there.
Grabbing her purse, she pulled out her brush and quickly put her long tresses in a single braid. She put on a little pink lipstick and some mascara and was finished with three minutes to spare.
“That’s as good as it gets,” she muttered. “Not bad. He’ll have to be happy with that on such short notice.”
