by Score, Lucy
“Oh, shit,” she said under her breath.
They were going to have to Lysol bomb the waiting room.
“Happy first day,” Freida said. “We got ’em scheduled out in ten-minute windows.”
“Okay,” Mack sighed. “Who here is on a schedule and needs to get out of here quickly?”
About half of the hands rose.
“We’ll start with you all. Do the rest of you like pizza?” she asked.
The response was lethargically positive.
She reached into her pocket and produced a slim wallet. “Tuesday, call whatever pizza place we’ve got in town and get a couple of pies and whatever else you recommend.” She tossed her credit card to the receptionist. “And, for God’s sake, don’t let anyone touch you.”
“On it, Dr. Mack,” Tuesday said cheerfully.
“We’ll start with you,” Mack said, pointing at a harried mother with three kids.
* * *
In three hours of emergency medicine-style efficiency, Mack had nearly cleared the waiting room. The last of the pink eyes had been seen. She’d just wrapped up a UTI, and the final patients on her list were two kids with fevers.
She snagged a piece of cold pizza from the break room and scarfed it down. She poked her head out into the waiting room and found it empty.
“Freida’s getting their vitals in Exam Room 2,” Tuesday told her. “And these came for you.”
Mack blinked at the wildflower bouquet sitting on the front desk.
“They’re from Chief Reed,” Tuesday said, unable to contain her enthusiasm.
Mack plucked the opened card out of the blooms.
Dreamy,
I found Nemo twice yesterday, and now I can’t get the Moana songs out of my head. Also I hate burnt toast with chocolate chips. I owe you. Good luck on your first day.
Your Very Attractive Neighbor (Linc) (Clarifying in case you noticed how swole Mr. Nabuki two houses down is)
She bit her lip to keep her face from exploding into a gossip-inducing smile.
Yeah, she definitely had a soft spot for the sexy fire chief. And that was inconvenient.
She met Freida in the hallway outside Exam Room 2.
“So did you retire from the military or quit?” Freida asked.
The woman had been grilling her in increments since that morning.
Where are you from originally?
Where did you go to medical school?
Ever been married?
Do you have a favorite Jonas brother?
It was all part of the small-town experience. An alternate universe.
“Declined not to stay in after my last deployment,” she said. “Didn’t have enough years for retirement.” Or the physical and emotional stamina to survive another few years.
“You’ve got the Garrisons in there. Mom Harper, almost eight-year-old Ava, and four-year-old Sadie. Spoiler alert: It’s not pinkeye.”
“Thank God for that. Do you and Tuesday mind wiping down every surface in the waiting room before heading out?”
“Might be faster to burn it down, but we’ll save the drastic measures for flu season,” Freida said. “Gorgeous flowers. I didn’t know you and Linc knew each other.”
“We’re neighbors,” Mack said.
Freida’s eyebrows seemed to insist on more of a disclosure. But there were patients waiting.
Mack knocked briskly on the exam room door. Garrison. Harper and Ava and…shit. She’d forgotten.
“Come in!”
“Mrs. Garrison, what can we do for you today?”
Harper Garrison was a pretty blonde with big gray eyes and the kind of smile that seemed permanent…and genuine. She and Tuesday probably got along great.
Her kids were cuties. Ava was admiring her sparkly flip-flops every time she kicked her little legs up from the end of the exam table. She had dark, curly hair and big dark eyes. There was zero family resemblance.
Sadie however could have been cut from the same cloth as her mother. She had fine hair so blonde it was almost platinum. Her gray eyes were wary.
Harper plopped Sadie on the table next to her sister and surprised Mack with a hug.
“Oh. Uh. Is this a thing? Hugging doctors?” Mack asked.
“I’m Luke Garrison’s wife and Aldo’s friend,” Harper explained.
It clicked into place. Aldo, recovering from his amputation, had enlisted the help of his buddy’s then-girlfriend. He’d ended up teaching her to run. Mack had seen the pictures from that long-ago Fourth of July 5k when Aldo Moretta had reminded the entire town—and himself— what he was made of.
“Harper. Of course. It’s nice to meet you.” From all accounts, Luke Garrison’s wife was a ray of sunshine. It appeared the rumors were true.
“So this is Ava and Sadie,” Harper said, making the introductions. She placed a loving hand on each girl’s head. “This is only half of the family. The boys are healthy, thankfully. But our girls don’t feel very well, do you?”
Ava shook her head, dark curls bouncing. Sadie looked at Mack like she expected the doctor to steal her soul.
“We don’t feel good,” Ava announced, still kicking her flip-flopped feet to a beat only an almost eight-year-old could hear. “Mama says we can’t go to school until we stop throwing up and having fevers.”
“Your mom is right. How about I do a quick examination, and then we’ll see what we can do to make you feel better?” Mack suggested. Her talking-to-children skills were rusty. She thought of Linc in the backyard with his nieces and nephew.
“Do you guys like dogs?” she asked, channeling Linc.
Ava told Mack all about their two dogs—Lola and Max—while Mack did a quick physical exam. Swollen glands. Fevers.
“Have you been hungry lately?”
Ava shook her head swiftly. “Nope.” Sadie sat like a sphinx while Mack repeated the exam on her.
Mack slung her stethoscope over her shoulders while Ava told her how Daddy and Lola snuck a nap on the couch while Mama was weeding the garden.
“So there’s a highly contagious stomach bug making the rounds,” Mack began.
“Oh, hell,” Harper muttered.
“Yeah,” Mack said. “Keep these two quarantined and hydrated for the next forty-eight. Lots of electrolytes and broth. BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast are good, bland foods to start with. The worst should be over by tomorrow, but if there’s any more vomiting or diarrhea tomorrow—”
“Poop!” Ava shouted joyfully.
“Yes, poop,” Mack continued with a laugh. “Call me so we can make sure they don’t get dehydrated.”
Harper took enthusiastic notes in a notebook she produced from her massive mom tote. “Okay. So, now that you’ve diagnosed my kids. What are you doing Friday night?” she asked.
Mack opened her mouth and realized she didn’t know what to say.
“Aldo mentioned doing a cookout, and since he and Gloria are in the middle of a backyard patio project, I volunteered to host it. Shoot. Girls, do you know if I told Daddy we were going to have a cookout?”
Ava brought a finger to her chin, the picture of deep thought. Sadie made her first human move. “I don’t fink you told Daddy. You were tawking to Aunt Glorwia on the phone, and you said ‘Remind me to say somefing to Wooke.’ And then Wowa got sprayed by the skunk.”
Harper beamed at her daughter. “It takes her a little while to thaw, but when she does, watch out.”
Sadie launched into a description of how bad “Wowa” smelled and how many baths she had.
Mack wrestled with the knee-jerk urge to wrap up the appointment. Efficiency was key in a medical practice. And she wasn’t sure how comfortable she was with being invited to a patient’s house. Even if the patient’s husband was an ex-military acquaintance of hers.
“So we’ll see you Friday night at seven, right?” Harper said brightly as she helped her daughters off the exam table.
“Um. Okay,” Mack said, unable to come up with a good enou
gh excuse to bail. Unless, of course, the kids were still sick. Then the Garrison house would be quarantined. Not that she hoped children would be ill to get her out of a social situation.
“I’ll make you brownies, Dr. Mack,” Ava announced, making Mack feel like an asshole.
“Ava here is a baking fiend,” Harper explained. “Most of her treats are edible,” she told Mack as she gathered her tote, keys, and daughters.
They walked together toward the lobby.
“Seven p.m. Friday. Our house. Aldo has the address. Bring a side dish or a dessert in case the brownies don’t pan out.”
“I like ice cream sandwiches,” Sadie announced.
“See you Friday,” Ava said, strutting out of the room and linking fingers with her sister. “Mama, can we have ice cream since we’re sick?”
“Kiddo, if ice cream sounds good to you right now, you can absolutely have ice cream. Oh! What beautiful flowers,” she exclaimed, spotting the arrangement on the desk.
“They’re for Dr. Mack from Chief Reed,” Tuesday announced cheerfully.
“Well, isn’t that interesting?” Harper beamed suspiciously.
13
Mack eased up to the curb in front of the big, three-story brick house. She cut the engine and grabbed the covered bowl of potato salad she’d made and the box of ice cream sandwiches she’d impulse-bought at Val’s Groceries. Climbing the porch steps, she admired the overflowing flower boxes and the comfortable furniture.
There was a doll facedown on a blanket and a couple of kids’ bikes propped against the porch.
The whole thing screamed “Home sweet home.”
A message the welcome mat reiterated word for word.
A small, friendly backyard BBQ. Who the hell was she?
Mack pressed the doorbell and waited while a chorus of barks and kids’ voices exploded on the other side of the door.
The door opened, and Mack grinned when she recognized Captain Lucas Garrison. There was a boy on his back, a smiling pit bull wriggling at his feet, and a chorus of chaos behind him.
“Dr. O’Neil,” he said with a grin that had never been that quick on deployment. “Welcome to chaos.”
“Thanks for having me,” she said.
“This is Henry, who’s way too big for piggyback rides,” Luke said as the kid choking the life out of him grinned. “And that’s Lola.”
“Ah, the skunked dog,” Mack said, reaching down to let Lola sniff her.
Lola sniffed delicately and then unleashed her Gene Simmons tongue.
“Come on back. The rest of the crew is in the backyard.”
Crew was apparently a loose term for half of the town of Benevolence.
Harper and a dark-haired fashionista Mack recognized as Gloria Moretta were organizing the food table and yelling at an entire army of kids. Aldo was manning the grill with sunglasses, a cold beer, and tongs that looked beefy enough to flip a cow.
There was another couple—he was tall and blond, she a leggy brunette—canoodling around the fire pit instead of actually lighting the fire.
“Get a room if you’re making us more grandkids,” a woman with a silvery pixie cut called from the lawn chair where she was supervising Aldo’s grilling process. The canoodling couple broke apart sheepishly.
There were dogs. Two more in addition to the now skunk-free Lola. Both non-Lolas were small. The wiry one had only one eye, but it didn’t seem to slow him down as he zoomed around the fenced-in yard. The other one was so small it looked like Lola could mistake it for a snack. But they seemed to recognize each other as peers rather than predator and snack.
“Wow,” Mack said, taking in the chaos.
“You’re telling me.” Luke grinned. He dumped Henry in the grass and led Mack over to meet his parents, the perky Claire and the stoic Charlie. The canoodling couple, Sophie and her husband Ty, the sheriff, introduced themselves. Sophie was pretty and vivacious in a way that made Mack think the woman had never once lacked an ounce of self-confidence. Her husband was clearly crazy about her and their two kids, who were buzzing around the backyard with the rest of the pack.
“It’s nice to meet the doctor everyone’s been talking about,” Sophie said mischievously.
“Behave, Soph,” Gloria teased, walking up and wrapping Mack into a hard hug.
People in Benevolence really seemed to enjoy inappropriately long hugs.
“I’m just saying it’s awfully big of you to be so nice to the woman seen mauling your husband in the middle of the road,” Sophie teased with a dimpled grin.
“Don’t forget she’s also gettin’ flower deliveries from the fire chief,” Ty added. He was Ken-doll pretty with cop-short hair and the kind of easy smile that made public service a little easier. “Word is she’s a man-eater.” He winked.
Mack laughed. “Rawr.”
“Welcome to Benevolence, where everyone knows your business, and if they don’t, they’ll make something more interesting up,” Sophie said. “I bartend at Remo’s, so I pick up all the gossip folks are dropping.”
An argument involving several of the kids broke out near the swing set.
“Who had first tears at ten after seven?” Harper called from the food table.
“Me!” a short, round, loud woman who could only be Mrs. Ina Moretta shouted.
“Ina gets the pot,” Charlie said, consulting a handwritten paper while parents jumped into the fray.
Another dog, this one blonde and fluffy, bulleted past Mack. It looked suspiciously like…oh, hell.
“Sunshine!” The kids who weren’t fighting or crying chorused gleefully.
“Well, well. If it isn’t my favorite neighbor and gal pal. We could have carpooled.” Fire Chief Lincoln Reed, in a well-worn Benevolence FD t-shirt and shorts that couldn’t help but call attention to his muscled thighs, strolled her way. He had a ball cap on that added to his boyish charm. Mack purposely ignored the little pitter-pat of attraction she felt in her chest.
“I didn’t know you’d be here,” she said casually.
He stepped up to her, and they turned to survey the backyard festivities. His shoulder brushing hers. He was so big, so solid. He took up so much room.
“You look real pretty, Dreamy.”
“Uh, thanks,” Mack said, running a hand through her short hair. She’d let it air dry. But she had slapped on a coat of toenail polish and her new favorite red gloss that Tuesday assured her was “totally complimentary” to her skin tone. “So I thought this was just a small family thing.”
Linc’s grin was underwear incinerating. “It is. It’s just we’ve got big families around here. You and I are the only two unrelateds.”
Sunshine, suddenly needing to touch base with her father, came bulleting over to them. She flopped down on Linc’s feet and stared up at him expectantly.
“Belly rub time,” he said, sinking down to pat Sunshine’s exposed belly. The dog vibrated in ecstasy until he stopped. Then she looked up at Mack.
“Why is she looking at me like that?”
“Well, she either wants your potato salad or her belly rubbed.”
Mack sank down next to him and tentatively poked Sunshine in the stomach. The dog wriggled back and forth on her back, making grunting noises. “What does that mean?”
“Means she likes it. She likes you.”
Lola barreled over to see what the fuss was, and Mack took a break from Sunshine’s silky fur to give the pit bull’s short hair a stroke.
“You’re a natural,” Linc said, giving Lola’s side a good thump.
The little gray wad of fluff bounced their way and started yapping, making sure to stay just out of arm’s reach.
“Bitzy, shut up!” Sophie and Ty yelled together.
“Sunshine, attack!” Linc teased.
“Harper!” Luke barked. “You forget to tell me about an addition to the guest list?” He shot Linc a dirty look.
Harper hurried over beaming. She appeared to be immune to Luke’s scowl. “Linc! I’m so glad yo
u could make it. Don’t mind Luke,” she said to Mack. “He hates Linc.”
“I don’t hate him,” Luke grumbled. “I just don’t like him.”
“Well, that’s definite progress,” Linc said. He held up a platter. “I made a fruit tray. Where do you want it?”
A guy with thighs like that, with a smile like that, showing up with a homemade fruit tray? Mack felt her sexual interest emerge from hibernation.
Harper swooned over the artful display and carried it and Mack’s potato salad and ice cream sandwiches over to the food table.
“Kiss-ass,” Luke muttered to Linc. But he held his hand out.
“Asshole,” Linc said, amicably shaking his hand.
“Ignore them.” Gloria enveloped Mack in another breezy hug. She wore a flowy red top over high-waisted shorts. Her sandals wrapped around her ankle in multicolor threads. “It’s so good to see you, Mackenzie.”
“Hi, Dr. Mack,” Ava shouted from the top of the swing set in the corner of the yard.
“Hiiiiiii!” Sadie sprinted at Mack and threw her body into the doctor’s legs.
Mack leaned down to gingerly hug the kid.
“Up!” Sadie said gleefully, and Mack felt rather heroic as she hefted the girl onto her hip.
Sadie smashed her face against Mack’s cheek. “Muah! Okay, your turn!” She reached for Linc, and Mack gratefully handed her over. She had delivered a baby once and had done a pediatric rotation in med school.
That was the sum total of her kid experience.
Linc, showing off his prowess with small humans, tossed the little girl in the air. She giggled and the sound drew the attention of the rest of the kids.
“Me next!”
“No, me!”
Gloria grinned and tugged Mack in the direction of the grill and her husband. “I love it when Linc is at these things. He’s a built-in babysitter. Kids adore him.”
“I saw him with his nieces and nephew last weekend. He appears to be a natural,” Mack said.
“He certainly taught me a few things.” Gloria grinned.
Aldo ditched the tongs and picked up his beer. “How was your first week on the front lines of small-town health care?”