by K. C. Crowne
“Look at you,” Finn teased. “Actin’ like you need to sell your work to get by.”
“Hey, just because I’ve got a nice nest egg doesn’t mean I don’t like to sell when I can.”
“Stay for as long as you like,” Kenna repeated. “I know you like to be on the move, but it might do you some good to settle in here for a little while. The kids love having you here, if that wasn’t obvious.”
I glanced at the twins, who were still going through my photos.
“Hell, don’t be afraid to do some decorating in the guest house,” Kenna offered. “Put up some of your pictures if you like.”
“Nah,” I said, eager to change the subject. “Nesting is the first step to puttin’ down roots. And once you put down roots, you’re stuck.”
Finn swept his hand toward the scene around us – the twins, the home, the fire roaring in the fireplace. “You consider this stuck?”
“Brother, I’m all kinds of thrilled you have the life you do. But livin’ in one place, bein’ a da…it’s just not for me. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t pack it all up and head out whenever I wanted. I’m doin’ what I love, and I’m makin’ a darn good livin’ at it. Can’t think of anything’ else I’d want.”
“You know,” Finn replied. “That’s exactly –”
“Exactly what you said before you got married and found out you were a da,” I said with a smirk. “And like I said, I’m so damn happy you two found each other. But I’m happy with my life just the way it is.”
Finn and Kenna shared a look, one that suggested they knew something I didn’t. But they dropped the subject, the conversation falling to Kenna’s party-planning business and Finn’s job as a pediatrician and the CEO of a local medical charity. They both had great things going, and the flexibility of their work allowed them to spend as much time with the twins as they wanted – which was a lot.
After we’d all put away our share of pizza, the kids hurried to the living room where they enjoyed some ice cream and Scooby Doo. Finn, Kenna, and I had a little wine near the fireplace, continuing our conversation as the kids watched their show.
As I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of the cartoon, the world blurred again. I froze, more than a little concerned. This was the first time it’d happened twice in one day like that.
“Hey, Patrick,” Finn spoke, reaching over and placing his hand on my shoulder. “You alright over there?”
Thankfully, my vision unblurred almost as quickly as it’d started, and I was back to normal.
“What’s wrong?” Kenna asked, concern in her voice.
“It’s nothin’,” I said, shaking my head slowly. “Just…just tired.”
Finn and Kenna shared another knowing glance.
Fuck.
“Hey, babe,” he said, putting his hand on Kenna’s leg. “You mind if I give a quick medical consult to my stubborn brother here?”
She smiled softly. “Of course not. I’ll go put the pizza away.” With that, she rose and left Finn and me alone.
“It’s nothin’,” I said, waving my hand through the air and pre-empting his words. “Just wearin’ out my eyes.”
“It’s not nothin’,” he countered. “Pat, this is somethin’ you’ve been dealin’ with for a couple years. And it’s not goin’ away.” Before I had a chance to respond, he took out his phone and began to type a text.
“Hey, now,” I said, craning my neck to see what he was doing. “What’re you doin’?”
“I’m sendin’ a text to an associate of mine at one of Duncan Pitt’s other clinics in town. Dr. Lola Bridges. She’s the best ophthalmologist in the state.” He didn’t take his eyes off the screen until the text was written and sent.
“Brother, you don’t need to go to all that trouble.”
“It’s no trouble,” he said, slipping his phone back into his pocket.
I opened my mouth to speak, but before a word came out, I paused. “Lola Bridges,” I mused. “Why does that name sound so damn familiar?”
He smirked. “Because it’s the name of the doctor I told you about when you were in town a couple years ago, remember? You were supposed to go back then, and now look at you.”
I snapped my fingers. “That’s when Da had his stroke,” I reminded him. “Wasn’t about to sit around and wait for an eye appointment when that was goin’ on.”
“I get it – I do. But you shoulda gotten it taken care of some time after.” He shook his head. “Brother, your business is your eyes. You can’t take chances when it comes to your health, specifically your eyesight.”
I chuckled. “I love when you get in doctor mode and big brother mode at the same time.”
He laughed with me. “I know, I know. Sue me for not wantin’ my little brother to go blind.”
“It’s not that serious.”
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t,” he said with a shrug. “Only way you’re goin’ to find out is to get your butt in there and get ‘em checked.” He took his phone out of his pocket again, reading a text. “Tomorrow at nine AM. Clear your calendar, because you’ve got a date with Dr. Bridges.”
“Alright, alright. And thanks, brother.”
He reached over and patted me on the back. “You got Da’s stubbornness but believe me when I say health’s somethin’ you can’t take for granted. If you don’t have that, you don’t have anything.”
I threw back the rest of my wine, fatigue running through me as the day caught up. I stood and stretched. “I think I oughta wind down,” I said. “Especially if I’ve got an appointment that early.”
Finn rose with me and laughed. “You thinkin’ nine AM is early is yet another reminder of your bachelor status.”
I bid good night to the family. Kenna called out to me as I left to give the idea of putting up some pictures a bit of thought. I waved an answer and left through the back doors with my camera and coat, making my way through the cold and snow to the guest house.
Warmth hit me as soon as I stepped inside. I flicked the lights on to reveal a one-room abode, a queen-sized bed in one corner, a desk in the other, a couch and TV in the middle, and a small kitchenette on the far end. The walls were bare, crying out for some décor. In spite of Kenna’s offer, I wasn’t going to be the one to provide it.
Finn and Kenna had built the little house a few months before I’d told them I was coming in for a bit during the winter, and part of me wondered if they’d designed it strictly with me in mind – a way to entice me to live there for the long-term, to put down some roots, but I wasn’t about that life. The place was perfect as a temporary pad, a spot where I could recharge after a day of picture-taking and having fun with the kids. The bed was big enough, and the desk was perfect as a work area where I could spend hours editing my pictures to perfection.
And that’s exactly what I had in mind. I opened the cabinet above the fridge, taking out a bottle of whiskey and pouring myself a glass. That in hand, I slid into the desk chair and opened my MacBook, taking the memory card out of my camera and slipping it into the port.
I put some Dropkick Murphy’s on Spotify, letting the music blast as I began to sift through the photos, sipping my whiskey as I put some major thought into which of the pictures I took that day was worth keeping.
As I sipped and worked, what Finn had said about roots kept popping into my mind. I’d never needed such things. I hadn’t once had an apartment of my own since I’d been old enough to leave my old man’s place. And I’d never needed one. Photography was my life, and I went wherever it took me.
What use did I have for a home? And what he’d said about starting a family…I meant what I’d told him. I just didn’t have it in me, whatever it was that one needed to be a father.
After an hour or so of working, I grabbed my whiskey and stood up, stretching my arms and legs. Through one of the front windows of the guest house, I spied on the happy family. Finn and Kenna scooped the sleeping twins off the couch and carried them upstairs to bed.
As I watched, something moved inside me, a stirring I hadn’t felt before, one I couldn’t describe. I put it out of my head as quickly as I could, tossing back the rest of my whiskey before pouring myself another and going back to work.
Work. That was all I needed.
Nothing more.
Chapter 2
Lola
The elevator doors opened to my office at Pitt Medical. It was going to be another busy day. I was ready. Hell, I lived for it.
“Goood morning,” Sarah, the redheaded, bubbly receptionist called as I stepped into the sleek, modern offices.
The place was already busy with doctors and staff zipping here and there. The idea behind each Pitt Medical location was that it would be a mini hospital unto itself, each branch with different specialties. My job was the head of ophthalmology in the West Denver location.
“Good morning,” I said in my usual crisp, professional tone. “What’s the day looking like?” I walked around the receptionist window, leaning over where Sarah was seated at her Apple computer and huge screen.
“Very, very slammed,” she informed me dramatically. “I was hoping to give you some good news that you’d have the nine AM spot open, but we got a call from Dr. Price, who wanted to know if we could squeeze someone in on request from Dr. O’Conner.”
I lifted an eyebrow. Dr. Finn O’Conner was a pediatrician and the head of Rocky Mountain Medical Foundation, a group that had started out as a small enterprise to help the displaced workers of the Spritzfield Soda Company when it’d closed a few years back. Since then, it’d grown into one of the biggest medical charities in the state. And it was closely associated with Pitt Medical.
“Dr. O’Conner squeezed someone in himself? You serious?”
She raised her finger to the schedule on the screen. “Take a look. And judging by the name, he’s related.”
The name Patrick O’Conner was keyed into my nine AM spot. I flicked my Cartier watch toward my face and checked the time – thirty minutes until he was due in.
“Alright,” I said. “I’ll make sure not to send him back to Finn blind as a bat.” A small smile formed on my lips.
“Was that a joke out of Dr. Bridges?” Sarah asked, an expression of surprise on her face. “Are you feeling alright?”
“Hey, I can joke ever now and then.”
“True, true. Anyway, I’ll buzz you when he shows.”
“Sounds good. Thanks, Sarah.”
I scanned the schedule on the screen quickly, seeing nothing out of the ordinary on the horizon for the rest of the day. I poured myself a cup of coffee in the breakroom and headed to my office.
I loved my little workspace, which was small but comfy with windows that looked out over the city and enough space to feel like I could spread out. Pitt Medical had been intended as an alternative to the factory-like hospitals with awful florescent lighting that wanted nothing more than to get you in and out as quickly as possible, a prescription in your hand and a hefty bill in the mail.
The emphasis on comfort applied to staff, too – all the doctors were given great offices attached to private examination rooms. All were designed with aesthetics and comfort in mind, so the offices reminded me more of a relaxing day spa than any hospital where I’d worked.
I turned on some mellow classical music, Brahms first on the playlist, and sat down at my desk. While I sipped my coffee, I went over the agenda for the next week. I liked to keep things in order as much as I could, and to that end I kept very tight schedules on each minute of the day.
Tomorrow, for example, I’d be putting in hours at the pro-bono clinic in town where I worked for free. Pitt Medical was great about working with patients who didn’t have the means to pay, but at the end of the day, you still had to have money or insurance to get treatment – at least something. I admired Duncan and the rest of the crew for putting people over profits, but I still liked to help those with the least when I could.
The clinic had fallen on hard times, though. The old equipment was dying bit by bit. To that end, I’d scheduled a meeting with some of the higher-ups in Pitt Medical, hoping that I could talk them into donating some new equipment.
Between now and then, I had a busy week of patients ahead of me. Lucky for me, I didn’t have much of a personal life to get in the way of work.
In the middle of paperwork, nine rolled around. Sarah hadn’t buzzed to let me know my appointment was here. I sat up, taking my hands away from my keyboard, as if Sarah might buzz without me hearing. When I heard nothing, I turned my attention back to my computer.
Another ten minutes passed, then five more. I frowned, wondering what was going on. I hit the lock key on the computer and got up, heading to the office door and stepping out. A few doctors passed me, and I said my “hellos” to them as I headed to the front desk. As I drew closer, I heard laughter coming from Sarah’s direction – her laughter. I could also hear a man’s voice, though it was not a normal male voice. He had an Irish accent, like a character out of Peaky Blinders.
“Now, you wanna come to Ireland, you’re welcome any time, love.”
“Oh, really?” Sarah giggled. “I haven’t even been east of the Mississippi. I seriously doubt I’d fit in there.”
“You kiddin’?” The man scoffed. “Look at that gorgeous head of red hair. No doubt you’ve got the Irish blood in you. Why, I bet you’d set one foot on the island and feel like you were comin’ home.”
More laughter. “Oh, I don’t know about that…”
I’d listened to enough. I stepped around the corner to the small hallway that led to the waiting room, eager to find out what was going on. And what I saw – who I saw – made my eyes go wide.
The man leaning over the receptionist counter was the best-looking man I’d ever seen in my life. He was tall and handsome with thick, wavy, reddish-brown hair and tanned skin that reminded me of a surfer’s. His eyes were a brilliant green, his smile wide and his mouth filled with perfect, white teeth. His shoulders were broad and round, his waist slim. He was dressed in a simple, red T-shirt with a pocket on the chest, along with a pair of black jeans and suede gray sneakers.
I’d been prepared to scold Sarah for not being on the ball with my appointment, but the second that man flicked those emerald eyes onto mine, there was nothing in that moment but him and me.
“Hey, there,” he said, his voice thick with his accent. “What’s the craic?”
I cocked my head to the side. “Excuse me?”
Sarah turned to me, her eager expression making it clear she was ready to explain. “It means, like, what’s up, what’s happening. Patrick just told me about it.”
Something about Sarah snapped me back to reality, and my professional demeanor returning. “I see. Well, if Mr. O’Conner is here for a nine o’clock, he should come back to the exam room so I can take a look at him. I’ve got a lot of patients today and can’t afford to be any later than we already are.”
“Um, sure,” Sarah said. “I’ll finish checking him in and send him back to your exam room.”
“Thank you, Sarah.” I pulled my eyes from Patrick and headed to my office. Once alone, I realized that my heart was beating wildly in my chest. I placed my index and middle fingers on my wrist, checking my pulse.
What the hell was going on with me? I’d always taken pride in my ability to keep calm under any circumstance – sometimes too calm, depending on who you’re asking. But for some reason, thirty seconds of speaking to that man had been enough to make my blood run hot and my panties to be soaked.
I stepped in front of the small mirror near the door, making sure I didn’t look as out of sorts as I felt. I grabbed my white doctor’s coat from where it hung on the door and threw it on. The front pocket of the coat held a small roll of breath mints, one of which I popped into my mouth. This wasn’t for him, of course – being an eye doctor meant getting close to people’s faces, and I preferred my breath to smell like something other than coffee and Luna Bars.
I headed do
wn the hall to the examination room. Before I could make it, Sarah zipped around the corner and stopped in front of me, her eyes wide.
“Dr. Bridges, I’m so sorry for getting distracted like that. I was just working and going over the schedule and then I look up and bam, like, the hottest guy in the world is staring me right in the eyes.”
“It’s fine, Sarah,” I said. “Don’t worry about it.”
“But I was being totally unprofessional. I should’ve told you right away he was here and not gotten carried away and—”
“Totally fine, Sarah.”
“But wow – did you see him?” Her eyes widened with excitement as she pointed in the direction of the exam room. “Those eyes and those muscles and that accent! You can’t tell me you weren’t totally shocked when you saw him.”
I had been, but I wasn’t telling anyone about it. “What was that you were saying about being professional?” I finished with a slight smile.
“Oh-oh-oh,” she said, as if realizing she’d gotten carried away again. “Sorry, sorry.”
“Just take a deep breath.”
She did, clearing her throat and closing her eyes as she composed herself. “Anyway, he’s ready for you.”
“Got it. Thanks, Sarah.”
She made a finger gun and clicked as she cocked her thumb. “Your breath smells great, by the way.”
I laughed. “Thanks.”
Truth be told, I was a teensy bit miffed at Sarah for what had happened. I hated being taken by surprise like that – in my office everything had to be just so. But I cut the girl some slack. The guy…he was really hot.
I put all that out of my head as I approached the exam room. I checked my breath, then opened the door and stepped inside. The room was dark, as it normally was. The light for the examination screen on. As I entered, I noticed that my patient wasn’t seated and waiting but was in front of one of the eye care photos on the wall, his phone out in front of it as he prepared to take a picture.
