“I’ll get all the rooms ready then,” Molly said with a nod that sent her dark brown ponytail swinging.
“Molly, do you mind grabbing fifteen physical forms while you’re upstairs getting the supplies?” Sarah asked.
“Not at all.” With way more energy than anyone should have, Molly spun on heel and bounded off for the back stairs. It felt like she wasn’t taller than a dust mite, but she had smiles and energy that lasted for days. It’s one of the main reasons Jace had hired her.
“You have lunch today with your cousin,” Sarah told him as he put the stethoscope around his neck. She didn’t look away from the notes as she typed at lightning speed.
“Which one?” Jace asked and enjoyed the smile Sarah gave the notes as her fingers flew on the keyboard. She was a beautiful, very athletic woman who just happened to take no shit from anyone. Her light brown hair, which she wore in a messy bun every day, was the color of milk chocolate.
“The one who I wouldn’t mind coming in and doing a little striptease for me.”
Jace shook his head and chuckled. “You’ll need to be more specific. I’m pretty sure you’ve said that about most of my cousins and all of my uncles. I’m starting to think it’s the only reason you took this job.”
“Frankly, I’m surprised you gave me the job after I asked if you stripped to pay for med school.”
“I’m more surprised your husband doesn’t mind this stripper fantasy of yours.”
Sarah shrugged. “We look, but we don’t touch. And besides, my husband does this amazing move—”
“Okay!” Jace cut her off. “I don’t need to know about your sex life.”
“Someone around here needs to have one. Goodness knows you don’t. I thought maybe you needed a mentor. I could mentor you in the art of sexy stripper dancing. Imagine going into the Blossom Café, jumping up on a table, and ripping your shirt off. You’d get a date then.”
“Have you been talking to my mom?” Jace asked as if he were joking, but he wasn’t. His mom was routinely pointing out that he wasn’t getting any younger and had no life outside of his practice.
“Don’t ruin my fantasy by thinking of you as someone’s child. Today you have lunch with Colton. Then guess what you have this afternoon.”
“More physicals?”
“Ding-ding-ding. We have a winner!”
“What do I get as a reward?” Jace asked with a smile. Sarah cracked him up.
“You get the patient in exam room one.” Sarah handed him the file and Jace opened it.
“You’re kidding, right?”
Sarah shook her head. “I wanted a stripper, but not him. He showed it to me twice. I about cut it off the second time, it freaked me out so much. And remember, I was in the National Guard. I was deployed, mind you, more than once. I’ve seen some not so great stuff in my life, but that? That needs to be sliced off. Do the world a favor.”
Jace did everything he could to not laugh as he headed toward exam room one. He flipped the color-coded bar to show Sarah and Molly that he was in the room. When he looked up from the chart, he came face to face with a very red and swollen penis.
“Mr. Chapman, you don’t have to stand on the exam table.”
“I wanted to make sure you got a good look at it. And my balls. Normally I’d be impressed with having balls this size, but that just ain’t right.”
Jace slapped on a pair of gloves and went where no man wanted to go. “When did this start?”
“This morning. I went to bed and everything was fine. I woke up and it’s itching like the devil and so swollen that it looks like I have a hard-on.”
“Have you changed laundry detergent?”
“No.”
“Eat anything new?”
“Nope. Help me, Doc. I don’t want to lose my best friend.”
Jace looked closer and cringed.
“What is it, Doc?”
“Have you been naked outdoors recently?”
Mr. Chapman looked around guiltily. “You know that’s public indecency, and I’m on parole.”
“I won’t tell anyone but I need to know.”
“I might have been outside yesterday evening in the park. Allegedly.”
“Were you allegedly near some trees?”
“How did you know?” Mr. Chapman’s expression was surprised. “Allegedly.”
“Did you allegedly touch a tree and then touch your penis?”
“It was, allegedly, a pretty evening and it got me, um, inspired. If I were so inclined to do something like that, I might have placed one hand on the tree and the other . . . allegedly.” Mr. Chapman looked at his penis. “And then I allegedly might have switched hands as the sun set.”
“That explains it. You have poison oak on your penis and testicles,” Jace said, typing the diagnosis into his backup laptop.
“Allegedly.”
“Nope. Actually. You are very allergic to poison oak, so I’m going to need to give you some prescription medicine for this. No masturbating or sex of any kind until it’s completely healed. I want to see you in three days for a recheck.”
Mr. Chapman’s head hung. “Yes, Doc. No masturbating. Got it.”
“No sexual intercourse either.” Jace tore off the prescription and handed it to him.
“You’re killing me, Doc!” Mr. Chapman yelled as Jace left the room.
Stella looked out over her nursery with satisfaction. Rows and rows of trees, from the common contractor-grade shrubs to exotic specialty ornamentals. And flowers! Spring had sprung with a vengeance as bright colors filled the acres around the office. She was opening to the public right in time for spring planting on Friday.
The office was complete. It looked like a barn but was insulated for winter. The doors could open wide and allow the spring air in during the warmer months. Inside was filled with anything a gardener would need.
She heard the sound of tires on gravel and turned to see her sister-in-law driving toward her. Stella walked toward the SUV as Eden opened the back door and April leaped out. Jimmy barked happily and ran toward his little human.
“Eden, what are you doing here?”
“Two things. First, I have a developer putting in fifty houses who’s looking for landscaping, so I gave him your name. I told him I wouldn’t sell a single house if he didn’t come look at your inventory. He’ll be here in an hour. I know you’re technically not open yet but I thought you could make an exception. He has another three hundred house development planned so if he likes you—”
Stella squealed and threw her arms around Eden. “Thank you so much!”
“If you like that, you’ll love this. I also found a buyer for your house in Lexington.”
“Shut the front door!” Stella’s hand was over her heart as she refused to believe it was true. Rick had been driving her crazy for the last three months. She’d had to change her locks and her garage door code. She kept coming home and finding him chilling in her living room. He refused to believe anyone would leave him and therefore she must be going through “some womanly thing” as he put it. Just this morning she told him she never wanted to see him again. He was even dating Brunette Number 2 from the gym after making his way through the others.
“All cash and you can close as soon as inspections are done. I have them scheduled for Friday while you’re here for the opening, with a closing next Monday. How is the farmhouse coming along?” Eden asked.
“We can drive over and I’ll show you. It’s slow going since I’ve been doing a lot of the work myself. However, it’s totally livable.”
“April, let’s go see Aunt Stella’s house,” Eden ordered to her daughter.
“Have you painted my room yet?” April asked as she ran toward them with Jimmy right on her tail.
“I will tonight,” Stella called out as she got into her truck. Jimmy abandoned her and jumped in Eden’s luxury SUV. She was sure her sister-in-law was cussing up a storm over that.
A quick drive over a hill and through an orc
hard brought them to the farmhouse. The outside had new wood siding that she’d finished painting white last week. The porch was also new. She’d planned on painting it tonight but would do April’s room instead. In between painting, she’d run to Lexington and start moving her clothes and anything she could fit in her truck.
Her contractor had laid new flooring inside and brought the plumbing and wiring up to code. While they’d been working on that, Stella had installed insulation herself before they hung the drywall. Now she was ready to paint the interior and fill the house with her belongings.
She’d moved an air mattress into the master bedroom, had some towels and two plates. That was it. The porch was going to have to wait if she was closing on her house on Monday. She needed to paint the inside and have it dry before she had the movers bring her larger things over.
“Wow,” Eden said, looking up at the house. “I haven’t seen it since you’ve done all this painting. The outside looks fantastic.”
“Thanks. Come see the inside. The drywall is up and ready to be painted.”
Stella opened the door with pride almost bursting out of her chest. Her sister-in-law oohed and aahed over the house as Stella gave them a tour.
“Is this my room?” April asked about the bedroom right next to the master.
“It sure is. Do you like the paint I picked out?” Stella asked, handing her a pale pink paint chip.
“It’s so pretty, Aunt Stell.”
“I will get to work on it tonight.”
Eden cringed a little. “I do have one more favor. Karl is working late and I have a meeting with a potential huge client. Can you watch April today? Karl and I will come over when we’re done to help you paint.”
“Deal!” Stella said quickly. She’d take all the help she could get.
“You’re the best. Thanks, Stell.” Eden hugged her and then hugged April. “Be good when Aunt Stell has her meeting. You and Jimmy can play the quiet game, okay?”
April nodded with determination. “I brought my nail polish. I can paint Jimmy’s nails while Aunt Stell has her meeting.”
“Great. I’ll see you both tonight.”
“Come on, Squirt. Let’s get back to the nursery and you can help me get ready for my big meeting.”
“Do you give the trees bottles?”
Stella lifted April into the truck and stepped back as Jimmy leapt in. “No, why?”
“Because it’s a nuwsewy. Babies need bottles.”
“Of course they do. Only we use sprinklers instead of bottles. If you want, you can feed some of the new trees.”
April talked excitedly as they drove back to the nursery. Things were finally looking up. No more run-ins with Rick. No more hiding when he came into her flower shop on the days he knew she worked. She was ready to stop looking back and only move forward.
2
“Aunt Stell!”
The cry echoed through the nursery as Stella waved goodbye to her new client as he drove away. She’d secured the contract for the first smaller development. If all went well, she’d be the developer’s go-to landscaper.
April’s sobbing cries had chills running through her that quickly banked any excitement she was feeling. Stella spun around and saw April running toward her with a limp. Tears rolled down her face as she tried to breathe between her sobs. Jimmy ran next to her with something large dangling from his mouth.
“What is it? Are you hurt?” Stella yelled, trying to keep the panic from her voice.
“A snake huwt me,” April cried as she pointed to the thing in Jimmy’s mouth. “Jimmy tried to save me, but the snake bit me.”
Stella dropped to her knees in front of April and grabbed her arms. “Where did he bite you?”
Jimmy dropped the snake next to her and began to lick April’s tears. Stella had to shove him back and put him on a stay before she could find the puncture marks.
“My leg and it huwts!”
Stella looked down and saw the two puncture marks. It wasn’t a close call. She’d been bitten and Stella knew very little about snakes except for the smaller, harmless ones you found in gardens. The snake Jimmy dropped near her wasn’t small. It was thick and long and she had no idea if it were poisonous or not. She tried to remember the venomous snakes in the region—copperheads and timber rattlers and maybe even cottonmouths. It definitely wasn’t a rattlesnake. And while it was darker in color, that didn’t mean it wasn’t a copperhead. They could vary in their coloring depending on age. She knew that from hiking.
“Okay.” Stella pulled out her phone with shaking hands. She didn’t know if Keeneston had a 911 center or if it went to the state police. “It’s okay. We’ll call some nice people out here to look at the snake and the bite. They’ll tell us what to do.”
Stella was struggling to keep it together. Her voice shook as she heard the 911 dispatcher answer. “My name is Stella Winters,” she said, rattling off her new Keeneston address. “My niece has been bitten by a snake.”
“Do you know if it was venomous?”
“I don’t know enough to be sure about identifying it,” Stella admitted.
“Were you able to see it?”
“My dog killed it and brought it to me.”
“Good. That will help the doctors. I’ll contact the local authorities, and they’ll be there as soon as possible.”
“Please hurry. My niece is only three.”
“I’m contacting them now.”
Jace shook his head at his cousin Colton. Jace was only a couple years older than Colton and they’d grown up as close as brothers. Colton had just told him some of the antics his new firehouse crew were pulling on each other.
“Hey, guys.”
Jace looked up to find Ariana Ali Rahman standing there looking at them with her big brown eyes, her long dark-brown hair hanging down her back. Her twin older brothers had inherited their mother’s dark blue eyes, but Ariana was a beautiful feminine version of her father, Prince Mo of Rahmi. She was around the same age as Jace and they’d gotten along well growing up, since they were both the quiet ones.
“Hey, Ari. Take a seat,” Jace said, pushing out one of the chairs at their table inside the Blossom Café.
“I wish. I have a videoconference soon. King’s orders. It’s making me miss the Daughters of Elizabeth’s teleconference.”
Ari had been defiant growing up. She was smart and sneaky and routinely out-maneuvered her older brothers, Zain and Gabe. Though quiet, she enjoyed pulling the princess card when it suited her. It helped that her uncle was an actual king. It also got her some very nice perks after college. However, after attending her first Daughters of Elizabeth Ball, hosted by Jace’s cousin Sydney, something had shifted in Ariana. Gone was any reference to her title. Instead, she’d instructed everyone to call her Ariana, although those closest to her still called her Ari. She’d also started volunteering her time, patronage, and money to Sydney’s charity to help stop human trafficking, and she’d started fighting for human rights as well.
“That’s the diplomatic life for you, huh?” Colton asked as he took a bite of his fried catfish sandwich.
“For now. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m equal parts love it and hate it. My uncle is giving me mostly free rein to choose what I’m interested in, so that’s good. I’m focusing on human rights and trying to help Sydney take Daughters of Elizabeth to an international level. However, it’s like they’re patting me on the head for my good work but still telling me what to do. Like this call I have to take on behalf of the king. I guess I just thought I’d do more with my life.”
“I think changing the world for the better is doing plenty,” Jace told her kindly.
Ari gave a small smile. “I guess it’ll have to be for now, but I want to do more. To help more. Anyway, the reason I stopped was to see if you met the new neighbor. Well, she’s down a bit from the farm and across the street from us, but still close enough in terms of farm life.”
“Oh, the Seasons Nursery and Garden Center?” Col
ton asked.
Ari nodded.
“Yeah, I’ve heard there was a lot of work going on out there, but I haven’t met the owners yet. Have you?” Jace asked.
“No. I was hoping you all had. I heard there’s a woman with a kid out there a lot. I drove by today and there’s a sign out front that said they are having a grand opening this Friday. Do you all want to go with me to meet the owners?” Ari asked.
Jace and Colton looked at each other and shrugged. “Sure. What time?” They pulled out their phones and looked at their schedules and decided on a time.
“Perfect.” Ari smiled at them and slipped her phone into the back pocket of her jeans. “Now I need to go put on a suit jacket and sound stuffy while on this call. Good thing about video calls. They can’t see I’m not wearing shoes. Bye, guys.”
Jace and Colton said their goodbyes and watched Ari walk out with a to-go bag.
“Does she seem off?” Jace asked.
“Has been for months. I think she’s having an identity crisis.” Colton looked like he was going to say more but his second phone rang. He cursed as he set down his sandwich and answered it. “Keeneston Fire.”
Jace listened as his cousin turned into full professional mode. It was strange to think of them as grown up. One minute they’d been pulling childhood pranks on each other, and now they were both responsible adults trying to save lives in their own ways.
“What is it?” Jace asked the second Colton hung up.
“Kid got bit by a snake at the nursery we were just talking about. I guess I get to be the first to meet the new owners.”
“I’ll come with you.” Jace was already running through the anti-venom he had at his office.
“I’m an EMT. I can handle this.”
“I know, but you’d bring her to me anyway since I’m the only one with antivenin.”
“Fine. Get your stuff. We’ll pick you up in three minutes.”
Colton shoved the last bite of sandwich in his mouth and ran out. Jace knew he wasn’t exaggerating. He had three minutes, tops. Jace pulled out his phone as he sprinted toward his practice. “Sarah! Get Molly to pack everything I need for a snakebite. She has two minutes.”
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