I leaned closer as if I’d be able to hear the other end of the conversation. Robbie Smith, the kid who’d gotten leaf debris all over my pants yesterday in his enthusiastic greeting. So many of the children I treated went from foster home to foster home, and we weren’t always able to follow up, either, because they moved out of the area or returned to their parents or just got lost in the red tape of the “system.”
A new foster parent, in this case, it seemed.
Could he be talking to the photographer? No...of course not. That would be far too much of a coincidence, but Robbie certainly knew the man. Perhaps his new foster parent did as well? Mr. Wright. Hmmm.
“Hal.” I tapped the counter. “Get him in today.”
“What?” He gaped at me and said into the phone, “One moment, can you hold, Mr. Wright?” He pressed a button on the phone and let the receiver hang from his hand. “We’re slammed all day, Patrick. This is just a checkup. Robbie isn’t in pain or anything.”
I wasn’t going to explain. I couldn’t without setting myself up for teasing from the piano-playing receptionist. “Just do it.”
Hal frowned but nodded. “Yes, Doctor.” Ohh, I’d pay for this. He put the phone to his ear and took it off hold. “Dr. Chen has an opening late this afternoon, if you can make it?” He listened. “Great. We will see you both then. What’s that? Oh yes, I’m sure that would be fine. Right. Goodbye.” He hung up and pushed back from the desk. “Suzi has your first patient ready and waiting.”
“Thanks.” I turned to head into the exam room.
“Patrick?”
I paused. “Yeah?”
“Robbie’s foster dad is bringing you coffee this afternoon. Pumpkin spice. Let’s have lunch so you can tell me how he knows your weakness.”
Damn. It was him! My heart lifted and so did my lips in a big smile as I grabbed a clean lab coat and slipped my arms into the sleeves. “There’s not much to tell. I ran into them on Friday on the way home, and I was drinking coffee.”
“You don’t get off that easily,” he growled. “Lunch. Pho and interrogation on the menu. And I’m buying.”
Another chilly morning made the Vietnamese noodle soup, another weakness of mine, sound amazing. And since Hal would never let up until he had every detail—not that there were many—I might as well have a good meal while being tormented. “Fine, but don’t expect much.”
“Looking forward to it,” he called after me as he lifted the phone receiver again. “Family Smiles, Teeth are our friends. How can I help you?”
Oh god. He was getting worse.
Turning my attention to business, I greeted my first little patient and moved into what was sure to be an endless day. Cleanings, fillings, reading X-rays...one patient led into another, broken up only by the promised lunch with Hal where he asked questions I didn’t have a lot of answers for. In short, he didn’t get his $22.95’s worth. I, however, enjoyed a bowl of the best pho in town while looking forward to the pumpkin-spice coffee that a certain photographer was going to bring me this afternoon.
But as we returned to the office for the afternoon, he gave me a slap on the back and another of those grins that along with his mellow, throaty singing voice, incredible skill on the piano, and a body so good even a boring button-down and slacks couldn’t hide it, drew omegas and alphas alike to fill his tip jar and beg him for dates. “I don’t know why I wasted my time trying to find out anything from you, Patrick.”
“Good.” I held the door while he entered and gave Suzi a wave. Women drooled over him, too...not Suzi, but some women. “So we can return to our professional relationship.”
“Right.” Hal hung up his suede jacket and gave it a friendly stroke. Man, even that was all about sex. I wasn’t attracted to him, and didn’t date employees, but I could appreciate what those other guys saw. “I am going to be here when Mr. Wright brings Robbie in. And since he’s the last patient of the day, I’ll just chat him up in a friendly professional way.”
“Hal…” I tried to fill my voice with threat, but the truth was, I wouldn’t mind getting his take on the photographer. “Just don’t tell him things about me that I won’t ever be able to live down, okay?”
“Would I do that?” He grinned.
I groaned.
“Okay, but I won’t.” And I wanted to believe him so badly.
“Dr. Chen?” Sometimes Suzi was the only voice of reason in the office. “Sarabeth here has a sore tooth on the upper left. She says ice cream makes it hurt more.”
I replaced my vest with the lab coat and entered the cubicle where the little blonde curly locks waited. “Hello, Sarabeth. Ice cream is a problem, huh? Well, it’s full of sugar. Maybe the answer is just to give up ice cream?”
“Dr. Chen!” The little girl’s grimace revealed the several missing teeth typical of her age. “I can’t stop eating ice cream. It’s my very favorite thing in the world!”
“Then open wide and let’s see if we can’t make your mouth more ice-cream friendly.” She complied and I peered inside. “Oh, I see the problem. You have a little cavity here, and we can fix you right up. By tomorrow, you can eat all the broccoli sundaes you want.”
“Ewww,” she moaned. “I like chocolate.”
“Ewww,” I echoed “So you don’t like spinach splits, either?”
Sarabeth giggled, and in short order we had her problem taken care of and the little girl digging through the treasure chest where we kept toys. Each child could select one on their way out. Sarabeth came from a middle-class home with two working parents and probably had plenty of playthings, but some of our kids didn’t have much more than what they got from us, so we tried to make the rewards extra special.
We did what we could.
Chapter Four
Damon
“I’m here to check out Robbie Smith,” I said to the plump woman behind the counter at the school. I pulled out my wallet, knowing they would have to check my identification and his records since he switched homes so often.
“Let’s check his paperwork.” The woman gave me a suspicious look, but I knew she was simply doing her job. Some kids were in the middle of custody arrangements and gods knew what else, so I appreciated her adhering to the rules.
“You’re Damon Wright, the new foster parent. Can I make a copy of your ID for the future? This way you don’t have to take it out every time.”
I nodded and handed it over. I intended to keep Robbie for as long as I could. Even in the short time I’d cared for him, I loved the kid and his spunk.
“Reason for the checkout?”
“Dentist appointment.” It wasn’t that big a lie. He did have an appointment later in the day, but there was a special art showing at the local museum, and I wanted to take him there first since it was the last week in town. I found that Robbie craved those experiences. He loved museums, and science exhibits—his mind always hungry.
“Just a phone call to his classroom and he should be here shortly. You can take a seat.”
I sat in one of the hard orange chairs and tried not to stare down the hallway. I was excited to show Robbie everything and sometimes a little too eager. More than once, he’d told me to calm down or chill out.
Someone in his life needed to show excitement about being in his company.
“It was reading time,” Robbie said as he opened the glass door to the office, frowning at me.
“You can read at home. You’ve got a dentist appointment.”
“Well, okay.” He held the door open for me, and we walked to the car. Getting in, he chucked his backpack into the back seat and crossed his arms after putting on his seat belt.
“What’s the matter? You can’t be that upset about missing reading time. We read every night.”
“No. I just don’t like the dentist. I mean, I like Dr. Chen, but the noises and the drill sounds at the office are gross. Last time I had five cavities. It took hours and hours.”
I snorted knowing good and well it hadn’t taken hours and ho
urs. But to a kid, I guessed filling cavities could seem like an eternity. I had hopes that with nutritious food and the dental care routine we had established, we could turn around the damage already done. I knew he hadn’t had terrible fosters before me, but his doctor wanted to see him gain some weight, and we still had some other professionals I wanted to check him out, vision, hearing… Some of it I’d have to find a way to pay for myself, but I’d find a way.
“Well, this time you’ve been brushing your teeth and flossing. Hopefully, this will be a good visit, and we’ll see if Dr. Chen has any more suggestions for you to make your checkups better. But first, museum.”
He gasped, and I got scared at first, thinking I was about to have an accident. “You checked me out for a museum, not the dentist. You lied.” Robbie and I had been talking recently about not lying and how dishonesty was like digging a never-ending hole.
“I didn’t lie. We are going to the dentist after the museum.”
He shrugged. “It’s kind of a lie.”
I blew out a sigh. “Yeah, I need to work on that. But, I didn’t want you to miss the Borim display.”
He bit down on his lip as I came to the stop sign. “It’s like school. You checked me out of school for more school.”
I smiled, relieved he saw that I was doing something good. “It’s educational. Consider this extracurricular.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means...we’ll look it up when we get home. First museum then coffee then dentist.”
“Why coffee?” he asked as we turned into the museum parking lot.
“Because Dr. Chen loves pumpkin spice.”
***
We arrived at Family Smiles right on time, extra-large pumpkin-spiced latte in my hand. I tried to breathe slowly, letting some of the nerve subside, to no avail. This guy had my stomach fluttering all over the place, and I hadn’t even gotten into the office. If I was honest, one of the reasons I’d taken Robbie to the museum was because I was losing my mind at home, waiting for the afternoon appointment. Not the main reason, which was of course education, but a reason.
We entered the waiting room, and the very hot guy behind the desk let Robbie sign himself in on their iPad. They didn’t have anyone like him at my dentist. Between him and Dr. Chen, the sexy meter must be topping out here at Family Smiles.
Robbie was covered by state insurance since he was a foster kid, so there was no talk of copayments or anything. One expense I wouldn’t have to absorb.
“You must be Mr. Wright.” The man at the counter waggled his eyebrows, and at first, I thought he was coming onto me.
“I’m Damon Wright.”
“You must be special,” he said with a sly tone.
“Why is that?”
“Dr. Chen insisted that I get you and Robbie in today. He doesn’t really do that. Must be the coffee or something else.”
My face reddened. “I’m hoping it’s something else. But we’ll start with the coffee.”
The man, Hal by his name sewn onto his scrubs, leaned forward, and with a crook of his finger, apparently wanted me to lean closer as well. “His office is the second door on the right when you go down the hallway since Robbie will go into the exam room with the hygienist. You could have a few minutes to chat.”
“Thanks for the tip,” I whispered back, but didn’t intend to leave Robbie alone no matter how much I wanted to see the doctor myself. My boy needed constant reassurance that he wouldn’t be abandoned, even in a dentist’s office.
A few minutes later, a young woman called Robbie back and I went with her, cup still in hand. “That smells divine,” she said, pointing to my cup.
“It’s that time of the year.”
“So, Robbie, let’s get you looked at. Any pain or tenderness?” Robbie had followed her lead in sitting in the chair and leaned back, taking direction well.
“Nope. He makes me brush twice a day.” He pointed to me like I was his dental supervisor instead of his foster parent.
“Well, that’s what good parents do. Open wide.”
Robbie’s eyes ticked in my direction, and I smiled at him, trying to make him feel safe. She probably didn’t know that inadvertently she’d called his real parents irresponsible. His social worker said he didn’t even own a toothbrush when they got him out of his home.
She took about ten minutes on the exam before looking at me. “He’s got one little surface cavity but I’m not sure what the doc will want to do. I’ll go let him know Robbie is ready to see him.”
I nodded. Robbie was watching some show on their TV, mounted so the patient would be distracted. He popped out an earbud—apparently not the noise-cancelling type. “I have one anyway, don’t I? All that brushing.”
A dig at the foster parent. “At least it’s not five. That drill gives me the creeps.”
“I hope I don’t.” Dr. Chen winked at me as he walked into the room.
“No, um, we were discussing the drill.”
“Let me take a look before we start talking drills.”
He talked to Robbie in the gentlest manner while he used a little mirror and tools to check his teeth out further. “It looks like this is an old filling that has come out. So, no new cavities.”
“All that brushing,” I said, looking at Robbie.
“He makes you brush all the time?” Dr. Chen asked Robbie who nodded and rolled his eyes. “He’s a good dad.”
“He’s not my dad,” Robbie murmured back, but I heard him loud and clear. I knew I wasn’t his dad, but deep down I wanted to be. I loved him, smart mouth and all.
“We will have to schedule you to fill this again, but no drilling. Just a simple fill. Hal at the front desk can get you an appointment.”
If I was a better parent, I probably wouldn’t have felt that little lift at having to come back soon.
Dr. Chen stood and waved us out, but I was stuck between leaving and wanting to talk to him, at least a little.
“I’ll take Robbie up for his sticker and his new toothbrush.” The hygienist appeared, taking Robbie’s hand and leading him away.
“I brought you this,” I said, handing over the latte with a shaking hand, hoping it was still warm.
“Thanks. I need the pick-me-up. So, you’re his foster parent?”
I nodded. “I am. It’s been three or four months. We’re getting settled. And you?”
“Me?” He pointed to his own chest. “Kids? No. I don’t have a mate.”
My face heated. “Do you have time in all this busyness to date?”
He smiled, but with only one side of his mouth. “I don’t date a lot, but I should really change that. How about Friday night? I’ll pick you up at seven?”
My heart beat overtime. This was what I came for, yet I had a hard time believing it was true.
“I can get a babysitter.”
“Here.” He scribbled something on the back of a business card he’d plucked from his front pocket. “This is my cell. Text is better since I’m always here, but when I can I will text back. I’m slammed today, but it was really nice to see you. I look forward to Friday.”
As I walked to the front, my head was in the clouds. I had a date with a dentist.
Chapter Five
Patrick
Talk about a long week. I kept so busy with work that most nights I just came home, ate something like a sandwich or Lean Cuisine, and tumbled into bed with those journals. They had an alarming tendency to put me to sleep, but there were enough helpful jewels amid the ads to make the attempt worth it. But since Robbie’s appointment, I’d found myself lying awake in bed late at night, running over the few words we’d exchanged.
Each time, I wondered why Damon had agreed to go out with me. I couldn’t think of a single thing I’d said that would make anyone want to. But he had. And I wanted to show him a great time, but I wasn’t sure what that might be. Dinner? A movie? I didn’t even know what clubs were popular, if he liked to dance. Plus...yeah no. I had two left feet and probab
ly two left hands to match. I couldn’t think of any advantage in showing him how badly I tripped the light fantastic on our first date.
I woke Friday morning at the usual 3:13 a.m. from disastrous-date dream #151. Wiping away sweat droplets from my forehead, I sucked in deep breaths while trying to reassure myself that the likelihood of my spilling a flaming tropical drink and causing a fire that destroyed Chicago was less than slim. For one thing, I didn’t live in Chicago. Rolling over, I pulled the pillow over my head, reasonably sure that I’d flub the date, but confident I wouldn’t do it as badly as my imagination could.
Three hours later, the alarm buzzed, dragging me out of a dream where I was dancing. To a bizarre waltz/hip-hop number. Rhumbaing all alone while Damon stood with the rest of the people at ringing the dance floor. Oh yeah, and I was naked. Thank heavens the date was that night because I could only imagine what my subconscious would dig up next. And the fact that my staff knew the old doc had a date after umpteen non-date weekends didn’t help. They wanted to help, tried to help, and amped my nerves up even higher.
He’d texted me with his address the night before, and since I had a packed day, as usual, I hung a change of clothes on the hook in my office and plunged into dentistry—the only thing that kept my mind focused and sane. With a booked schedule and three emergencies added in, I hadn’t even stopped for lunch, and a glance at the clock told me I had just enough time to change and get to Damon’s house to pick him up to go…where?
I closed my office door behind me and tossed my lab coat in the bin then stripped out of my jeans and white button-down, stepped into taupe slacks, and was unbuttoning another white shirt when Hal knocked and opened the door a crack. “Okay, wardrobe check.” He opened it further and stepped inside then froze, hands on hips and a disapproving frown making his full lips even fuller. “Oh, hell to the no.”
I drew a deep breath, prepared to argue. I so didn’t need anything. “What? This is what I always wear.”
Roseville Romance Page 2
