Page 433 of The Doctors Will See You Now

They’d had a real shit deal handed to them, and I just couldn’t be the one to remove them from that house. At least not right now.

I could handle the shitty apartment in Chinatown. Anyway, seeing as my mood had been shit since the day Nick and I had broken up, that apartment had started to grow on me. I guessed it matched my life now.

“Wow,” Harper breathed into the phone. “Uh. Do you honestly hear yourself right now?”

I knew it all sounded ridiculous. But Doreen and Harry had grown on me. Hell, they’d become close friends. The fact that I was heading to pick them up from their joint colonoscopy appointment was proof of that.

Though, why a married couple would schedule a colonoscopy together was beyond me, but to each their own, I guessed.

Two days ago, when I’d stopped by to eat dinner with them, Doreen had mentioned that they planned on taking a cab home from their procedure, but I’d insisted that I’d pick them up. I just didn’t feel comfortable with them getting in some random person’s cab still high off the sedatives they’d administered during their procedures.

Plus, with only prospect follow-up calls on the books for today, I knew I’d be able to pick them up without any issues.

“Listen, Harper,” I said and cradled the phone between my shoulder and ear as I unlocked the door to my car. “I’d love to continue this conversation further, but I have to get moving.”

“You mean, you need to get off the phone to pick up your friends slash roommates,” she responded sarcastically. “Well, considering you’re not actually living in your own house, I guess they’re not really your roommates, huh?”

Considering I hadn’t really had a chance to go into all the details about Harry and Doreen’s situation, I was trying to give Harper the benefit of the doubt. She didn’t know the full story, because if she did, I had a feeling she’d be more sympathetic.

“Are you done?”

“Not really.”

I sighed and opened the driver’s side door. “How about I’ll call you later tonight, and you can chastise me some more?” I tossed back. “I’ll even make sure I’ve got an entire hour cleared out just to hear your bitching.”

“Okay.” A small laugh filled my ears. “I get it. I’m being a little bit of a bitch right now, huh?”

“Yeah,” I answered honestly. “And probably more than just a little bit.”

“You know it comes from a good place, right? It’s only because I want the best for you.”

“Thankfully, I do understand that.”

“Okay, good,” she said on a relieved sigh. “Go pick up your new friends Doreen and Harry from their couple’s massage—”

“Cripes.” A hearty laugh escaped my lungs. “They had colonoscopies! Not massages!”

She laughed. “My bad. Couple’s colonoscopies.”

When she said it like that, I also couldn’t help but laugh at the scenario.

“You know what they say,” I teased. “The couples that get their asses checked together, stay together.”

“I’ll make sure I keep that in mind for my future husband.” Harper’s answering smile was apparent in her voice, and I did my best not to go to the dark place as the words “future husband” reminded me of Nick. “Call me later?”

“Only if you promise not to bitch, and we focus our conversation on what is happening on Game of Thrones right now.”

“Deal,” she agreed. “Love you, you little bleeding heart who buys a house only to let someone else live in it because she is literally the most patient and caring person on the planet.”

“Is that my new nickname?” I teased. “It’s quite long. I’m not sure if Ivy will be able to remember it.”

“Shut up,” she muttered. “Go pick up the butt twins. I’ll call you later.”

“Bye! Love you!” I shouted into the phone and ended the call.

With a turn of my key, the engine revved to life. I backed out of my parking spot in the long-term garage and headed in the direction of the Outpatient Endoscopy Center in Hoboken.

I had a couple of colonoscopy victims to pick up.