Page 93 of The Doctors Will See You Now

Me: WHAT? This was your idea, I’ll remind you. After two showings of I Am Britney Jean, you went on and on about how thoroughly misunderstood Britney Spears has always been and declared that she was my soul sister.

Melody: I was drunk. I’d had a seriously bad day.

Me: I think not. You didn’t break out the hard liquor until after the discussion about coming out in the office as a stand for my truth. I Am William Morris, I think you called it. They need to know the real you, you said.

Melody: I was just excited about learning your middle name.

Me: Sorry, Charlie, but this was your idea. Though, I’m completely behind it, baby. Love you.

Oh, fuck…

You haven’t said that before, Will, my brain taunted. For weeks, I’d been trying to figure out the time to say it for the first time, and this was how I did it? Time sped up and slowed down and turned motherfucking backward as I desperately searched the hollow recesses of my mind for something to say that would fix this. Or erase it. Fucking something.

A full two minutes passed, and I still had nothing.

Melody: Well, this is awkward.

Me: Well. I guess it is. Maybe we’ll deal with it later? Also, it’s not as awkward as you showing me your nipples on the first day. I’ll take a repeat of that when you finally get here, by the way.

Melody: No more hanging out with Thatch for you.

Complete avoidance. I guess that meant she was on board with dealing with it later. A tiny cloud of disappointment mushroomed in my chest. I used my memories of last night together to smother it.

Me: Why?

Melody: Because I’ve noticed a substantial increase in the amount you talk about my nipples since we hung out with them the other night. Like, substantial. Marked. Like, you’ve mentioned them forty times.

Me: Forty? Pshhh. No way. Maybe two dozen. At a push. But they are nice nipples. Can you really blame me here?

Melody: Don’t you have patients to see?

Me: Not until my nurse gets here and tells everyone she’s my girlfriend.

Melody: You expect me to tell everyone?

Me: I suppose I could serenade you with a song…An Ode to Melody’s Nipples.

Melody: I’ll tell everyone.

Me: See you soon.

Me: Oh, by the way…get me a blueberry muffin at Starbucks, would you?

Melody: Uh-oh… Busted.

I chuckled to myself as I set my phone to silent and dropped it onto the top of my desk. Truth was, I had to get busy. I did have patients to see whether Melody was here or not.

Grabbing my coat from the hook as I stood up, I swirled it up and around my shoulders, put my arms through, and pulled the ends of my dress shirt sleeves out at the bottom to make it comfortable.

Unfortunately, Melody’s tardiness meant I was going to have to face the trio up front, first thing in the morning. Not only would they need to bring the patients back and get them settled, but I also hadn’t been able to do a thorough read-through of the first patient’s file.

As I made it to the mouth of the hall and passed by the break room, I steeled myself against the gossip I might find.

I didn’t think anyone had seen Melody in her bloodied state yesterday, but neither of us was completely sure. I didn’t think I’d be able to keep myself quiet or professional if they said anything about the incident while I was there.

“Melissa,” I called. She was so focused on the computer screen in front of her, the sound of my voice made her jump.

Immediately suspicious, I moved from the side to directly behind her, but she hit buttons on the keyboard to make the screen minimize.