And in time... (4 page)

“Lex, I’ve got it. Get out of here. Geesh. Give me a little credit would you?”

***

The Thomas Memorial Clinic appeared crowded. Alexis and Paige had to park alongside the street and walk across the parking lot to the three-story building.

“What if someone sees me?” Paige asked nervously with her hands clenched into fists.

“Then you are here with me. Stop worrying.”

They walked to the window where the very attractive receptionist gave them a clipboard and told them to fill it out, sign in, and take a seat. She wore a tight, psychedelic shirt, showing too much cleavage for her job. Her light brown hair looked like she had just stepped out of a salon, cut in layers around her face with three, maybe even four different highlighted colors. Her makeup seemed to be fresh and her long nails were painted in an ugly green to perfection.

Alexis stared at her while Paige filled in the lines on the paperwork. Feeling a little self-conscious and maybe even a little bit ugly, she looked down and checked out her own attire. Her breasts were hiding under her three-quarter-length jersey shirt. “Cedar Springs Photography” was spelled out across the back of her shoulders—one of the leftovers from sponsoring the little league team back in the spring. Her hair was in its accustomed ponytail, and she wore her everyday jeans and bright white sneakers, the ones she only wore when she went out.

Looking over at her beautiful niece, Alexis noticed they were dressed pretty much the same, except Paige’s jeans had a rip along the top of her knee, and her tee shirt said “Dragons” with Jordan Casino’s number on the front shoulder. Her hair was straightened and hung just below her shoulders. Alexis looked around the room and noticed a girl about the same age as Paige. She wore a fancy, off-white top, black Capri’s, high heeled sandals, and just like the young lady behind the desk, looked like she had just stepped out of Vogue.

Alexis whispered to Paige, “Maybe we should dress more like that and that,” she said, pointing with her nose to the two females.

“Aunt Lex,” Paige said with her eyes darting to both overdressed females. “Does that look comfortable to you?”

“Hmm. Good point. Not at all. You’re right. Never change you.”

“Never change you,” Paige agreed with a laugh.

They sat and waited nervously—Paige, anticipating the violation she would soon endure, and Alexis, feeling uneasy about sneaking around and what her brother would say if he ever found out. She had his daughter in a clinic, getting birth control. He wouldn’t say anything. He’d just shoot her in the head and lock Paige in the basement until she was thirty.
Ugh. Come on, Doc
.

A nurse wearing light blue scrubs with a dangling stethoscope finally called to the room of waiting people. “Paige McKinley.”

“Do you want me to come?” Alexis asked.

“Yes,” Paige answered with a nervous, squeaky voice.

“Right through here. Stop at the scales there and remove your shoes,” the young nurse said with a wave to the left.

After obtaining her weight, she directed them to the end of the hall. A nurse’s station on the right housed three busy nurses: one engrossed in a computer screen, one on the phone, and one standing at the counter. “Casey, could you get Jacob Moore a sucker and give his mother this prescription?”

Alexis looked up, puzzled, when she heard the familiar voice. Her jaw dropped when he stopped just in front of her and she noticeably closed her mouth.
Idiot.

“Alexis! Hi, how are you?” Cory asked with the same jaw drop, sounding a little too excited to see her. “Excuse me for a second,” he said as he sidestepped the nurse to get to Alexis. Paige continued with the nurse, turning her head with a frown.

“Cory, what are you doing here?” Alexis questioned with curved eyebrows, realizing a little too late how stupid her question sounded. The corner of her eye caught the nurses gawking at the two of them.

“Well, I would say by the white coat and the stethoscope, I’m working,” he joked.

“But, you’re a banker, not a doctor.”

“I never said I was a banker,” he reminded her. “Aunt Rosaline said I was a banker. She’s quite nosy. I wouldn’t believe everything she says,” Cory amusingly teased. He ate this up, enjoying the uncomfortable position she’d put herself in.

“You never said you weren’t.”

“See, if you would have had that dinner with me, you would already know this,” he quietly said, leaning over to her ear.

Great sky! He smelled incredible. Inhaling his aftershave or cologne, whatever it was, Alexis had to take a step back. 

“I have to go,” she said with a blush, noticing Paige in the doorway, waving her hand and mouthing for her to get in there. Alexis stepped around him with a flirtatious smile. Being around Paige sounded like the safer alternative.

Cory called after her with his hand over his heart, just like he’d done the week before in the grocery store. “Shot down again.”

Alexis sucked in her bottom lip to keep a straight face. Her eyes smiled at him when she closed the door behind her.

“You can undress from the waist down and put this over you when you’re finished,” the nurse explained. She handed her a paper sheet and excused herself. “The doctor will be with you shortly.”

Oh, crap. What if Cory Baker was the doctor? What if he is the one doing Paige’s exam?

“Do you know him?” Paige asked while her clothes came off in a pile in record time.

“I’ve never seen anyone get undressed that fast. Not really. I met him a couple times, that’s all.”

Paige covered herself with the noisy sheet and smiled. “I’ve had lots of practice. Aunt Lex…he’s hot.”

“You’re a brat. He’s not bad,” she modestly said and nervously waited, hoping he didn’t knock on the door. “Who do you guys play this weekend?”

Alexis needed the distraction and the Brady County Dragon’s was the first thing that came to mind. Paige talked busily about the upcoming football game with the Blue Tornados. There were two things Paige felt that passionate about: football and photography. Okay, maybe it wasn’t really the football game, more like Jordan Casino. The sudden surge of adrenaline caused Alexis’s posture to stiffen. It was a good thing she’d come to the clinic. Her heart stopped beating, she’d need the doctor more than Paige did.

“Hello, I’m Dr. Brock,” the also not-bad-looking man said, entering the small examination room with a smile. Alexis breathed a sigh of relief and felt the slowing of her heartbeat. She wasn’t going to die.

Asking the typical questions, Dr. Brock asked what age she was when she got her first menstrual cycle, if her periods were regular, and if she was sexually active. He told her he would like to do a pelvic exam, and then explained the different forms of birth control. Paige decided on the Depo-Provera shot, knowing it couldn’t be found by her parents. He clarified that she needed to take other precautions until after the first week, and that she would need to come in every twelve weeks for the shots. After educating her on the side effects, he turned to Alexis.

“Would you like to stay or step out?”

“I think I’ll step out,” Alexis answered after getting a nod of approval from Paige.

Alexis walked out, looking around and trying to figure out the way back to the waiting room when she saw Cory. He stood at the nurse’s station, patiently waiting for her, or so she thought he’d been waiting for her anyway.

“Walk with me,” he requested.

“Aren’t you busy?”

“No. I have some time…this way,” he directed and led her to a back door with a red-lit “exit” sign. Alexis followed, not really knowing what else to do. He didn’t really give her a choice. Cory stopped and held the door with a grin. She stepped out to a small parking lot in the back of the building designated for doctors and staff. He gestured toward a picnic table situated in the middle a concrete slab.

Cory removed the white coat, dropped it across his knee, and straddled the bench opposite her.

“I cannot believe you didn’t tell me you were a doctor,” Alexis badgered right away. Cory Baker wasn’t a banker at all. He was a doctor. Why did that all of a sudden seem incredibly sexy?

“Just when did you give me the chance to do that?”

“Hmm. Good point. Do you work here every day? I mean, is this your job?” Oh for heaven’s sake. Everything that Alexis tried to say came out wrong. Small talk. That’s all she had to do and she couldn’t even manage that.

Cory showed his bright white teeth, amused. “Actually, no. I agreed to cover here for another doctor one day a month while he pursues required training. I think it’s fate. You know, the day that I had to cover just so happened to be the same day you were going to show up here. That’s fate,” he assured her with a serious, matter-of-fact nod.

“Or coincidence. I’ve been here many times. I had my tonsils taken out right up there,” Alexis said, pointing to the second floor above their heads. So what if she was seven. He didn’t need to know that.  

“I’m still going with fate. Now, if you would just let me take you to dinner, we would be letting fate do its job.”

Alexis smiled. “I should get back.”

“Is your doctor here?” Cory asked with narrowed eyes, ignoring her statement the way she did his.

“No. I brought my niece here, my doctor is in town. Dr. Rice.”

“Well, it seems that we will be getting to know each other more after all.”

Alexis frowned at the smirk. “How so?”

“That’s why I am in Cedar Springs. I took over Dr. Rice’s practice two weeks ago. He retired and moved to Florida to be near his daughter, or he’s
moving
anyway. I’m not sure if he’s left just yet. The office is getting a new makeover this week and some updated equipment. I’ll be open for business Monday.”

“Wow, I’m sure glad he let me know so I could find a new doctor. Not that I ever go to the doctor, but it still would have been nice to know in advance.”

“You should have gotten a letter about a month ago. I specifically watched the receptionist type up the letters to do that.”

Alexis pondered with her eyes looking up in thought, remembering the letter she tossed in the trash. “I did get something about a month ago. I didn’t open it because I figured it was just junk mail, telling me it was time for my yearly physical.” 

“You really shouldn’t blow off your health, you know?”

“You’re not my doctor. You can’t lecture me.”

“Are you going to let me take you out to eat? Please. I’m pretty much free until Monday. You can’t tell me you’re busy every day. How about Saturday? We can go any time of the day, surely you can’t be busy the whole day.”

“Actually, I already have a date on Saturday.”

“You do?” Cory asked, disappointed. Alexis smiled at the sudden long face. It was cute.

“I have a date with a paintbrush and a farm house. I’m going to paint my porch.”

“You’re going to paint your porch?”

“Yes. I have to get it done this weekend before I run out of pleasant weather.”

Cheering right up, Cory had the perfect solution. “I’ll help you; we’ll eat there. I’ll even cook for you.”

“Do you even know how to paint? Let alone cook?”

“I will have you know, Miss Alexis, I make the best damn grilled cheese sandwich in all of Chicago. I can paint, too. Once in the third grade, I got into some trouble and had to paint a whole fence all by myself.”

Alexis laughed. “A whole fence, huh?”

“Well, maybe just a gate, but to an eight-year-old, that’s as big as an entire fence.”

“I have to get back in there. Paige won’t know where I am.”

“You know you’re just making up excuses, don’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

“The first thing teens do these days is text. She’ll find you,” he added matter-of-factly. She would have argued that, but it was the truth. Her phone would be buzzing any second. “She’s not sick, is she?”

“No. She’s fine, and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention to anyone in town that you saw us here.”

“Oh, I see. So what you’re saying is…if I keep our little secret, you’ll go out with me?”

“You are a really, really, really funny guy,” she replied while leaning in on her elbows and being over dramatic. She knew she’d come on a little strong, but she couldn’t stop it. It was fun. “But no, what I am saying to you is, I’ll sue your ass for breaking doctor-patient confidentiality.”

“But I’m not your doctor,” he argued.

“Thank God,” Alexis teased. Her fingers were all thumbs, trying to grab the phone from her bag. She would kill Bernie. For whatever reason, Bernie thought it was hilarious to screw with her phone. “Till the sweat run down your balls” sang from her phone, replacing the normal vibration.

“Nice.” Cory smirked as he pulled his bottom lip between his lips and bobbed his head to the tune. 

“I swear, I didn’t do that. It was Bernie. She’s always doing stuff like that. You should see some of the pictures I open it up to.” Bernie was as good as dead. Alexis would make sure she died a slow, painful death.

“I love that song.”

Alexis stood while reading the text message from Paige, wondering where she was. “Yeah, sure you do. I’ve got to go, but it was nice seeing you.”