CHAPTER TWO

Morning stretched across the sky with a fresh wave of sun and light breezes. The small town in the middle of nowhere Missouri started to buzz in the wee hours of the morning and Josie grumbled hearing the cars buzzing by her apartment window. She sat up slowly and rubbed her face. Josie was not a morning person, but after a quick shower, a small breakfast, and a decent stretch she was ready for the ride to work.

Singing softly to herself as she walked into the hospital she grabbed her tablet for work, put her purse in her locker. She saw Blake helping his mother with breakfast and kept walking to her locker. She pulled her hair back and checked her equipment. Only after she made sure that she was ready did she head straight for the room the Ingram’s were in. She gave a sweet smile, seeing Blake sleeping in the arm chair while his mother silently watched the news.

“Good morning Mrs. Ingram, how are you this fine morning?” Josie whispered.

“Oh, I’m doing fine, Blake tried to stay up all night, even helped with my breakfast. He is such a sweet boy, but thankfully he fell asleep.”

“That is very sweet of him to worry over you and help you.” Josie murmured softly and cast a sweet smile while she checked over the tablet.

“How am I doing, doctor? They were doing tests all night—it was exhausting!”

“It looks like everything is going fine so far…There’s one or two more tests that the nurses will do while I’m going about my rounds, but call me if you need anything. We should really talk about getting you some medication for your heart if this happens again. Aspirin might not be enough even though you seem to be fine now. I’m sorry you didn’t get much sleep, but you’ll be heading home soon enough and you’ll get plenty of rest there.” Josie reassured her with a sweet smile.

“Thank you for worrying about me, but I should be fine. We don’t even know what caused this little fit,” Mrs. Ingram smiled softly and looked back at the TV with a little yawn.

“Alright… get some rest Mrs. Ingram, I will check in on you again soon. Though you’ll still need to have a follow up with your primary care provider…” Josie said as she started to head to the door.

“I will get that set up when I get home,” Mrs. Ingram promised.

Josie went back to going about her rounds. She saw two patients recovering from surgery, the stomach flu, broken bones, infections… it was all just in the mornings work and each patient always seemed so happy to see her. She headed off to lunch after doing a wellness exam for one of her patients and ate quickly, knowing she did not get to have a leisurely lunch today. Not with the hospital being as busy as it seemed to be. Looking around the tiny cafeteria she could see all the various guests with their little stickers on their shirts.

As she walked passed the front desk, one of the nurses piped up and stopped her from quickly heading to the next room.

“Josie, someone left these here for you.” One of the nurses murmured and pointed at a vase full of flowers.

“Who?”

“Some guy, I think he or his mother is a patient here.”

“Huh…” She murmured and looked at the tiny card hidden among the petals. Reading that it was from Blake Ingram. “I see the Ingrams were discharged already?”

“Yes, we ran the tests early this morning and there were no blockages that we needed to worry about, so we sent them on their way. Then a little bit later there was this flower delivery… it’s very sweet.”

“Yes, I’m sure it is. Let’s keep them here then, so they can brighten up the desk a bit.” Josie smiled and went about her day.

The rest of her day went by quickly, her thoughts kept wandering back to the surprise that she felt when she got the flowers. She had only been doing her job— why would he have sent her flowers? Without the slightest clue, she headed home. The day was nothing more than a happy blur.

As she looked at the card she had slipped into her pocket from Blake Ingram, she chuckled, threw it on her kitchen counter and rolled her eyes.

I’d like to take you out for dinner…to thank you properly.

Josie had no desire for that kind of thing. What would she need to go to dinner for? For just doing her job? That did not even sound like it would make sense. At least to her. She stretched out across her sofa and fell asleep watching ‘crappy’ television.

***

The next few days were a blur of work and ignoring patients trying to flirt with her while she tried to heal them. One morning, while she was humming softly, she made her way to a small diner that wasn’t too far from the hospital. She needed coffee to make it through the day. This time she wasn’t really paying attention to her surroundings to see that Blake was already there.

She ordered her coffee to go and while she was waiting for it to brew, she jerked, hearing a throat cleared loudly beside her.

“Good morning Doctor Steele,” Blake Ingram’s voice purred from beside her, causing her to jump slightly.

“Hello, Mr. Ingram,” Josie said as soon as she settled down and took a deep breath.

“Didn’t mean to startle you, are you going to be here long? I didn’t know you stopped in here…”

“It’s… alright… I’m fine. Just waiting on my coffee and will be heading to work as soon as it’s done.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Yea, usually I have coffee at home. I just wanted something different this morning.” She said and went back to waiting on her coffee, hoping it got made quickly.

“Off to the grind again…” He chatted with a sweet pun involving coffee grounds and the work grind but Josie wrinkled her nose and did not exactly look at him again. Just cut her eyes at him.

“Uh huh…” She muttered instead.

“You know, it’s funny…” he murmured playfully.

“Not really…” She hummed softly.

“Oh, come on, not even just a little?” he teased with a soft chuckle.

“Nope.” She said with a hint of a smile as she took her coffee, ready to relax and get out of there.

“I’ll see you around then?” Blake offered a soft smile.

Josie looked up at him, contemplating for a long minute or two of what to say before she nodded softly. What more could she say? They lived in the same area, obviously, and she was bound to see him around town. It was a small town after all.

“Yes, I’ll see you around I suppose. Have a good day, Mr. Ingram.” Josie said, regretting how cold the brush off sounded as she said it. She headed out the door and straight to the hospital as quickly as she could. Although the joke had been kind of funny she hadn’t wanted to encourage him. What kind of person would she be if she encouraged that kind of behavior?