7 ~ Steffi

I am embarrassed about last night for one very good reason which I can admit to right now. I’m ridiculously attracted to Noah. I thought once I saw him at the airport after all this time, I’d wonder what the hell it was I liked about him back when I was an awkward sixteen-year-old tomboy. Being attracted to him is a nightmare. He’s still edgy, but the underlying compassion he exudes, with an overdose of physical and mental strength, is potent.

It might have been the amount of wine I consumed, but last night when I stupidly—drunkenly—logged onto O-Zone, I actually felt as though I was chatting with Noah, rather than Doctor O. I think counselors call it transference.

I need to sort this shit out. Maybe I do need counseling after all. I’m hardly behaving in a professional manner. If anyone found out about O-Zone, I’d be a laughing stock. I also have to stop thinking about Doctor O as being a proper doctor. I doubt he’s nothing more than an opportunist. He’s hooked into something good, and O-Zone keeps his books selling. He has a hungry market there which he teases along until they’re begging for another story.

I’m sure if any doctor was caught writing stuff like that they’d be disciplined, or struck off. No doctor would risk his career that way. That stuff is filthy.

The medical rooms are alongside our house. Margaret, our head nurse who has been with the practice ever since I can remember, is already there and has opened up. The first patient is in the waiting room, reading a magazine. She looks up, her face full of hope until she realizes I’m not one of the doctors, then goes back to her magazine.

I find Margaret in her office, and she greets me with a warm smile. She’ll be difficult to replace when she finally retires because I think she knows this practice even better than my parents.

“Did Arch and Felicity actually leave the country, or are they hiding out in the house?”

I laugh. “They’ve gone. I watched them board the plane.”

“Astounding. Did Noah arrive?”

“He’ll be here in a couple of minutes.”

“This is too smooth,” Margaret says. “Things don’t go like clockwork around here. Be on your guard. There’s still no receptionist out there. I swear these young people don’t know the value of a good job.”

The receptionists are the bane of Margaret’s life, even though they’re not her responsibility. “Let me deal with the receptionists,” I tell her for the umpteenth time.

“You’re too nice to them, Steffi. You have to take a tougher line.”

“Yeah, well, unfortunately we’re somewhat hampered by strict employment regulations these days. We’re not allowed to whip the staff any more.”

“More’s the pity,” Margaret mutters.

“No whipping! When was that abolished?”

It was bad enough sitting next to Noah at breakfast, but hearing his sexy voice with the hint of a Texan drawl when I haven’t had the chance to brace myself for the onslaught of his overt maleness, causes a rush of heat through my body. This is worse than last night.

“Naughty Noah. Come here and give me a hug.”

Even Margaret looks a little flushed as she envelops Noah in her arms.

“Margaret, you look even more beautiful than I remember.”

She rolls her eyes at him. He’s added a narrow tie and his jacket is buttoned. He looks so good, my eyes hurt.

“Come with me and I’ll show you around. You’re in the first office, here...”

I leave Margaret to settle Noah in and head back to the reception area to man the front desk until one of the receptionists turns up. Janice is the first to arrive, looking flushed.

“Sorry I’m late, Steffi. Josh lost his Buzz Lightyear and the tantrum was spectacular. You could probably hear him. Then the traffic was jammed at the town center again, and it took twelve minutes to get through the—”

“It’s fine, Janice,” I tell her. She’s a solo mother, and her son has a number of behavioral issues that put him on the spectrum. If things don’t go right for Josh from the moment he gets out of bed, it usually means Janice will be late. Which is fine, so long as Kate, our other receptionist, is on time.

Kate’s never on time, but we keep her on because she is amazing at defusing difficult patients, and she can somehow schedule appointments with medical specialists in days when anyone else will be told they’re booked up for weeks. I try to tell Margaret that everyone has valuable skills, but she can’t see past tardiness.

Margaret normally mentions some quote about starting the day by making your bed, but I can’t really find the correlation, and Kate says that making her bed will make her even later for work.

Kate walks in and doesn’t apologize for being late. She claims that would be hypocritical. The phones are ringing non-stop and Kate answers one while she’s stuffing her handbag into a cupboard and slipping out of her coat. She might be late, but she’s a multi-tasker. She finishes the call just as Margaret and Noah appear in the reception area.

I watch Kate eye Noah from head to foot, and Janice looks, turns pink, and quickly looks away. Margaret does the introductions, and Kate shakes his hand for much longer than necessary. Janice looks completely flummoxed and returns the pen she’s holding into her mug of tea instead of the jar where all the other pens are.

It looks as if Noah’s going to be a disruption all round until we get used to him.

Mr. Battersby, an elderly patient, shuffles through the door with his cat in an old vinyl PanAm Airways bag, causing Noah to make a hasty retreat back down the hallway.

“This is the doctors’ office, Mr. Battersby,” Kate says in a firm voice.

“Miriam has thrown up three times since dinner last night,” he shouts back. As usual, he’s forgotten to wear his hearing aid.

“Yes, I’m sorry about that, but you’ve come to the doctors’ instead of the veterinarian.” Kate enunciates her words so that there can be no misunderstanding.

Mr. Battersby’s hand flies to his chest and he roars with laughter. “Did I make an appointment here?” he asks.

“No, you don’t have an appointment. I’m going to make sure you’ve made one with the veterinarian, and I’ll call a cab for you.”

I leave Kate to deal with Mr. Battersby and sneak away to my office.

I’m working through my emails a couple of hours later when Noah slips in carrying two coffees and closes the door. He hands me one, then drops into a chair.

“Apparently I’m getting through my appointments too quickly. For the past seven years virtually every patient I’ve approached was close to tapping out. Margaret says I don’t have to be in quite such a rush. I need to get used to the slower pace of sinus infections and painful hips.”

“We could just double-up your appointments.”

He laughs. “I’ll get used to it. Everyone’s been great, except Mrs. Cipriano who accused me of stealing all the apricots off her tree when I was eleven. Did I do that?”

“Without a doubt. And if you didn’t, you probably knocked on her door and ran off, or jammed a potato in the exhaust pipe of her car.”

“Another mother looked elated when her seven-year-old announced when he grew up he was going to be just like me. ‘A doctor?’ she asked, and he said ‘No, I’m going to have a tattoo’.”

“Great. Life goals right there. You’re an exceptional influence on the children of this town.”

“And what about the single women?” He looks me directly in the eye when he asks this question.

“You’ll have to ask them,” I reply.

Noah leans across my desk, and I hold my position so that only the lid of my laptop comes between us.

“Am I an exceptional influence on you, Steffi?”

“Do you want to be?”

He stands and winks at me. “Don’t make any plans for this evening.”

“I’m going for a bike ride after work, and I’m not canceling.”

“We can do that together if I’m finished in time.”

“You have a bike already?”

He stops at the door. “I will by tonight.”

I suppress the silly idea that there’s some romantic reason Noah wants to join me after work on my bike ride. Like me he probably finds physical activity is the best way to burn off the stress of a day at work. We’re friends, and colleagues. There is nothing more between us than that.

Cam would certainly be weirded out by anything going on between Noah and me, as would my parents. Plus, we work together, so that’s awkward. Plus, after three months filling in here, he’ll probably be desperate to leave Queenstown for the excitement of a big city on the other side of the world. Plus, plus, plus… I don’t have to list the reasons why anything between us is a stupid idea. But, damn, he looks so hot in his suit today. And the jeans yesterday. And I hope he doesn’t wear lycra bike shorts because I don’t need the visual of what I’m missing out on to go with the fantasy.

My day continues in the usual fashion for a busy medical practice. Around midday I manage to grab ten minutes to wolf down a sandwich, and I’m joined by Janice in the break room.

“Noah’s causing quite a stir. Whenever he appears in the reception area it goes quiet. We’ve had a run on appointments for him this week.” She glances around then tips towards me. “All single women. And I think Kate fancies him. She’s become very flirty, and the top button on her blouse has fallen off.”

“I’m sure Noah’s used to handling that sort of thing.”

“Just before lunch there were a couple of young woman waiting to see Margaret. They got one look at Noah and decided if they fainted he’d give them mouth-to-mouth, so they started holding their breath. You should have heard the lecture Margaret gave them.”

Kate saunters into the room.

“There’s a button missing on your blouse, Kate.” I state the obvious because subtlety doesn’t work with Kate. “You’ll find a sewing kit in the stationery cupboard. Make sure you fix it by the end of your break.”

She shrugs. “I’ll fix it when I get home.”

“We have a dress code, and flashing your breasts doesn’t meet it. Replace the button in your break, please.”

Kate rolls her eyes. “You’re worse than Margaret. Is Noah living at your house?”

“Yes. But don’t let that concern you.”

“You’re in the apartment downstairs, right?”

I nod.

“Noah’s living upstairs. Got it.” She gives me a sly wink.

I make a mental note to remind myself to tell Noah to watch out for Kate. She’s not shy about going after what she wants.