“Hope?” Stephen called from the back office. “Can you come here?”

They had both stayed late to finish some outstanding work and were alone in the office.

Hope rolled her eyes and walked to the small office. “What do you want?”

Stephen winced at her tone. “I think there’s a mistake in these numbers. I was reviewing the ledger like Aunt Iris asked, and something’s not adding up right.”

Stephen pointed to the figures he thought were incorrect.

Hope looked at him angrily. “I don’t make mistakes.”

Stephen rubbed his eyes. He was tired, and the numbers were swimming in front of him. “I’m sorry. Please explain these numbers to me.”

Hope went to the front office and got her notebook. She carefully pointed to each number in the ledger and showed the math in her notebook. “I think you’re forgetting that Dr. Harvey provides a discount to certain patients in exchange for certain goods and services.”

“What?” Stephen looked shocked.

Hope laughed. “You didn’t know that? Like how Mrs. Jones will bring in two dozen chicken eggs so she can get a fifty percent discount on her bill. Or Peter Williams will provide grain for a year to pay for his medications. You have to factor that in.”

Stephen shook his head. “No, I didn’t know that. But I suppose it makes sense in a small town like Nowhere.”

“What’s wrong with a small town?” Hope demanded.

Stephen looked worried. “Nothing’s wrong with it.”

“I know we’re not fancy like Seattle. I’m sure you can’t wait to go back!” Hope cried as she stormed out of the office and slammed the door shut. The door hinges creaked and groaned.

“Seattle’s not fancy!” Stephen yelled angrily at the door.

Iris Harvey strode back into the office through the front door.

Hope looked guilty. “Dr. Harvey! I thought you’d left for the day.”

“What is all this commotion?” Iris demanded. “Stephen, get out here!”

Stephen walked sheepishly out of the office.

“I came back here because I forgot my bag in the office. From outside, I could hear raised voices and shouting. What’s going on in here?” Iris looked back and forth between Hope and Stephen.

Hope hung her head. “I’m sorry, Dr. Harvey.”

“I’m sorry, Aunt Iris. I shouldn’t have lost my temper. It won’t happen again.” Stephen apologized.

“That’s right, it won’t happen again. You two need to learn to work together without screaming at one another. Otherwise, one of you is going to have to leave.” Iris knew she was being hard on her nephew and Hope, but she felt she had no other choice. The people of Nowhere depended on her to provide a safe place for their medical care. They trusted her and relied on the small office. There was no room for disagreement or anger in her practice.

Hope swallowed. She felt awful. Dr. Harvey was a wonderful boss. She didn’t say anything lightly. She was very upset with Hope and Stephen, and Hope felt terrible that she had been so loud and unprofessional.

“I’m going to get my bag and leave again. I suggest you two find a way to calmly speak to each other.” Iris looked at each of them one more time with a serious gaze. She walked to the back office, picked up her bag, and exited out the front door without saying goodbye.

Stephen was the first to break the tension. “I’m sorry. Can we agree to work together from now on?” He offered his hand as a peace offering.

“I don’t know,” Hope mused. “Maybe it would be better if I left.”

Stephen’s face fell. “What? No, you can’t do that, Hope. You’re great at what you do. You can’t leave!”

“Dr. Harvey said one of us would have to leave. She’d never fire you. You’re her nephew,” Hope reasoned.

Stephen shook his head. “No. My aunt loves me, but you were here first, and she really respects you. Plus, like you said, I’m only here for a short time. She wouldn’t want to let you go. Maybe I should just cut my losses and go back to Seattle now.”

“No!” Hope exclaimed before she knew what she was saying.

“No?” Stephen asked with a hopeful expression. “You don’t want me to go?”

Hope finally offered Stephen her hand. They shook, and she felt that familiar jolt of excitement. She allowed him to keep holding onto her hand and stood up.

Stephen drew her closer. Hope’s heart was beating at a dizzying pace. She felt out of breath.

Stephen leaned in toward her and whispered into her ear. “Why don’t you want me to go?”

Hope felt shivers all over her body. She could only groan in response.

Stephen pressed his lips against Hope’s. His tongue found hers and urgently explored her mouth. It took all of Hope’s focus to continue standing.

Stephen felt all of the stress leaving his body as he kissed Hope. He had wanted to take her into his arms like this since the first time he’d seen her. He knew they had their issues to work out, but for the moment, all he wanted was to be close to her.

Hope pulled away. “Wait. This isn’t appropriate. I work for you.”

Stephen took a deep breath. “I think you actually work for my aunt.”

Hope arched an eyebrow. “I don’t think this is what Dr. Harvey meant when she said we should figure out a way to work together.”

Stephen looked at her and they both burst into uncontrollable laughter. Stephen pulled Hope into his chest and stroked her hair.

Hope sighed. She loved the warm feeling she had when she was in Stephen’s embrace. The kiss he’d given her moments before had electrified her and woken up parts of her that she’d never realized existed. She found herself imagining what it would be like to be Stephen’s wife, to build a life with him and bear his children. And then she remembered that soon, he would be heading back to Seattle. She pushed herself away from him and sat back down at her desk.

Stephen sensed a shift in Hope’s mood. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. We should get back to work,” Hope said briskly.

Stephen walked around and stood behind Hope. He placed his hands on her shoulders and began to massage them gently.

Hope shook Stephen’s hands off. “Please, let me get back to work.”

“What’s going on, Hope?” Stephen asked. He didn’t understand what had happened.

“I have a lot of work to do. So do you,” Hope said.

Stephen sighed and went to the back office. He could tell that there would be no talking to Hope in the mood she was in.

* * *

A few days later, Dr. Harvey was in the exam room with a woman who was expecting twins. Stephen worked on a stack of paperwork in the office as Hope tidied the hallway just outside.

Hope dusted the walls and wondered if Stephen was catching up on his paperwork. He liked to talk to his patients throughout the visit, which meant he had to finish all of his written notes after they had left. He quickly fell behind, leading to long evenings in the office.

Since their kiss, they had mostly ignored each other. Hope was terrified of how much she cared for him and wanted to be with him. She was also scared that he would take off for Seattle again sometime soon. She tried to put him out of her mind completely.

Stephen listlessly wrote down his note about a gentleman with stomach pains. Since his kiss with Hope, he had been unable to think of anything else. He had barely slept or eaten a thing. His aunt had remarked upon his appetite and said he had better not get sick. There was no sense at all in a sick doctor!

He knew that the right thing to do would be to ask her parents’ permission to court Hope, but he also worried that it would go against Hope’s wishes. She’d barely spoken a word to him since their kiss, and when she did speak, it wasn’t anything personal or important. He wondered if the Sanders family would laugh at him. Plus, there was the problem of her suitor, Abner. He hadn’t been back to the office since the day he’d gotten his hand stuck in the honey jar, but Stephen couldn’t get the image of him and Hope out of his mind. For the first time, Stephen thought of a horrifying possibility. What if Abner and Hope were already promised to one another?

Stephen sighed and tried to concentrate once again. He could hear Hope in the hallway, cleaning the office. It was maddening to work in such close proximity to her and not be able to grab her waist, dip her back, and kiss her passionately. He wanted to do so much more than kissing, but knew that she was a wholesome girl who deserved to be treated appropriately.

Hope finished dusting and returned to her desk. She began to work on the day’s filing and soon realized that she needed Dr. Harvey’s notes from the previous day, which were in the office. She walked to the back of the practice and knocked on the door.

“May I come in for a moment?” Hope asked.

“Sure,” Stephen replied.

Hope gently nudged the door open and stepped inside the tiny room. “I need Dr. Harvey’s files from yesterday. Do you know where they are?”

Stephen’s arm brushed against Hope’s as he reached for a pile on one of the shelves. Hope sucked in a deep breath as she felt the electric jolt. She could tell Stephen felt it too, because he paused with his arm in mid-air.

“Oh, Hope,” Stephen breathed, then buried his face into her neck. He put his hands around her waist and ran them down her hips.

Hope sighed in pleasure. “Stephen.”

“I want to hold you right here like this forever,” Stephen admitted.

Hope felt tears spring to her eyes. She hadn’t realized he felt the same way that she did. “Me, too.”

Stephen couldn’t believe his ears. He’d thought there was no way Hope would be interested in him.

Just then, the door swung open and Hope and Stephen jumped apart.

Dr. Harvey peered into the room. The room was too small for her to join them inside. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were both in here. I wanted to reference one of my books.” She pointed to the one she needed, and Stephen took it down from the shelf and handed it to her.

Dr. Harvey looked back and forth between her nephew and her assistant. Both were breathing heavily, as if they had just run a race. “Are you two all right?”

“Yes!” Hope and Stephen called in unison, then stared at each other, horrified that they’d spoken at the same time.

Hope stumbled out into the hallway. “I’m finished in here. You can go in, Dr. Harvey.”

“I actually need to get back to the exam room.” Dr. Harvey turned and headed in that direction.

“Hope?” Stephen called from inside the office.

Hope took a deep breath. “Yes?” She replied uncertainly.

“You forgot these.” Stephen handed her Dr. Harvey’s files from the day before—the reason she had come into the office in the first place.

“Oh, yes, that’s right.” Hope turned bright red and grabbed the files, then darted back to the front office. She set the files down onto the desk and plopped down into her chair, feeling exhausted. She had never experienced the kind of exhilaration she felt with Stephen, and she found herself wishing she could have stayed in his office with him.

Inside his office, Stephen found it hard to calm his racing nerves. He went outside to the back of the medical office building to get some fresh air. He couldn’t believe how incredible it had felt to hold and kiss Hope. He was also shocked that she had admitted that she enjoyed it, too. Still, he couldn’t help but think about Abner and what he had said about going out with Hope. He knew Hope was fully honest, so he thought there had to be some kind of misunderstanding.

Then again, if he knew one thing, it was that he was terrible at understanding women. He took after his father in that department. They both needed all the help they could get. He found himself wishing that someone in Nowhere would write a column on how to win the hand of a local young woman. He would certainly read it and take its advice to heart!

His heart was still beating faster than usual, and he felt too keyed up and anxious to go back into the office. He walked around the small plot of land a few times, but nothing helped. He was thinking about Hope and all the things he wanted to one day be able to do with her. He spotted a garden hose out of the corner of his eye. Without thinking, he walked over to it, picked it up, and pointed the spigot directly at his face. He turned the hose on and felt the icy water blast onto his face and shoulders, soaking his head and neck. Ah, he thought to himself. Much better. He pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. It was going to be a long rest of the day.

In the exam room, Dr. Iris Harvey waved goodbye to her patient and sat down on the stool in the room, jotting down a few notes about the visit. She shook her head as she recalled the expression on Hope and Stephen’s faces when she’d interrupted them in the office.

She supposed in a way, it was her fault. After all, she had told them that they needed to find a way to work together without fighting. She hadn’t meant that they should work so well together that they ended up kissing in her tiny office! She thought it was funny that they thought she didn’t know. The expressions on their faces had made it plain as day that they had been embracing before she’d opened the office door. She chuckled to herself. Did they think she was so unaware that she wouldn’t know what was going on inside her own office? She, too, had been young and in love only a few years before.

She was happy that these two were enjoying each other’s company, but she also knew she had to keep an eye on things. After all, she had a business to run, and Hope and Stephen had jobs to do. She didn’t want anyone to suspect that anything untoward was going on under her watch. She decided to talk to Edna Petunia about it. The older woman always knew what to do.