Chapter Fifteen

Megan

“Okay, Dr. Michaels will be right in,” I said with a smile to the teenaged girl and her mom before I pulled the door closed and flipped the tag to show the room was ready for the doctor. I poked my head around the wall and smiled at Russell. “Room three is ready.”

He glanced up from his keyboard and gave me a warm smile. “Thanks, Megan.” He stood up from his keyboard and tucked his long hair behind his ears.

Dr. Russell Michaels was young and when he’d first joined the practice the year before, people had been skeptical. I don’t know if it was his long, California surfer hair, the sneakers he wore on his feet, the earrings in his ear, or the fact that he never stopped smiling, but he’d worked hard to prove that he was a good doctor. And he was. I had already worked for New Hope Family Medicine when he started but for the other doctor. I’d chosen to transfer to Russ when he’d first joined because I could tell right away that he was going to be great.

Russell glanced up at me as he washed his hands at the sink in the alcove. “What’s the story?”

“All signs point to strep,” I replied as I walked towards room two to sanitize it. “Mom sounds like she is catching it, too. I can upload her patient file if you’d like.”

Russ nodded as he knocked the door to room three. “Thanks.”

After I’d cleaned room two and put a new patient in there, I uploaded the file for Dr. Michaels and snuck a peek at my phone. It’d been five days since I’d gone to see Simon at the station house, and he hadn’t returned any of the calls or texts I’d sent since. I had only spoken to Alex twice, too, and we’d been communicating by text since he was in Las Vegas for an EMT training seminar for the week.

I had done a lot of thinking and decided that I needed to break up with Alex. Even taking Simon out of the equation completely, I knew that my feelings for Alex weren’t going to just magically appear overnight. I’d stayed with him in hopes that something more could develop but the two of us were better suited as friends. We both deserved to find love.

My heart belonged to Simon completely. It was an epiphany I’d come to after leaving him in the basement that night. I wanted to tell him, to confess my feelings, but I needed to clear things up with Alex first. Besides, he was freezing me out. I was worried that I’d hurt him too badly and it was too late to reverse the damage. Even if that was the case, even if he didn’t want to be with me, I still knew what I needed to do.

The problem was finding the right moment. I wasn’t about to break up with Alex over the phone and so I was anxious for him to get back into the city. Knowing that I was going to have the dreaded conversation with him made my stomach hurt. I hated confrontation and combining confrontation with the possibility of hurting someone was terrible.

It was after six by the time Russell had finished with the last patient, and I scrubbed down the exam rooms before getting everything put away. The other doctor in the practice had already left, along with his staff, and I waved as Katrina and Raquel, our front staff, walked out the door.

I went back to Russell’s office and smiled. “I’m going to head out. Looks like you’re the last one here… again.” Dr. Michaels was a workaholic but he produced quality results.

“Okay, let me shut down and I’ll walk you out,” he answered with a smile as he turned off his computer. He picked up his briefcase and backpack, gesturing for me to go first. I walked to the front door and set the alarm before we headed outside and locked the door. Russell stayed next to me as we moved through the parking lot.

“Big plans tonight?” he asked quietly.

I shrugged. “I have a date with my pajamas.”

Russell nodded. “Sounds like fun.” He smiled when I made it to my car and offered me a little wave. “Goodnight, Megan.”

“Night, Russ,” I replied as I got in behind the wheel and started the engine. Russell refused to leave any of us in the parking lot alone, so I knew I had to leave so he could go home.

I stopped by the grocery store only a few miles from my office. Kelly had done the grocery shopping over the weekend and she loved to buy the healthiest stuff to keep in the apartment. In that moment, however, I needed junk food.

With a package of cookies and a container of ice cream in my handbasket, I headed towards the registers to pay for my poor food choices. I was reading the cover of some magazine while I waited when I heard a small voice call my name.

My lips turned up into a smile as Kendra came running towards me, pausing halfway because her sandal had flown off of her foot. The second she was close enough, she threw herself into my arms and gave me a tight hug.

“Hey, kiddo. How are you?”

She grinned up at me when we separated. “Good. Mommy says we can make pancakes for dinner tonight since I was so good at school.”

“That sounds pretty awesome,” I replied with a small laugh. I looked behind Kendra to see Hudson walking over, too. A woman was right behind him and I recognized her from the photos Kendra had in her room at Alex’s house. Mother and daughter looked so much alike, with the same light brown hair and matching eyes.

“Hi there,” she said as her and Hudson came to a stop near where Kendra and I were. “I’m Clarissa. You must be Megan.”

I nodded and offered her a smile. “I am. It’s nice to meet you. You have two really awesome kids.”

“They’re okay most of the time.” Clarissa winked at Hudson and he stuck his tongue out at his mom. She chuckled softly before looking at me again. “They have nothing but great things to say about you. Thanks for being so good to them.”

“No need to thank me whatsoever. It’s definitely not a hardship.”

“Megan, did you know Daddy is in Las Vegas?” Kendra asked excitedly and I crouched in front of her before nodding.

“I did know that.”

She giggled and twirled once before looking at me seriously. “He’s going to bring me back something from Las Vegas. And then if Uncle Simon brings me something from California, that will mean I get two things!”

“California?” I furrowed my brow and glanced up at Hudson and Clarissa. Clarissa ruffled Kendra’s hair and sighed.

“Uncle Simon is in California to fight a fire, Ken. I don’t think he’s really going to have time to go shopping.”

“He’s working out of state?” I asked and Clarissa nodded.

“Alex said he was called out last weekend to fight that forest fire that’s burning near Los Angeles.”

A rush of relief hit me suddenly, quickly followed by worry. He wasn’t ignoring me, he was working. The thought of him fighting a forest fire made my stomach hurt, though.

“Okay, kids. Let’s finish shopping so we can go home and eat pancakes.” Clarissa held her hand up in a small wave. “It was nice meeting you. Megan.”

“You, too.” I hugged both of the kids and told them goodbye as they went to get more groceries. I hurried through check-out with my melting ice cream and cranked up the air conditioner once I was in my car.

Kelly’s car was gone when I pulled into the apartment complex and I put the ice cream in the freezer before hooking Simba up to his leash. The two of us walked for about ten minutes before I hurried him inside, promising that we’d spend some time at the dog park during the weekend.

As soon as I was in my room, I sat on my bed and pulled my laptop to my lap, bringing up the news coverage on the Clarita fire. It was only about fifteen-percent contained and growing, but no firefighters had been injured as of that moment. I clicked through pictures, hoping to get a glance of Simon, but they were hard to distinguish in their gear.

When I was satisfied that Simon was okay, I closed my laptop and snuggled up against my dog quietly. I considered calling him again, but I knew he’d be busy and I didn’t want to distract him. Besides, I wasn’t even sure what I’d say at that point.

I spent the rest of the week on autopilot. I did my job and then spent my evenings at home, making sure I didn’t hear any negative news from California. The fire seemed to be close to containment by Saturday and I felt nervous butterflies at the thought of Simon coming home.

Kelly kept commenting on my weird mood but I brushed her off, not ready to confide in her about my Owens brother dilemma. I knew she’d never judge me, but I didn’t want to admit my slutty escapades out loud.

When the weekend passed without hearing from Simon, I started to get antsy, even joining Kelly at the gym on Sunday morning to relieve some of my own frustration. I was tired and cranky by the time I went to bed that night, and I tossed my phone at the foot of my bed after listening to the voicemail from Alex telling me he was home finally.

As much as I didn’t want to do it with them home, I had decided that I couldn’t wait for the kids to go back to their mom’s before breaking up with him. The longer I put it off, the harder it would be. I sent him a text and we made plans to have dinner Friday night. I figured I’d tell him afterwards, once the kids were in bed. I only hoped that he’d understand.

I couldn’t wait to talk to Simon, to tell him my plan. I wasn’t sure if that boat had sailed but he needed to know how I felt about him. Hopefully I wasn’t alone in my feelings.