Page 29 of Fierce-Jax (Fierce Matchmaking #18)

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

“ C ome on, Gianna,” she said a month later. “We are going to be late.”

“How come I had to get up so early?” Gianna said, dragging her feet.

Her daughter never moved this slowly in the morning, but she had gotten her up early again to get to Pre-K before her normal time.

The second day this week she had to do it and was going to thank her mother again for everything she had done in the past several years.

She didn’t realize how hard it was to get herself and her daughter ready and out the door so early and on time.

“Because Grandma and Grandpa are on vacation until next week. Remember? I’m bringing you to school and picking you up.”

“I want Grandma to come back,” Gianna whined. “Then I can sleep in. I don’t have to go so early when she’s here.”

“I know,” she said. “I’m sorry. But I’m working while you’re in school.”

Though she had full staffing and even a new nurse taking on patients and doing more services on her spa menu and injections, she still had a long list of patients.

It’d taken her time to get used to five days a week over the four she’d worked before she bought the practice.

But she would not let this fail and that meant putting the time in to expand.

Did she need to take a vacation?

Yep, she did.

But she’d like to take one with Jax and he couldn’t get the time off.

Instead, she worked this week when Gianna was in school and just brought her earlier and picked her up a little later, but not a full day like other kids who went there.

Gianna sat on her bed rather than going to her drawer to get her socks, so Dillion walked over, pulled a pair out, and put them on her daughter.

“I don’t want these socks,” Gianna said.

“Then get the ones you want and do it before I get to the number three or you’re wearing those.”

She counted. Normally she had a lot more patience with her daughter, but today she’d overslept herself. How the hell had that happened?

She had an internal clock that never failed, but today it did.

Thankfully it was only twenty minutes, but twenty minutes was a lot when you’re already not doing your normal routine.

When she hit three, her daughter was sitting on the bed pulling socks on that she’d picked out herself.

Dillion rolled her eyes over the outfit not matching but couldn’t bring herself to care either. Gianna had on jean shorts, a black and red checked shirt, yellow, green, and orange mix-matched socks, and purple sneakers.

Freedom of expression, she told herself.

Something her father never let her get away with, thinking it’d reflect poorly on him.

It was one of those things she refused to fight about knowing there’d be more important things as Gianna got older.

She grabbed the brush and ponytail holder and combed her daughter’s hair to put it up.

“I want my hair braided,” Gianna said. “Like Grandma does.”

“Grandma can do it when she gets back,” she said.

Gianna folded her arms and snapped her head down to pout.

Dillion held back grinding her teeth. “That hurts,” Gianna cried out.

“Then don’t put your head down when I’m brushing it,” she said. “And I’m sorry.”

“Can we get munchkins on the way?”

“Not today,” she said. “We don’t have time. I’m sorry, but we’ll do it on Friday. I promise. We’ll get enough for your entire class, how about that?”

“Okay,” Gianna said, standing up and running out of her room and down the stairs.

Dillion went to her room and grabbed her shoes, slipped them on, and then was going to gather their things and leave.

“Get your backpack,” she said. “And make sure everything is in it that you need.”

“I need a lunch,” Gianna said.

Her shoulders dropped. Her mother usually took care of that for her and she almost forgot on Monday too.

Talk about being a horrible parent.

She opened the fridge, found one of those ready put-together kid’s lunches, stuck it in Gianna’s lunch box, then added a granola bar, a mini bag of chips, a banana, and two small bottles of water.

Plenty enough for her to have for lunch and a few snacks.

“Let’s go,” she said.

She stuffed the lunch box in Gianna’s pink backpack, then rushed out the door until she hit the button in her car and it didn’t start.

She did it again and nothing.

The car was beeping at her and she looked down at the message on the dash telling her she needed her key.

She’d left her purse in the house.

“Where are you going, Mommy?”

“I forgot my purse,” she said, getting out and jogging back in, yanking her purse off the counter and returning to the car.

They were finally on their way with her glancing at the clock.

She should be able to get to the office a little after eight. One of her staff would have to open, but at least she’d beat her patients.

Until the red flashing lights came on in her review mirror.

“Shit!”

“Mommy, you said a bad word,” Gianna said, giggling.

Dillion put her blinker on and pulled to the right side of the road, the police car stopping behind her. So much for hoping it wasn’t for her, but since she’d seen the speed she was going, she knew that wasn’t the case.

Her fingers were tapping on the wheel.

The officer came to the window and she pushed the button to have it roll down. “Good morning,” she said.

“Morning,” the officer said. It was an older man. “Do you know why I pulled you over?”

“No,” she lied.

“You were going forty-five in a thirty zone,” the officer said.

“I was?” she said. “I’m sorry. It’s been one of those mornings and I was trying to get my daughter to school before my first patient arrived at my office.”

She was laying it on thick hoping the guy would cut her a break.

“Patient?” he asked.

“I’m a doctor,” she said. She reached for her purse.

“Keep your hands where I can see them,” he said.

Her eyes went wide and she slapped them on the wheel. Oh my God. This day couldn’t get any worse.

“I was going to get my license for you,” she explained. “Nothing else.”

“Mommy’s getting in trouble,” Gianna said from the backseat. “That’s what you get for yanking my hair.”

She closed her eyes and put her head back on the headrest.

The officer lifted an eyebrow and leaned into the car. “Are you okay back there, sweetie?”

“I’m Gianna. What’s your name?”

The car was shaking with her daughter kicking her feet in excitement over a new friend she might have made.

“Officer Clemons,” he said. “Did Mommy hurt you this morning?”

She wanted to open her mouth and argue but knew better.

“I wanted my hair braided, but Mommy said no so I put my head down to pout while she was brushing it and it pulled and it hurt me, but she said she was sorry.”

Her shoulders relaxed with her daughter’s chattering to clear her.

“Is that right?” Officer Clemons asked.

She nodded her head, pleading with him. “We’re running late,” she said. “I’m sorry if I was speeding. As I said, I’m trying to get to my office before my patients.”

“License and registration please,” Officer Clemons said stone-faced.

So much for getting off.

She wanted to tell him to just write the damn ticket so she could get on her way.

She reached into the glove box to pull out her registration and then handed that over while she got her license out.

“Grandpa is going to laugh,” Gianna said. “You told him he couldn’t make my car faster.”

“Gianna,” she said. “Shhhh.”

“You have a car?” Officer Clemons asked, looking at her daughter and cracking a grin.

“My grandpa’s name is Dylan Patrick. He owns lots of cars. And he bought me my own I get to drive around when I visit him at work.”

The officer laughed. “Dillion Patrick?” he asked, looking at her license. “Not the same spelling.”

“No,” she said. “But it’s my father. I’m a doctor. I don’t work for him. Do you need to see some other verification?”

“Do you have any medical ID on you?”

She pulled her office badge out of her purse and handed it over.

He gave her both her license and registration back. “I wasn’t sure you were a doctor,” the officer said. “You’d be surprised how many people lie about those things.”

“I am,” she said.

She wanted to argue that it could have been a life or death emergency, but since she had her giggling daughter in the back he wouldn’t have believed that either.

“Slow down,” Officer Clemons said. “I’ll let you go with a warning this time.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

Dillion put her license and registration back, then put her blinker on to pull back out slowly and made sure she stayed under the speed limit.

She got Gianna to school, dropped her off quickly, kissed her, and asked her not to tell anyone in school what happened that morning. She wasn’t sure her daughter would do it, but she didn’t have the time to plead either.

“You’re late,” Marcy said when she was running into the office, her bag flapping behind her.

“Not a good morning,” she said. “As if I didn’t oversleep, Gianna was being a little stinker this morning and then I got pulled over.”

“Oh no,” Marcy said. “Did you get a ticket?”

“That was the least of my worries after my chatty daughter told the officer I yanked her hair and hurt her this morning.”

Marcy’s jaw dropped. “Nooooo.”

“Oh yeah. I’m not sure the last time I was sweating like this. I think my shirt is sticking to my back. Thankfully she explained and the officer laughed.”

“That’s good,” Marcy said.

“I got off with a warning to slow down. Not sure if it’s because Gianna also informed the officer that she was going to tell her grandfather because I’d said her toy car can’t go any faster and yet I was driving fast.”

“Oh boy,” Marcy said. “You’ve got your hands full with her.”

“The officer thought it was funny. Then Gianna had to share that her grandfather had a lot of cars. By then he was reading the name on my license. I think he thought I was a spoiled rich girl. He admitted he didn’t believe I was a doctor and asked for my badge.”

“Jerk,” Marcy said.

“I don’t know. He was doing his job. It shouldn’t matter what my career is.”

Even if she had hoped by saying she was a doctor she’d get let go. It happened to other doctors.

It happened this morning with her too, but she didn’t think it had much to do with that proof as much as her daughter’s antics.

“It shouldn’t,” Marcy said.

“Sorry, it’s been a rough few mornings getting Gianna out of the house. I can’t wait until my mother is back,” she said. “I’m not sure what I was thinking sending them on that trip.”

She thought her mother needed a vacation and now she did too.

“What you need is a man in your life to help you out,” Marcy said. “Stop trying to do it all on your own.”

Dillion was just about to say that she had a man in her life when her patient walked in early.

It was for the best, as enough of her life got aired out to a stranger today.