Page 4 of Healed By the Grumpy Elf

“Yes.” I nod. “Which might have been interesting if he hadn't been standing so close I could count his nose hairs.”

“It’s completely inappropriate.” Harriet shakes her head. “I mean, he can ask once, but then he needs to get the message.”

"Exactly!" I throw up my hands. "I don't want to hurt his feelings, but…"

"But you need to stop being such a people pleaser and just tell him you're not interested." Harriet lifts her brow in that way of hers that means business.

"I know, I know. It's just…” I deflate slightly, knowing she's right. “He's my boss, and he's not a bad person. I just haven’t found the right way to get my point across."

"It’s easier to just avoid him, is that it?" Harriet supplies. "It’s not like you two work together or anything. How do you figure this is going to work out?"

"It will," I protest weakly.

"In the meantime, you’ll spend enough time in this office to reorganize the entire medicine cabinet by color and alphabetical order?" She arches an eyebrow at me.

"If it’s necessary," I insist, though we both know it’s never the kind of thing that’s necessary. "Anyway, can we change the subject? The new doctor is visiting the school on Thursday. What do you think of that?"

Harriet's eyes light up, and I immediately regret bringing it up. "Oh, you mean the mysterious, supposedly devastatingly handsome doctor everyone's talking about? Mrs. Primrose is telling everyone she nearly had a conniption just seeing him walk around the other day."

I roll my eyes. "I'm sure Mrs. Primrose is exaggerating, as usual."

"She called him, and I quote, 'a tall drink of glacial water with cheekbones that could cut diamonds.'" Harriet fans herself dramatically.

"Since when do you put so much stock in what Mrs. Primrose says?" I ask, trying not to let my curiosity show. "She also claimed that Mayor Ironhoof was secretly a ballet dancer in his youth."

"Which turned out to be true!" Harriet counters. "Remember the Winter Festival last year? Those were definitely trained pirouettes."

I can't help but laugh at the memory of our seven-foot minotaur mayor twirling gracefully across the ice rink, his hooves somehow not skidding once.

"Fine, but that doesn't mean this new doctor is God's gift to the women of Saltford Bay just because Mrs. Primrose says so.”

“I also heard he’s an elf,” Harriet says, her brows rising comically high. “What do you think of that?”

That leaves me speechless for a bit.

“An elf? Aren’t they usually keeping to the High Court?” I take a bite of my sandwich and chew pensively.

“They do.” Harriet nods. “I’ve never even met one. They don’t mingle with the riffraff like us for the most part.”

“I mean, their doctors have a stellar reputation, but I’ve never heard of an elf leaving the High Court to practice medicine in a little town like Saltford Bay.”

Harriet doesn’t seem to think this is interesting in the least.

“Never mind the reason he’s in town.” She leans in. “Mrs. Primrose is telling everyone she hopes you and the new doctor get along together.”

Ugh. I can’t win with this girl.

“Evelyn Primrose needs to mind her own business.”

Harriet shrugs, a knowing smile playing on her lips. "Well, Evelyn’s matchmaking did work out pretty well for Gerralt and Cassidy. They're disgustingly adorable together."

She's not wrong. Bernice's grandson, Gerralt, a gruff but kindhearted orc, had been successfully mated with Cassidy Perkins, the human owner of Saltwater Lodge, after Mrs. Primrose's not-so-subtle maneuvering. They recently announced their engagement, provingthat sometimes the town busybody did know what she was doing. Only I’m not in need of matchmaking. If anything, I’m in need of the opposite.

"That was a lucky coincidence," I insist. “They were both already living here, both clearly interested in each other. Who even knows if the handsome new elf doctor is single?”

"Why, are you interested?" Harriet asks innocently, but I know better. There’s nothing innocent about Harriet when romance is involved. "I was just mentioning that we have a new, reportedly handsome doctor in town who'll be visiting the school. You're the one who jumped straight to romance."

My cheeks heat up, and I throw my napkin at her. "You're impossible."