Page 34 of Protecting What's Mine

Her kids were cuties. Ava was admiring her sparkly flip-flops every time she kicked her little legs up from the end of the exam table. She had dark, curly hair and big dark eyes. There was zero family resemblance.

Sadie however could have been cut from the same cloth as her mother. She had fine hair so blonde it was almost platinum. Her gray eyes were wary.

Harper plopped Sadie on the table next to her sister and surprised Mack with a hug.

“Oh. Uh. Is this a thing? Hugging doctors?” Mack asked.

“I’m Luke Garrison’s wife and Aldo’s friend,” Harper explained.

It clicked into place. Aldo, recovering from his amputation, had enlisted the help of his buddy’s then-girlfriend. He’d ended up teaching her to run. Mack had seen the pictures from that long-ago Fourth of July 5k when Aldo Moretta had reminded the entire town—and himself— what he was made of.

“Harper. Of course. It’s nice to meet you.” From all accounts, Luke Garrison’s wife was a ray of sunshine. It appeared the rumors were true.

“So this is Ava and Sadie,” Harper said, making the introductions. She placed a loving hand on each girl’s head. “This is only half of the family. The boys are healthy, thankfully. But our girls don’t feel very well, do you?”

Ava shook her head, dark curls bouncing. Sadie looked at Mack like she expected the doctor to steal her soul.

“We don’t feel good,” Ava announced, still kicking her flip-flopped feet to a beat only an almost eight-year-old could hear. “Mama says we can’t go to school until we stop throwing up and having fevers.”

“Your mom is right. How about I do a quick examination, and then we’ll see what we can do to make you feel better?” Mack suggested. Her talking-to-children skills were rusty. She thought of Linc in the backyard with his nieces and nephew.

“Do you guys like dogs?” she asked, channeling Linc.

Ava told Mack all about their two dogs—Lola and Max—while Mack did a quick physical exam. Swollen glands. Fevers.

“Have you been hungry lately?”

Ava shook her head swiftly. “Nope.” Sadie sat like a sphinx while Mack repeated the exam on her.

Mack slung her stethoscope over her shoulders while Ava told her how Daddy and Lola snuck a nap on the couch while Mama was weeding the garden.

“So there’s a highly contagious stomach bug making the rounds,” Mack began.

“Oh, hell,” Harper muttered.

“Yeah,” Mack said. “Keep these two quarantined and hydrated for the next forty-eight. Lots of electrolytes and broth. BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast are good, bland foods to start with. The worst should be over by tomorrow, but if there’s any more vomiting or diarrhea tomorrow—”

“Poop!” Ava shouted joyfully.

“Yes, poop,” Mack continued with a laugh. “Call me so we can make sure they don’t get dehydrated.”

Harper took enthusiastic notes in a notebook she produced from her massive mom tote. “Okay. So, now that you’ve diagnosed my kids. What are you doing Friday night?” she asked.

Mack opened her mouth and realized she didn’t know what to say.

“Aldo mentioned doing a cookout, and since he and Gloria are in the middle of a backyard patio project, I volunteered to host it. Shoot. Girls, do you know if I told Daddy we were going to have a cookout?”

Ava brought a finger to her chin, the picture of deep thought. Sadie made her first human move. “I don’t fink you told Daddy. You were tawking to Aunt Glorwia on the phone, and you said ‘Remind me to say somefing to Wooke.’ And then Wowa got sprayed by the skunk.”

Harper beamed at her daughter. “It takes her a little while to thaw, but when she does, watch out.”

Sadie launched into a description of how bad “Wowa” smelled and how many baths she had.

Mack wrestled with the knee-jerk urge to wrap up the appointment. Efficiency was key in a medical practice. And she wasn’t sure how comfortable she was with being invited to a patient’s house. Even if the patient’s husband was an ex-military acquaintance of hers.

“So we’ll see you Friday night at seven, right?” Harper said brightly as she helped her daughters off the exam table.

“Um. Okay,” Mack said, unable to come up with a good enough excuse to bail. Unless, of course, the kids were still sick. Then the Garrison house would be quarantined. Not that shehopedchildren would be ill to get her out of a social situation.