“Do you have any other questions?”
“Nope. See ya,” Max jumps down off the table and leaves the room, presumably heading for the waiting room. I bite back a laugh. I remember those days of wanting to hurry and get out of the doctor’s office. Now I’m always here, but I don’t mind it at all. Meeting with patients like Max is the reason I do what I do. It’s nice to be able to help patients who are struggling and who might not otherwise have hope.
Foxy stands up.
“It was nice to see you,” she says.
“And you as well.”
“I hear you have a big date tonight,” she winks.
“Oh?” I’m still not quite used to being in a small town. I’m a little surprised, but honored, that Meredith told Foxy about our date.
“Don’t worry,” Foxy says. “She doesn’t bite. Much.”
I laugh.
“Good to know. I was worried there for a minute.”
“You’re different, you know.” Foxy looks at me for a second. I raise an eyebrow. What exactly does she mean by that? Am I different than she expected? Or am I different from the other people in Claw Valley?
“What do you mean?”
“Meredith was scared of you, but it wasn’t you she was scared of. She was scared of getting hurt.”
“She told me.”
“She’s been through a lot, Doctor Rob.”
“I have no plans to hurt her,” I say gently.
There’s a knock on the exam room door and a short, round nurse pops her head in.
“Time for your next patient, doc,” she says. She gives Foxy a nasty look and then gives me one, too.
“I’ll be right there, Lori. I’m just finishing up with Max’s sister.”
“Hmph,” Lori says, and she turns to leave.
“Trouble in paradise?” Foxy asks quietly.
“You have no idea.”
“Give them time,” she says. “They’ll warm up.”
“I hope so.”
I lead her out to the reception area and wave goodbye before I head into the next patient’s exam room. The biggest problem isn’t that people in Claw Valley don’t like outsiders. It’s that they’re untrusting of outsiders. Most of my team members at the clinic are fantastic, but there are a select few who are very uncomfortable with me. Lori is one of them. She’s a bear shifter who has lived here her entire life and has no plans to leave after she retires. She knows everyone in this town. Everyone.
Except for me.
Change naturally makes people uncomfortable, but all I can do is keep trying my best.
When I walk into the next exam room, however, I’m met with a firm, “No.”
“Excuse me?” I ask. The man standing beside the exam table frowns at me. There’s a little girl sitting on the table. She’s got a virus and her parents want to make sure it isn’t anything more serious than that.
“I said no,” he says again.