“Me too. I got lucky. Dr. Jones stopped by her office when I was there. I pretty much threw her under the bus. He insisted she take the time to approve my request right then.”
“Hell, yes. Wait, are you going to be paying for that now?”
I shrug, even though he can’t see me, as I pull up to the stop sign. “Probably, but it’s nothing I’m not used to dealing with when it comes to her. And it’s been more than just me lately. She’s been rude to everyone. Except the doctors, of course.”
“Of course,” Sterling says sarcastically. “We need to get you out of there, Tink.”
“I know. There aren’t many options in Willow River, and I do love my coworkers and the physicians. I just wish she wasn’t so damn mean. I’ve been looking, but after our trip I need to get serious about it.”
“Good. You deserve better.”
I don’t comment because we both know I’ve put up with Tamara’s shit a lot longer than I should have. “What are you doing for dinner?” I ask.
“Depends. What do you feel like?”
“Anything. I’m starving. My place or yours?”
“Mine. I have laundry I need to do.”
I chuckle. “Always waiting until the last minute.”
“Not always,” he defends.
“Fine. Your place. I’m going to stop and grab something.”
“Let’s just throw some burgers on the grill.”
“Do you have what we need?” I ask.
“I do.”
“Okay. I’ll meet you there.”
“Use your key if you beat me there.”
“Will do. Be safe,” I tell him.
“You too, Tink.” The call ends as I pull into the parking lot of the grocery store, even though he said he has everything we need. I pick up a bag of salad and some potato salad from the deli to go with our burgers. I also pick up a package of buns. If he has some, he can just toss these in the freezer. I hate eating burgers on bread. That’s what we had to do the last time. He thought he had everything we needed. I breeze my way through the self-checkout line, and I’m on my way to Sterling’s less than ten minutes later.
Even with stopping, I beat him to his place. That’s because he works in Harris, which is twenty minutes away. Using my key, I let myself in the house. Kicking off my shoes by the door, I make my way into the kitchen. I place the potato salad and bag of salad mix in the fridge, leaving the buns on the island. I gather the pound of hamburger from the fridge that was already thawed out, and drop it into a bowl. I grab a jar of Ramsey’s dad’s seasoning that we all love and begin to mix it into the burger before making patties and placing them on the plate. I’m covering them with foil when Sterling walks in.
“Just in time,” I tell him, nodding to the plate of burgers.
“Let me change and wash up, and I’ll toss them on the grill.” He leans in and places a kiss on the top of my head before disappearing down the hall to his room.
Instead of waiting on him to do it, I unlock the patio door and step outside. As I pull the cover off the grill, I know he’s going to give me shit because this is usually his job, but I’m starving. I turn on the gas and light it, closing the lid and letting it get to temperature.
It’s a nice evening. The weather is warming up, and it makes me even more excited for our trip in a couple of weeks.
“Step away from the grill, woman.” I hear from behind me. I grin because I knew I’d get some version of him staking his claim.
“You know, I can grill these burgers just as good as you can.”
“The hell you say.” He mock glares at me, which has us both cracking up laughing. “You know mine taste better.”
“It always tastes better when someone else makes it,” I counter.
“Not true.”