Page 328 of The Doctors Will See You Now

“Okay. Seriously. What is here?” I questioned as we got to the top of the stairs, but Scott was determined and completely unwilling to spill the beans. “Where are we going?” I asked again, and he just laughed.

I sighed in annoyance and petulantly let him lead me toward the unknown.

After a quick stop at Magnolia Bakery for some muffins and two cups of coffee and a quick two-block walk, we stood in front of the doors of St. Luke’s Hospital.

Scott turned toward me and smiled. “We’re here.”

“Huh?” I looked at him and then back at the hospital and then back at him again. “You’re taking me to a hospital on our first official date?”

“Yep.”

“A hospital?” My brow scrunched in confusion. “Do you understand that a first official date should be something romantic?”

He laughed, but it did nothing to clear my confusion.

“I’m just having a hard time wrapping my brain around how a place of medical emergencies would spell out romance…”

“Today, you get to be Dr. Harlow Paige for the day,” he explained with a proud smile. “We’re going to spend the next four hours taking care of pediatric patients in my emergency room.”

Holy shit.

“Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack.”

A barking laugh left my lips, and he grinned.

“There’s no pressure,” he said and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “But after you told me about your original goal of becoming a pediatrician, I wanted to give you a chance to really explore it. It sounded like you’d spent most of your life working toward that goal, and plus, you already know I think you’d make one hell of a pediatrician.”

God, he remembered all of that?

Not to mention, he’d arranged a whole day for me to experience what it would be like to be a pediatrician on his day off?

A flock of butterflies took up residence in my stomach, fluttering around erratically as I stared at him in awe. These weren’t the actions of an asshole. They were the actions of a man who put others’ wants and needs before his own.

The exact kind of man I want to spend my life with…

“Wow. This is so sweet, Scott…” I briefly paused as I tried to find the right words—tried not to belittle the gesture with a smartass remark like I normally would. My saliva felt thicker than normal as I murmured the heartfelt truth. “It’s probably one of the most thoughtful things anyone has ever done for me.”

“It’s never too late to accomplish your dreams, Harlow,” he answered with tenderness in his voice. “If this is still your dream, then I know you can achieve it.”

“You really think that?”

“I’m certain of it,” he said and then held out his hand. “Ready to play doctor for the day?”

I smiled. “I’m ready.”

My day in the ER had careened by in a blur of adorable tiny humans. Scott and I had managed to see twenty pediatric patients in a matter of three and a half hours, and I’d found myself mesmerized and invigorated by the experience.

Sure and precise and way too much fun, he awed me as a physician. Dr. Shepard was an asset to the city of New York. He had a friendly and playful bedside manner, and even during the most emergent situations, he always found a way to get his patients to relax and laugh, while giving them nothing less than top-notch care.

He was a good doctor, and, I was quickly finding, an even better man.

And I couldn’t deny working side by side with him—obviously, with Scott doing most of the actual medical work while I watched—had been the most fun I’d had in a long time. Having already cleared the necessary paperwork with the hospital, he’d handed a permission form to each family we’d worked with and explained that I was simply an intern and not an actual physician. And thankfully, not one family had turned down my participation.

“All right, Dr. Paige,” he said with a grin as he handed me the patient’s medical chart. “We’ve got one last patient to see. Go ahead and give me the rundown on what to expect.”

I grinned and scanned the chart for the pertinent details. “Josie Morrows. Age five. No significant past medical history. Came in about an hour ago after she fell out of a tree. Only injury appears to be a small gash to forehead.”