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“With the two fabulous doctor heroes?” he asked sarcastically.
“I think you should stay home, you old grump,” said Grace. “Why don’t you like them? They probably saved Emily’s life. You should be grateful.”
“Well, I really saved her life. And today I hiked twenty miles, running most of the way. It’s not my fault she was on a different hike.”
“You’re right, Spencer.” Anne gave him her most reassuring smile. “We haven’t forgotten you saved her life. And if you hadn’t run twenty miles, we wouldn’t have found her. She’d still be out there. And she didn’t even have a sleeping bag. I’m sure she wasn’t prepared for how cold it is in the mountains at night.”
“We would’ve kept her warm.” Josh walked back into the room fresh from his shower, his hair still damp. “I wouldn’t have let her get hypothermia.”
Spencer huffed something unintelligible, and Anne hurried to change the subject. “Charlie, when is your return ticket? I didn’t even ask you.”
“I have to go back Tuesday. I’m really bummed Emily made us miss the musical tonight. But Steven still gets credit for getting the tickets. He gets big dad-credit for today.”
“Hopefully, when Emily wakes up tomorrow, she’ll feel well enough to do something fun,” said Anne.
Josh strolled toward the couch. “One thing I’d advise would be to wash off her cuts, although it may be hard to do with her sleeping so soundly. Brad and I washed some of them about five hours into the hike, and applied some antibiotic ointment. But she really has some pretty deep gashes, especially on her legs.” He moved toward Emily and started to raise her pant leg.
“Don’t touch her,” growled Spencer.
Josh pulled his hands back. “Look man, I’m not assaulting your girlfriend. I’m a doctor.”
“We’ve already heard you’re a doctor,” said Spencer.
Grace said, “Yes. And technically, she’s not your girlfriend, either. Right, Spencer? I mean, she’d probably be your girlfriend by now if you hadn’t refused to talk to her on Friday.”
“Grace!” Spencer said. “That’s enough.”
“In fact,” she continued undeterred, “I think you said you weren’t sure you could ever stand to be around her again—“
“Grace!”
“Well, let me just state for the record, if she isn’t taken, I’m definitely interested,” said Josh.
Spencer stood and faced him with his fists clenched. “She’s taken!”
“Fine... at least for now. But I’d take better care of her if she were mine.”
“Josh, Spencer! Please sit down.” Anne said. “You’re upsetting me.”
Spencer sat down on the floor next to Emily, and Josh walked around behind the couch.
“Josh, we really appreciate what you did to help Emily,” said Anne. “You don’t know her well enough to realize this, but no one tells her what to do. It certainly isn’t Spencer’s fault she got herself into trouble.”
“Yes ma’am. I did note she has a mind of her own,” Josh admitted.
“That’s the truth,” Charlie agreed. “She’s never been sweet and obedient like me.”
Steven returned to the living room. “Oh, were you telling a joke? Was that the punch line?”
“Very funny,” said Charlie. “And here I’d been saying earlier what a great dad you were.”
“Are you guys ready to go? I’m starving.” Brad returned, freshly showered, and took his place beside Grace.
“Come on, Spencer,” she urged. “I won’t tease you any more. There’s nothing you can do here.”
Josh moved to Spencer and held out his hand, “I’m sorry, man. I think we both had a pretty tough day. I won’t mouth off any more.”
Spencer stood up and shook his hand, but his mouth was set in a grim line.
