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“Yes.”
“Pizza?”
“I don’t care… anything is fine,” she admitted, realizing it was the truth.
“Good. Then it’s a date, I suppose,” he said quietly, his voice hesitant.
“Yes, it is,” Samantha smiled knowingly. “Now, I’m going to go talk to my father and calm him down, because I kinda like where your nose is firmly planted on your face, too.”
Toby smiled.
“What just happened?” Caspar grinned at Toby.
“Duh,” Nicolette said, rolling her eyes – and immediately apologized to her parents, who were frowning at her pointedly. “Sorry, Mom and Dad! Caspar, the latest and greatest doctor dork,” Nicolette taunted, not blinking an eye as she continued speaking, “Our oldest brother just had his dream girl ask him out on a date… and it was terribly sweet.”
“It was, wasn’t it, Nicolette?”
Toby drew his eyes away from where Samantha was standing in the distance talking with both of her parents, to look at his own mother, who was smiling in approval.
“The best things are worth waiting for, remember?” his father said, looking at his mother and then up at him.
“Y’all are the best parents ever,” Toby said openly, instantly joined by his siblings in agreement. “And I still cannot believe that just happened.”
“The door is open. It’s up to you to walk through it and make your fondest wishes a reality,” his father coached. “It won’t be easy, and you’ll have to fight for it every step of the way…”
“But it’s an incredible view from heaven, isn’t it?” his mother finished, smiling at his dad, who immediately laced his fingers with hers.
“Yeah, it is, darling…”
Seeing the affection between them, having grown up in an incredibly close, loving home, Toby knew exactly what he wanted from Samantha… and now it was up to him to make sure she felt the same way.
10
Samantha was a massive bundle of nerves as she tried to focus on her patients throughout the day. She’d texted Toby, asking him to pick her up here at the office instead of at her parents’ house, because she wanted to avoid the twenty questions that were sure to come from her father…
Surprisingly, her dad had been silent this morning at breakfast – and she did all the talking. It was more like nervous gibberish, but Samantha had held the stilted conversation between them.
“Dr. Sloan, are you okay?”
Samantha blinked in surprise and then blushed as she realized that the suction tube had been in the older woman’s mouth for way too long.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Perkins. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
“I’m hoping it’s my teeth…”
“Of course. I was just looking at this molar and realizing that filling matches the rest of the tooth beautifully,” Samantha ad-libbed quickly. “You really have lovely teeth and it’s obvious you take care of them.”
The woman had receding gumlines – and the only thing obvious was that she didn’t floss as much as she needed to.
“Do you drink a lot of coffee?” she asked innocently, already knowing the answer.
“A cup here or there…”
Several cups, Samantha thought silently, cleaning off the caffeine stains on the back of her front teeth.
“Just remember, if it yellows a porcelain cup? It will yellow that lovely smile, Mrs. Perkins,” she prompted and didn’t give the woman a chance to reply as she sprayed water into her mouth from the tiny instrument. “Swish, please.”
Using the suction tube again, she inspected the gums again and began finishing up, applying fluoride to her teeth.
