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Gareth rubbed his hands together. “Well, his loss is definitely my gain. Probably in more ways than one.”
“Maybe if you had a little more meat on your bones, the women would snuggle up to you more.”
“Uh…”
“My George was like a big teddy bear. Soft and furry, and when I snuggled with him, I never got cold.”
It didn’t surprise Gareth that the woman had once again rendered him speechless. She had a way of doing that on a fairly regular basis. He’d known her and her husband for as long as he could remember, though her husband had passed away a few years earlier.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Gareth said, then decided it was time to get the visit back on track before she ended up really embarrassing him. “So what’s brought you in this morning? I’m sure it wasn’t just to get a look at the new receptionist.”
And with that, she launched into her latest ailment, and Gareth breathed a sigh of relief.
When lunchtime rolled around, he headed for the staff room to see if Janessa had ordered lunch for their first day with the new receptionist. As he neared the door to the room, he heard Aria say, “You know, you could have warned me.”
“Warned you?” Janessa asked, her tone far too innocent to be believed. “About what?”
“That every patient would have at least one relative they wanted to hook me up with. I’m beginning to think you all are running a matchmaking service on the side,” she said with a laugh that made Gareth smile. “Bring in an unsuspecting employee, then let everyone in town try their hand at matching her with their eligible males.”
“Maybe we should do that,” Janessa said. “Hey, Jay, that might bring in some more cash. Make the patients pay to put their prospects in front of the fresh meat… I mean, new employees.”
“I think Mom and Dad might have something to say about that,” Jay replied dryly. “Not to mention Dr. Grumpy.”
Gareth rolled his eyes at Jay’s nickname for him. He was only grumpy when he had to deal with Jay’s constant complaints about the budget for the clinic.
“You have nicknames for each other?” Aria asked. “That’s cool! What’s yours, Jay?”
“His is Mr. Scrooge,” Gareth said as he sat down at the table. “Because he penny-pinches like his next breath depends on it.”
“Someone has to keep track of the many pennies you like to spend.”
Janessa held up her hands, one palm facing each of them. “Enough. This is Aria’s first day here. Let’s try to maintain at least a measure of decorum for the first week or so.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible,” Jay said.
“Gotta agree with Jay.” Gareth unwrapped the sub sandwich Janessa handed him. “A week might kill us.”
Before they could argue further, the back door opened, and a moment later, his parents appeared in the doorway of the room.
“Did I miss a meeting reminder?” Jay asked, pulling out his phone.
“Not at all, son,” their dad said as he rested his hand on Jay’s shoulder for a moment. “We thought we’d stop by and see how Aria was doing on her first day.”
“She’s doing great,” Janessa said. “Like I said, she’s a quick learner.”
Their parents joined them at the table, his mom sitting next to Aria. “Are you enjoying working here so far?”
“It’s been great,” Aria said. “Although the interest in my relationship status is higher than it’s ever been before.”
His mom laughed. “Oh yes. Didn’t Janessa warn you? Trying to marry off my kids has become a favored pastime of the regulars who come to the clinic.”
“Did you take anyone up on their offer to introduce you to their eligible bachelor?”
“Thankfully, no,” Aria said. “I don’t really need the complication. I have enough changes going on in my life at the moment. Definitely don’t need to toss a relationship into the mix.”
His mom reached over and patted her hand. “I think that’s probably an excellent plan.”
As his parents talked more to the clinic’s newest employee, Gareth ate his sub. They’d been officially out of the clinic for two years, but Gareth wasn’t sure that they would ever completely step away from it.
