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Aria did the same, then got to her feet to throw out her garbage. She said goodbye, then followed Janessa out of the room.
“She seems very… sweet,” Nora said as she watched the pair disappear down the hallway toward the front.
“She is,” his mom said. “She and Janessa are great friends, so I’m glad it worked out for her to come here.”
“Where did they meet?”
“At nursing school,” Jay volunteered.
Nora frowned. “And she wants to work as a receptionist instead of a nurse? Could she not hack it as a nurse?”
“I’m glad that she’s willing to do the receptionist work even though she’s a nurse,” Gareth said. “It means that should Janessa need a day off and Betsy’s not available, we still have a nurse. Plus, she might be willing to step into the Saturday rotation.”
“That’s very true, sweetheart,” his mom said.
“Are you around for a while now?” Nora asked his mom.
“Nope. We’re home for a couple more weeks, then we’re headed back to Haiti to help the clinic there.”
Nora had never understood his parents’ devotion to the medical mission trips they went on. What most people didn’t know, because his parents hadn’t flaunted it, was that a significant inheritance from his mom’s side of the family funded their overseas trips to help people in third world countries and other places that had been struck by disasters.
But their charitable work didn’t just extend abroad. For as long as Gareth could remember—even before the inheritance—his parents had made Saturday morning appointments available free of charge to those patients who didn’t have insurance.
With a glance at her watch, Nora said, “Well, I guess I’d better get ready for my appointments.”
Once she’d left, his mom said, “Everything else okay around here?”
“Yep,” Jay said.
Before he started to get into admin details, Gareth got to his feet. “I’ve got more appointments this afternoon as well, so I’ll catch you later.”
His mom grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Love you, sweetheart. Have a good rest of your day.”
“Thanks, Mom,” he said as he bent to kiss her cheek. “You too. See ya, Dad.”
As Gareth walked down the hall, Janessa gestured to one of the rooms, indicating that his first afternoon appointment was waiting. He braced himself for the next wave of comments about their new receptionist.
He wondered if Nora was going to get all the comments, too. And if so, how she’d react.
“Good afternoon,” Gareth said as he walked into the exam room Janessa had indicated. “How’re you doing?”
And with the start of that appointment, his afternoon was underway, and he happily pushed aside thoughts of Nora to focus on his patients.
CHAPTER FOUR
Aria had thought it rather odd that Janessa had warned her not to make any comments about Gareth’s broad shoulders. But then she’d met him. The man did have some nice shoulders. He had just enough muscle to show that he took care of himself without making it seem that he spent hours and hours in the gym.
Jaylen had a similar build, though he was an inch or so taller than Gareth. Aria wasn’t sure why Janessa had only warned her off mentioning Gareth’s shoulders and not Jay’s. It didn’t really matter, however, because she had no intention of mentioning something like that aboutanyguy.
Shoving aside all thoughts of Janessa’s attractive brothers, Aria focused on the job at hand. The work wasn’t terribly complicated, but she’d experienced a few moments of panic when someone called in requesting an appointment and her mind had completely blanked on how to use the appointment program. She’d just jotted the information down on her notepad and waited for Janessa to return from the patient she’d been dealing with to bail her out.
“You’re new around here.”
Aria had originally been keeping a tally on how many times someone said that to her, but she’d eventually tossed that effort out the window because she’d lost count.
“Iam.” Aria smiled at the middle-aged woman who stood on the opposite side of the check-in counter. “My name is Aria.”
“Are you single, Aria?”
