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The smile she gave him was tentative as she said, “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You as well.”
“Gareth will be glad to have someone manning the front desk, since I’ve been struggling with being both nurse and receptionist.”
“You’ve done a good job,” he told Janessa. “The clinic is still standing, and we haven’t lost any patients.”
“I’ll still be splitting my time as I train Aria, but I think she’ll be a quick learner.”
“I hope I am,” Aria said, her arms moving to hug herself. “Just let me know if I do anything wrong.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” Janessa said with a smile. “Jay and Gareth are quick to point out anything we do wrong. I think they see it as their role as older brothers.”
“Don’t scare her off,” Gareth said. “We need someone on that front desk.”
“Don’tyouscare her off,” Janessa shot back. “Put the grumpy doctor away for a couple of days. At least until next week.”
“I’m not grumpy.” Janessa’s brows lifted. “Okay. Icanbe grumpy, but only when it’s deserved. I’ll try my best to keep that under control, but I make no promises.”
“Well, we’re heading off to start going over Aria’s responsibilities,” Janessa said.
Gareth took a sip from his mug as he watched them go. What had Janessa been thinking, hiring someone who looked like Aria? Not that he thought they should hire based on looks, but she knew as well as he did that they had someone else working in the clinic who would see Aria one way, and one way only.
Still, he hoped that Aria worked out. That she would be strong enough to stand up for herself. At the very least, he hoped she’d be better than the receptionist who had spiked his coffee.
Regardless, he had a feeling that she was in for an interesting day. The patients would view her as fresh meat, so to speak, and anyone who had a single male relative was going to be circling Aria.
As the morning progressed, Gareth’s assumption proved to be correct. Every patient commented on the new receptionist, many asking about her relationship status. Gareth suspected she was single, but he really had no idea, so he hadn’t been able to satisfy their curiosity. The queries seemed almost constant, to the point where he felt sorry for Aria if she was dealing with similar queries at the front desk.
“So, is that your new girlfriend at the desk?”
Gareth turned to face the elderly woman, who sat on the chair beside his desk. “Say what?”
“The lovely young woman at the front desk,” Mrs. Givens said, a curious gleam in her eyes. “Is she your girlfriend?”
“Nope. I just met her for the first time this morning,” he told her. “She and Janessa went to nursing school together.”
“Maybe you should ask her out,” she said with a smirk. “You need a girlfriend.”
Well, it looked like he wasn’t going to be able to escape the matchmaking after all. “Why aren’t you trying to fix her up with your grandson?”
“Hmph,” the woman said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “That grandson of mine doesn’t deserve a shot at a nice girl.”
“Uh oh. What did he do?”
“He told me he couldn’t make it to my family dinner because he had to study for an exam. Andthen, I see pictures plastered all over social media of him out with his friends.”
Gareth tried not to grin. “So, are you more offended that he bailed on your dinner or that he thought you were too old to use social media?”
“That I was too old to use social media, of course,” she retorted. “He must also be having trouble with his short-term memory because he messaged me on one of my social media accounts to tell me he couldn’t come.”
Gareth didn’t bother to hold back his laugh at that. “Well, I hope you’ve told him that he doesn’t get any of your snickerdoodles for at least a year after that stunt.”
“A year?” She tilted her head to the side. “You think that’s long enough?”
“Eh, go for two.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” she said. “And I’ll just bring them to you instead.”
