Page 42 of After You

6

“So you do actuallystick people with these needles?” Conrad asked Hannah, pulling his sleeve down and rubbing his elbow where Hannah had just done a basic massage with some of the oil she’d brought from Seattle.

“Yep.” She held up one of the acupuncture needles. “They’re small. You don’t feel them like you do the needles used for cortisone or flu shots,” she said with a smile, thinking back to the conversation at Dottie’s.

“Can I touch it?” Conrad asked.

She handed it over and watched as the man tested the tip of the needle against his thumb.

She’d shown Albert a stretch for his knee at the grocery store yesterday and Frank some range of motion exercises for his neck when he’d stopped her in the bakery. Both men had asked more about the acupuncture so she’d decided to bring some of the needles into the Come Again tonight, knowing at least a couple of the guys would show up. They’d hinted—okay, they’d flat-out told her—that this would be a great place to tell everyone more about what she did because Dr. Ames didn’t come in after hours.

Apparently this after hours’ thing, where Derek served coffee and soda to the crowd that hung out after his usual closing time, was catching on. It had started with Peyton Wells coming in to study while Derek, Mitch and Andi—lifelong friends and now partners in the best contracting company in the area—worked on expanding the bar for the Come Again’s upcoming brick oven pizza business. Now there were a handful of people who showed up with laptops and plugged in after hours, working away in the only public spot in Sapphire Falls open past midnight.

But meeting here made it easy to avoid Dr. Ames. Reportedly, Kyle went to bed around ten p.m. every night in case someone needed him in the middle of the night. And it didn’t surprise her a bit that everyone in town knew Kyle’s habits and routines. For one, his patterns would be easy to keep track of. For another, he probably flat-out told everyone who depended on him—which was everyone—where and when to findhim.

Though, as she talked to the men about their aches and pains, Hannah was becoming convinced these underground consultations with her were not because Kyle wouldn’t like the idea of her treating his patients with acupuncture and teaching them self-help techniques. The men just liked the challenge of trying to keep a secret from him. Much like the fried green tomatoes. There was no way these men actually thought Kyle wouldn’t find out about these clandestine meetings in Kyle’s best friend’sbar.

So she was going along with it. Because the men were clearly entertained and because she did believe she was helpingthem.

“Here, let me show you.” She took the needle back from Conrad and watched as Frank leaned in closer from the table next to them. “Kade, let me have yourarm.”

Kade kept typing, completely oblivious to her conversation with Conrad.

She nudged his foot under the table, and he blinked up at her. “Can I use your arm to show Conrad how the needles goin?”

Kade looked at the other man as if just realizing he was there. “Um.”

“I do acupuncture on Kade’s arms to help prevent carpal tunnel from all the typing,” she said, giving her friend a frown. He couldn’t act tentative or the other men would also hesitate. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I showed you on one of the points we often treat.”

Conrad narrowed his eyes at Kade. “Does ithelp?”

“It does,” Kade toldhim.

“Does ithurt?”

Kade gave Hannah a look. “My work flow, yes.” He’d told her he was at a sticky point in the book and really wanted to get through the chapter tonight.

Conrad frowned. “Just stick out your arm, boy.”

He did. With another heavy sigh. Hannah gave him a sweet smile that she knew did nothing to soothe his irritation. She palpated along his forearm to find the spot she knew helped him most and carefully inserted the needle.

Conrad pulled back slightly, his eyes wide. “Are you okay?” he askedKade.

“Mostly.”

“What’s not okay?” Frank asked, leaning in, clearly fascinated.

“I’m annoyed,” Kade said. “Acupuncture doesn’t help withthat.”

“That’s not true,” Conrad said. “I read something yesterday that said that acupuncture can help with mood and mental health.”

Hannah looked up at the older man with what she was sure was clear shock. “You read aboutit?”

“Sure did,” Conrad told her. “Google youknow.”

She nodded. “That’s…great.” She was surprised, but delighted that he’d been interested enough to look itup.

“Well, be careful about what you’re reading,” Kade said. “You want to be sure it’s from a trustworthy site. There’s a lot of crap out there. If you have questions you need to talk to Hannah. Don’t avoid it because of something you read. Just let her explain whatever you’re worried about.”

---