Page 83 of Tumbleweed Temptation
AUSTIN WAS DEFINITELYdistracted when he got into the office. He gave Ginny a little wave and a half-smile as he walked past her into his office.
“I’ll just be a few minutes,” he told her. “You can set Mrs. Anderson up in the exam room.”
He headed into the office and closed the door, and she could see by the light on the phone that he was making a call.
Who had he gone to see? And why the urgency? She wasn't aware he’d made house calls before.
She was going to have to get used to the privacy of their patients and accept that he’d be keeping his thoughts to himself.
Their patients. Weird that she was thinking that way so soon.
She set up Mrs. Anderson and made sure she was comfortable. She was on the phone when Austin walked out of his office and into the exam room. Of course he was probably stressed because he was about an hour behind on patients.
“Hey, I’m going to call in to the diner for lunch,” she told him when he walked Mrs. Anderson out later. “What do you want?”
He shook his head, not looking at her. “I’m so far behind I’m not going to take a lunch break today. I’ll just have a power bar or something.”
“That doesn't sound healthy. I can order you a sandwich, or heck, go up and make you a sandwich.”
He shook his head again, the lines around his mouth tight. “No, don't worry about it. I’ll be fine.”
What was going on? If she was paranoid, she’d think he was avoiding her because of the kiss. But she was pretty sure he was upset by whatever had driven him out of here this morning. And he wouldn’t—or couldn’t—tell her about it.
“I hate to do this to you, but I’m going to need you to cancel all my appointments next Tuesday and reschedule them. They’re not going to be happy, but I have to go to San Angelo.”
“You do?” She waited for him to elaborate, but he just looked at her, his gaze steady, no explanation forthcoming. Something in her shriveled a little. After their kiss, she may have played out a few fantasies in her head that certainly weren’t happening, especially since he seemed determined to put some distance between them. “Sure, of course.” She reached for the computer mouse. Looked like she wouldn’t have much time to eat lunch herself.
Maybe if she knew what it was that was pulling him away...but she wasn't going to push. He could tell her if he wanted to.
Before she turned away, he touched her hand. “I’m sorry to put all this on you. There’s just something I have to do.”
She nodded, this time not meeting his gaze. “I’m still ordering lunch, and will run out to get it,” she told him.”
“That’s fine. You get a lunch hour. I can handle the place by myself.”
Yeah right he could. But he could manage in the ten minutes she would take to go to the diner and back.
After lunch, after she’d made all her phone calls and listened to people complain that they’d already been waiting weeks for this appointment, why should they have to reschedule, she finally got a chance to call Maggie to see about coming in the morning on Tuesday for blood draws.
Miraculously, the last patient was out the door before six, even with the delay, and despite the fact Ginny had had lunch, she was starving. She couldn't imagine how Austin was feeling.
“You want to go get some dinner?”
He shook his head. “I have work to do. I’ll just get something from the fridge.”
She didn't know when he had time to shop for himself, so she doubted the freshness of anything in his fridge, but he clearly didn't want to talk to her today.
Maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe he wasn’t thinking about a patient. Maybe he’d been second-guessing their kiss.
Maybe she needed to put it all out of her mind anyway. They were just friends. They should just be friends. The kiss never happened. She had put too much into it. Too many romance novels.
The next morning, she had sufficiently closed her emotions down. She went into work, reminding herself she didn't come to work here to hang out with Austin. She came to work here thinking she was going to make more of a difference in people’s lives, that she was going to face more of a challenge for herself. That was why she was here.
Not because of Austin.
She greeted him coolly and got to work, and while he waited for a minute, over her shoulder, like he wanted to tell her something, she didn't acknowledge him, and finally he went into the exam room.
She’d forgotten to bring her lunch again. She hadn’t gotten in the habit of packing a lunch, since she hadn’t had to worry about it when she worked at the diner. Because Austin hadn’t come out of the exam room, she didn't offer to order him lunch, instead left the office, on time for once, and went to Delgado’s to eat on her own. He could eat one of his damn protein bars, if he wanted something.
