Page 5 of Maple Sugar Mix-Up
He chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah… A daughter, right?” he added, changing the subject. “How is she?”
“She’s great,” I replied, unable to contain a smile. “Thanks to you.”
“Just doing my job. I’m glad to hear it; I usually don’t get to follow up with patients this long after. It’s nice to find out they’re doing well.”
“I bet.”
The doctor gestured to the table. “Are you bidding?”
“Yeah.” I pointed to the maple candy. “It looks exactly like what my Nana used to make.”
“Oh… does it?” he asked, sounding almost pained.
“I’m sorry, were you going to bid on it?” I glanced at the card again, confirming it was made by an alpha. I was positive the doctor was an alpha too…
“Um… no,” he said after a long pause. “No, no I’m happily married, not looking for a date. Just… didn’t expect anyone to want this one.”
“I hope nobody else does,” I laughed. “It brings back memories just looking at it. If it tastes half as good as what Nana Vicki made, I want my daughter to try it.”
He honest-to-god winced. “Good luck to you then. Great to see you.”
“You too, thank you for, well, everything.”
“Don’t mention it.”
He tucked his hands into his pockets and walked away, but I caught him looking back over his shoulder with a slight frown.
How odd.
~~~***~~~
I ended up bidding significantly more for the maple candy than I planned to, but I couldn't think of a better cause to blow a bunch of money on than the hospital that had saved me and my daughter, not to mention countless other people. So, I happily bid until I was the last one standing.
The only problem now was that the alpha would be expecting his date to call. I supposed a single date wouldn’t hurt.
Even so, I was dreading making the call the entire way home. I arrived just in time to help the nanny get Vicki out of the tub and put her to bed.
When I was done, I steeled myself to contact the alpha and confirm the date. At first he sounded a little irritable, furthering my desire to not have anything to do with an alpha, but in the end the date was set. Maybe it was just me projecting, but he didn’t sound very enthused about it, in my opinion. I kind of hoped that was the case, maybe it would be a quick sip of coffee and I could cut and run. With a sigh, I hung up and decided to go enjoy some maple candy.
“Thanks for taking care of her, Beth,” I said when I got back downstairs.
“Just doing my job,” she chucked. I laughed with her; that had been her answer since I hired her after Vicki was born. Seven years later Beth was like part of the family.
“How was the auction?” she asked.
“It was good; I won that,” I said, pointing to the maple candy.
Yeah, Beth was like part of the family alright… and just as nosey as my mother.
“Is this an alpha’s phone number?” she asked, checking out the card. “And a… date?!”
I sighed. “That was all part of the package.”
“So you’re willingly going on the date?”
“I wanted the candy,” I admitted. “It looks just like Nana’s.”
“Ah yes, the infamous maple ivy. How funny, it’s even the same shape. Well, it sounds like a fun date. Maybe it’ll go well.”
