Protecting What's Mine(25)

“Your mom is right. How about I do a quick examination, and then we’ll see what we can do to make you feel better?” Mack suggested. Her talking-to-children skills were rusty. She thought of Linc in the backyard with his nieces and nephew.

“Do you guys like dogs?” she asked, channeling Linc.

Ava told Mack all about their two dogs—Lola and Max—while Mack did a quick physical exam. Swollen glands. Fevers.

“Have you been hungry lately?”

Ava shook her head swiftly. “Nope.” Sadie sat like a sphinx while Mack repeated the exam on her.

Mack slung her stethoscope over her shoulders while Ava told her how Daddy and Lola snuck a nap on the couch while Mama was weeding the garden.

“So there’s a highly contagious stomach bug making the rounds,” Mack began.

“Oh, hell,” Harper muttered.

“Yeah,” Mack said. “Keep these two quarantined and hydrated for the next forty-eight. Lots of electrolytes and broth. BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast are good, bland foods to start with. The worst should be over by tomorrow, but if there’s any more vomiting or diarrhea tomorrow—”

“Poop!” Ava shouted joyfully.

“Yes, poop,” Mack continued with a laugh. “Call me so we can make sure they don’t get dehydrated.”

Harper took enthusiastic notes in a notebook she produced from her massive mom tote. “Okay. So, now that you’ve diagnosed my kids. What are you doing Friday night?” she asked.

Mack opened her mouth and realized she didn’t know what to say.

“Aldo mentioned doing a cookout, and since he and Gloria are in the middle of a backyard patio project, I volunteered to host it. Shoot. Girls, do you know if I told Daddy we were going to have a cookout?”

Ava brought a finger to her chin, the picture of deep thought. Sadie made her first human move. “I don’t fink you told Daddy. You were tawking to Aunt Glorwia on the phone, and you said ‘Remind me to say somefing to Wooke.’ And then Wowa got sprayed by the skunk.”

Harper beamed at her daughter. “It takes her a little while to thaw, but when she does, watch out.”

Sadie launched into a description of how bad “Wowa” smelled and how many baths she had.

Mack wrestled with the knee-jerk urge to wrap up the appointment. Efficiency was key in a medical practice. And she wasn’t sure how comfortable she was with being invited to a patient’s house. Even if the patient’s husband was an ex-military acquaintance of hers.

“So we’ll see you Friday night at seven, right?” Harper said brightly as she helped her daughters off the exam table.

“Um. Okay,” Mack said, unable to come up with a good enough excuse to bail. Unless, of course, the kids were still sick. Then the Garrison house would be quarantined. Not that she hoped children would be ill to get her out of a social situation.

“I’ll make you brownies, Dr. Mack,” Ava announced, making Mack feel like an asshole.

“Ava here is a baking fiend,” Harper explained. “Most of her treats are edible,” she told Mack as she gathered her tote, keys, and daughters.

They walked together toward the lobby.

“Seven p.m. Friday. Our house. Aldo has the address. Bring a side dish or a dessert in case the brownies don’t pan out.”

“I like ice cream sandwiches,” Sadie announced.

“See you Friday,” Ava said, strutting out of the room and linking fingers with her sister. “Mama, can we have ice cream since we’re sick?”

“Kiddo, if ice cream sounds good to you right now, you can absolutely have ice cream. Oh! What beautiful flowers,” she exclaimed, spotting the arrangement on the desk.

“They’re for Dr. Mack from Chief Reed,” Tuesday announced cheerfully.

“Well, isn’t that interesting?” Harper beamed suspiciously.





13





Mack eased up to the curb in front of the big, three-story brick house. She cut the engine and grabbed the covered bowl of potato salad she’d made and the box of ice cream sandwiches she’d impulse-bought at Val’s Groceries. Climbing the porch steps, she admired the overflowing flower boxes and the comfortable furniture.

There was a doll facedown on a blanket and a couple of kids’ bikes propped against the porch.

The whole thing screamed “Home sweet home.”

A message the welcome mat reiterated word for word.

A small, friendly backyard BBQ. Who the hell was she?

Mack pressed the doorbell and waited while a chorus of barks and kids’ voices exploded on the other side of the door.

The door opened, and Mack grinned when she recognized Captain Lucas Garrison. There was a boy on his back, a smiling pit bull wriggling at his feet, and a chorus of chaos behind him.

“Dr. O’Neil,” he said with a grin that had never been that quick on deployment. “Welcome to chaos.”

“Thanks for having me,” she said.

“This is Henry, who’s way too big for piggyback rides,” Luke said as the kid choking the life out of him grinned. “And that’s Lola.”

“Ah, the skunked dog,” Mack said, reaching down to let Lola sniff her.

Lola sniffed delicately and then unleashed her Gene Simmons tongue.