“So now, what’s your plan?” I already knew what Mike was referring to. “Because the way I see it, that woman is doing anything and everything she can to stay as far away from you as possible.”
“I think we both know that will only last so long.” One day she’d let her guard down. “I’ll let her stew, let her think what she wants.” I sought out the sweet little kitten, finding her standing with Maddison. “But in the end, she will hear what I have to say.”
“Hope you’re ready for a battle.” Shaking his head, he loosened his tie. “Where you see one, you’ll find them all. The women in this family stand tall when it comes to protecting each other.”
“Then I need to show them that the last person Chloe needs protection from is me.”
Chapter Five
Chloe
“Don’t be scared.” I slid in closer to the small boy in the chair and felt my stomach drop when he shied away, sliding as close to the opposite edge of the chair as possible. “Look.” I held up the suction tool and scaling tool. “Feel this.” I placed the suction to his finger and applied just a small amount of pressure on the button. He jerked back, but instead of fear in his eyes, he giggled. “This is what I use to suck out the spit that accumulates in your mouth.” I wrinkled my nose, and he smiled wide.
On a normal day, I would never tell a patient that I planned to suck the spit out of their mouth, but this was a little boy. Little dudes loved that stuff, the nastier the better. “Then this…” I held out the scaler, and again he shrank back. “I roll it along your tooth and scrape off all the little critters that are hiding behind your gums and in the creases between your teeth.”
His eyes widened, and it’s my turn to laugh.
“You don’t want creepy crawlies hidden in between your teeth, do you?”
When he shook his head, I looked up at his mom, who was standing back, letting me lead this visit. She too offered me an encouraging smile, and I proceeded. “I promise you, Lucas, that I won’t hurt you. But we need to clean those critters from your teeth so they don’t eat away at the enamel. So if you work with me, I think I could let you help hold the suction. How’s that sound?”
I held out the suction and knew that most likely by the end of this visit I would regret giving him free rein of the tool. I also knew that desperate times called for desperate measures.
With great caution, he took it from me and slowly opened his mouth as he moved his body to the center of the chair.
Almost an hour later and with my shirt soaked from Lucas figuring out how to spray the water, I exited the room, leaving behind a child with clean teeth.
This week had been discouraging. I knew I was in a funk from missing Stephanie more than usual. In her place at the office, they hired a girl that I could honestly say I despised. Holly Martin, cheerleader, Prom Queen, and an all-around drama driver…she fed on it. She was flashy, conceited, and conniving. If there was gossip, you could find Holly at the root of it. Oh, and did I mention she was, correction, is a sleaze? The kind of girl that looked for unavailable men so she could have the satisfaction of knowing she was able to make them stray. I was pretty sure when the would-be home-wrecker was created, Holly was the exact replica of what they had in mind. Fine, she was pretty, but she used those looks whenever she could, not to mention she flirted with the patients and the doctor. It was ridiculous, and now she was in my space. I’d worked for this dentist’s office since right out of school, and I used to love it…not so much anymore.
“There is a cleaning in room four,” Mary the assistant said as she rounded the corner, almost colliding with me. “He’s handsome, too.” She wagged her brows, and it surprised me. Mary was so conservative and generally on the quiet side. She walked away fanning her face like she was overheated, which made me smile, wondering if maybe I was the one that made the office stuffy. When Stephanie was here, it was so easy to isolate ourselves and only talk to one another. After she left, I went on the same way, only with a one-man team. I guessed I should give the ladies here a shot.
Pulling my wet shirt away from my body, I headed toward room four, ready for my next cleaning. I only hoped this one went smoother than the last.
As I passed over the threshold, I stumbled a bit when I saw the one and only Landon Layne sitting in the chair before me. If that wasn’t bad enough, there at his side was Holly, cooing and awing over him like a starstruck teenager. The way she was bent forward I was sure would allow her smock to gap open and give him full view of her oversized breasts made me nauseous.
“Oh hey, Chloe.” I was snapped out of my disgust when she addressed me. “Sorry to barge in on your patient, but the minute I knew it was Landon in the chair, I just had to say hello.”
I forced a smile and refrained from looking at Landon. I could almost imagine the disappointment in his eyes when he realized that it was me who would be doing his cleaning and not Miss Big Hooters Holly.
“Landon and I dated not that long ago.” The sour feeling I felt earlier only intensified. “I
