Always(Time for Love Book 4)(9)

“We did. But we got a call from the husband of our afternoon shift receptionist. She’s having pregnancy complications, so her doctor has ordered her to finish up with work even though she’s only six months along.”

“Oh, that’s not good.”

“I know. I spoke to her on the phone. She’s fine, but it’s better if she stays home and doesn’t tax herself to ensure she carries the baby to full term.”

“So you only had one receptionist today, and she was a temp?”

“Hello, Ash!” Tracy interrupted from the kitchen.

“Hi, Mum,” Ash said as he entered the room, only to freeze in surprise. His mother had three extra helpers. Connor he was expecting to see. But not Gemma. And Brenna.

It was funny how, when he’d been so committed to avoiding her, she kept on turning up when he least expected it. A couple of days after their get-together at Connor and Amanda’s place, Amanda had invited him for dinner. He should have guessed that Amanda had also asked the rest of the gang to come, but only Brenna was able to make it that night. Then, last weekend, he’d thought they were only having a boys’ night in at Jeff and Sarah’s house to watch the Formula One race. But the girls had hung around there, too. It was like fate was conspiring against him with his intentions to stay away from Brenna. At least he was relieved to notice that Lance was nowhere about.

“Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, darling,” Tracy said.

“Okay,” he responded. “Glad to see you girls here tonight,” he said to Brenna and Gemma.

“We haven’t seen your mum for so long, so we thought we’d invite ourselves and hear about her trip,” Brenna answered with a smile as she stirred a pot.

He went to kiss his mother before turning to the other women. Gemma, who was making a purée of something, offered her cheek as she continued to work the blender. When he got to Brenna, his breath hitched. She dropped the ladle she was holding to give him a big hug and a kiss. Sure, her lips only landed on his cheek, but as usual, it didn’t stop his stupid body from reacting.

“Glad to see you again, Ash,” Brenna murmured.

“You too,” he responded, unable to help himself from squeezing her tight. He shook his head at himself, annoyed that his self-control was deserting him again. Honestly.

Before he did anything more idiotic, he let go of her and hurried to Connor, who was a picture of concentration as he carefully chopped some carrots.

“Is this the first time you’ve done that, bro?” he queried.

Connor sighed. “Apparently I’ll get in trouble if I don’t cut them in equal length.”

“At the speed you’re going, we won’t be eating till midnight.”

“Think you can do better?” Connor asked with a challenging grin.

“Better? That would be an understatement—”

Amanda bumped Connor away from the chopping board with her hip. “I’ll take over. You two can sit over there and just watch us, or you guys will end up engaging in some silly game when we should be cooking.”

“Is Ash as hopeless in the kitchen as I am?” Connor asked hopefully, kissing Amanda’s forehead as he handed her the knife.

“Nope,” Ash answered. “I’m a decent cook.”

“Unfortunately for you, honey, Ash is a decent cook,” Amanda told Connor. “But both you guys have had a difficult day at work, so you can have the night off. We got this.”

“So what’s the problem at the clinic, Ash?” Tracy asked.

Ash sat on a stool and updated them about the situation at the laser eye surgery clinic he’d set up three years ago.

“We did get a second temp from the agency today,” he said. “But unfortunately, she’s even more inexperienced than the first one. With four doctors working out of the clinic, we need people who can hit the ground running, but temps like that are few and far between, especially at short notice. So Dora—my admin manager—has been tearing her hair out.”

“When’s your receptionist coming back—the one who’s overseas?” Brenna asked.

“In two and a half weeks, so that’s still a long time. We’re worried that patient records might not be getting updated, or that surgeries and consults aren’t being scheduled properly.”

“So are you saying that the temps you were given by the agency didn’t know how to use your system?” Brenna queried.

“Oh, they’ve used the system before. It’s their inexperience at handling a busy medical clinic that’s the problem. They couldn’t seem to multi-task, and were constantly asking questions every minute.”

“Hey, I can help,” Brenna said, sounding excited.

Ash stared in surprise at Brenna’s animated face. “What do you mean?”

“We have a lull at work before we get cranking again for major events before Christmas. My boss has been constantly reminding me that I have way too many annual leave days up my sleeve. She suggested I take some in the next few weeks. So why don’t I take a couple of weeks off work and help out at your reception? As long as Dora’s there to guide me, I can help steady the ship. You know I’ll do a good job.”

Ash shook his head. It wasn’t that he doubted Brenna could do it. She was an event manager for a company which organised major conferences and international events. She dealt with deadlines, difficult people and problematic logistics every working day. Doing reception work in his busy clinic would be a walk in the park for her in comparison. “Thanks, Bren, but no. You should take your leave days, but not to work.”