Jill Shalvis - Then Came You

Darcy’s eyes narrowed and she lost her smile. “Dell’s with a patient right now. How about you just sit down and take a load off, and I’ll do my best to work you into the schedule—”

“I’m not going to ‘sit down and take a load off’!” Colonel boomed. “There are dogs in the waiting room.” The tough, badass kissed the top of Betty’s bony head. “Betty doesn’t like dogs.”

“Well I don’t like people who yell at me,” Darcy said. “But we’re all stuck with each other, so sit down, zip it, and I’ll be right with you.”

Colonel glared at her, and Wyatt moved in to save his annoying sister’s ass, but Colonel spoke, his tone softer now.

“You got gumption, girl,” he said. “I like that.”

“Great,” Darcy said. “What’s gumption?”

Unbelievably, Colonel grinned. “You’re ex-military, right? Where did you get injured?”

“I’m not military, ex or otherwise,” Darcy said. “I’m not good with following orders. I got hurt by my own stupidity.”

This shocked Wyatt, since as far as he knew, she’d never once spoken about her accident.

Colonel took a seat and Darcy met Wyatt’s gaze as he came in close. “Betty here is a walk-in,” she said. “I’m putting her on your schedule. And before you blow a gasket, Dell asked me to come and answer phones.”

“Did he happen to mention that these people are his livelihood, and mine as well, and that you should be nice, even when they piss you off—which, trust me, they will?”

“I’m perfectly nice,” she said.

When Wyatt just stared at her, she shrugged. “If they’re nice to me.”

“It’s hard to be nice to someone who has a perpetual frown on her face,” Wyatt corrected. “Maybe you could try smiling.”

She flashed him a smile, only called such because she bared her teeth. “How’s this?” she asked.

“I said smile, not scare people away.”

“You know,” she said, “I don’t like your attitude. I’m going to double book you if you’re not careful. Maybe with Cassandra. And I have the power, too, you’re at my mercy, big bro.”

Wyatt considered strangling her but there were witnesses. That’s when Emily came out from the back. The mud on her pants had dried but she looked like she’d been wrangling wild horses. “Who’s in what exam room and where do you want me?” she asked Darcy.

“See?” Darcy said to Wyatt. “A little bit of professionalism and kindness goes a long way. Oughta try it sometime.” She looked at Emily again. “Dell’s in exam one. We’re full up, so if you want to hop into exam two, it’d be greatly appreciated.”

Emily smiled at her. “Will do.”

Darcy smiled back, and Wyatt wondered if the muscles around her mouth hurt from the fact that she hadn’t used those muscles in a damn long time.

Emily turned to get to work but froze when the front door opened and a twentysomething woman walked in. The first thing Wyatt noticed was that she didn’t have an animal with her.

The second thing was that she waved at Emily, who was standing there looking surprised. “Sara,” Emily said. “Everything okay?”

The sisters didn’t look very much alike, but that might’ve been because Sara had platinum blond hair, cut in short spikes, and more piercings and tats than clothes.

“Yes, everything’s okay,” Sara told Emily. “I just thought I’d stop by on my way home from work and meet your people.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed slightly as she gave her sister one of those sibling looks that Wyatt recognized all too well. Sara was up to something and Emily appeared to know it. She came back to the center of the room to make the introductions. “This is Darcy,” Emily told Sara. “Our lovely temp receptionist.”

Darcy and Sara bumped fists.

“And this is Dr. Stone,” Emily went on, gesturing to him next.

“Wyatt,” he said, offering his hand.

Sara was slow to take it. “So you’re him,” she said.

“Sara.” This from Emily, and there was no mistaking the knock it off in her voice.

“What?” Sara said. “He is, right? Dr. Stone, aka Dr. Sexy?”

Emily’s face turned a lovely shade of pink.

Darcy grinned.

Wyatt had no idea what the hell was going on, but no one knew better than him exactly how a family dynamic could work against you, not to mention how insane a sister could be. Or two.

“Dr. Sexy,” Darcy repeated. “That’s a new one. Personally, I think of him as Dr. Pain In My Ass, but hey, whatever works.” She took a second look at Emily. “So you and my brother have been taking office politics to a whole new level, I’m guessing.”

Emily made a strangled sound and shot Sara a look that Wyatt recognized well. It was an I-plan-to kill-you-later-and-slowly gaze that he could really appreciate right about now.

“I’m busy,” she told Sara, possibly through her teeth. “Go home.”

“Sure.” Sara smiled and held out a brown bag. “But first I brought some brownies. I’ve got extra for everyone.”

“Nice touch,” Darcy said. “I should try that sometime.”

Wyatt snorted. “You’ve never brought me food. And if you did, I’d probably need a taste tester.”

Darcy rolled her eyes and looked at Sara. “Out of curiosity, what did Wyatt do to piss you off?”

“Nothing,” Emily said, answering for her sister.

“He took a piece of her,” Sara told Darcy.

“Sara,” Emily said.

“I’m sorry,” Sara said to Wyatt. “I realize it’s unprofessional of me to come here during your workday, but Emily’s never going to tell you this shit. She’s not going to let you see that your . . . relationship with her is only further messing her up.”

“Further?” Wyatt asked.

“Oh my God,” Emily said. “Sara, go home.”

“She’s a giver,” Sara said, ignoring Emily, speaking directly to Wyatt. “You know that by now. She’ll do anything for anybody, and that includes animals, too.”

“Out,” Emily said to Sara, pointing to the door.

“My point,” Sara said quickly to Wyatt, clearly knowing her time was limited. “Is that she’s a giver, and sooner or later everyone takes advantage of her good nature.”

“I’m right here!” Emily said.

“We’ve all taken a piece of her,” Sara went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “And that’s on us. Me, my dad, even Mom, rest her soul. And her friends, too. Although she doesn’t have many right now because she was in school so long and worked a bunch of hours, but mostly it’s because she got hurt there, too. Her first boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend. Knocked out her entire posse in one, right there.”

Emily reached for Sara and began to push her to the door.

Sara dug her heels in. “And then there was John Number Two,” she told Wyatt over Emily’s shoulder. “He took a piece from her without even knowing it. So you can’t take your piece. You can’t,” she said, struggling with Emily, “because I don’t know how many pieces she has left to give, and she’s everything to me.” Her voice cracked, her eyes shimmered. “So you need to stop playing with her, or you’ll answer to me. You hear me?”

Emily had her halfway to the door by now, but Sara still hadn’t taken her eyes off Wyatt. She was dead serious, and maybe not crazy, after all. At least not one hundred percent.

“I hear you,” Wyatt said to her over Emily’s head.

Relief burned fierce and bright in Sara’s gaze, and she finally allowed Emily to boot her out the door.

“I’ll deal with you later,” Emily said, and shut the door on her sister’s nose. She turned back to the room, which had gone silent.

“Holy cow,” Darcy said. “That was better than The Real Housewives of any city.”

“Sorry about that,” Emily said. “She escaped the mental institution just this morning. She’s got Tourette’s and—”

“Why are you sorry?” Colonel asked. “My brother would’ve come in with his shotgun to make his point. You got a brother, Dr. Stevens?”

“No,” Emily said.

“Want me to act as your brother?”

“No!” Emily said.

Darcy laughed and pointed at Colonel. “You know what? You’re okay.”

“I know,” Colonel said.

“Work,” Emily said, voice high, eyes a little wild, looking desperate to move on from this. “We must get to work!” And with that, she moved past them all, heading toward the back area of the center.

Darcy took one look at Emily’s butt and choked out a laugh.

“What?” Emily demanded, whirling back.

“Nothing,” Wyatt said, slicing a look at his sister that had her zipping her lip. “You just have some mud—”

“Oh my God.” Emily craned her neck to look at herself and groaned. “I forgot about how you pushed me down.”

Colonel stood up. “He pushed you? Hang on, I’ve got my gun in my truck.”

“No!” Emily said. “It was my own fault, he was protecting me.”

“You sure?” the man asked.

“Very!”

“All right, then.”

“My God,” Emily said, putting a hand to her chest, looking at the lot of them like she’d found herself in the middle of a reality show. “We’re still in the U.S., right?”

“Yep,” Darcy said, popping her gum, looking like a kid on Christmas morning. “I know, it seems like maybe Mars or something, right?”

“Or something,” Emily said, and with one last unreadable look in Wyatt’s direction, she vanished into the back.

Emily managed to avoid getting stuck alone with Wyatt for their last hour of the day.

But Darcy was a whole different matter. She caught Emily in the bathroom and stood right outside Emily’s stall. “That’s messed up, what your best friend did to you,” she said through the stall door.