Make Time For Me

Chapter 2

They stopped in front of a cottage that looked like somebody had taken a witch’s cottage and decided to mix the gingerbread and wicked aesthetics. It shouldn’t have worked, really, but Olivia needed about two milliseconds to decide that she loved it.

There was a garden, with just a few flowers beginning to appear, and there was a cobbled path to the door, leading from the garage.

It was gorgeous. It was quirky and sweet, and she loved it. In a few weeks, more flowers would bloom – she could see that there would be azaleas and marigolds and petunias and sweet peas, and probably so much more – and it would be beautiful riot.

“Want me to park for you?”

“What? Oh, no! I was just… It’s so pretty!”

“Well, she’s got character. The doors are not automatic, so you’ll have to do this every time. I recommend leaving your Jeep outside when the weather is good, the door gets stuck a bit.”

“Oh, I can probably fix that,” commented Olivia, and she walked to the garage door before he could get there, gravel crunching under her feet, and she gave it a mighty tug. Sure, it caught a bit, but she was stronger than she looked.

“You know, you’re stronger than you look,” commented Jason, pointing out the obvious. “And you move like a dancer.”

“Is that a line? Well, never mind. I move like a dancer because I was a dancer. I quit because I wanted to be a doctor. And, well, because I wanted to stop having to live with disordered eating that was just a beat away from becoming an actual eating disorder.”

“A dancer? Contemporary dancer?”

“Nope, ballet. There, this door isn’t so bad, I can fix that. It’s just that one hinge that’s coming loose, that’s knocking the whole thing off kilter and making it get stuck. I can fix that. Not a problem.”

“A ballerina? You’re a ballerina?”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

Olivia tried to keep the annoyance out of her voice, but she couldn’t quite manage it.

“I’m not… Well, you have to admit it’s not exactly common. A doctor ballerina? It’s practically a Barbie story.”

“Have you ever considered going to tact school? You don’t seem to have any of that.”

Olivia got back in her Jeep, and now that she didn’t have such a height disadvantage, she turned her best glare on him.

The fact that he looked admittedly sheepish made her feel a little better.

“Sorry, I usually have tact by the bucket, but you seem to knock me off kilter. Are you sure you won’t have dinner with me? I know this place that has the best chowder. Do you like chowder?”

Boy, did she like chowder! Yes, she definitely liked chowder.

“Thank you, Jason, but I’d like to have tonight to myself, to get used to my new home. I’m sure you will have no trouble finding company.”

“Oh, probably not. Paul will probably cook enough for an army and be disappointed when an army doesn’t show up.”

“Paul, he’s the triage emergency resident, right? Barely saw him.”

“You’ll like him, he loves cooking and I’m a terrible cook, so that’s handy. I’m a nice walk away from him, so I can drop by any time.”

“Were you going to ask him to make chowder?”

Jason grinned.

“Maybe.”

“You’re incorrigible, aren’t you? Could you go into the house and open the connecting door? It should be easier to get my stuff in that way.”

Jason walked away, and Olivia drove in, parked her Jeep, and waited.

She needed that moment to herself. Jason was something of an experience. He had such a big presence, and he just swept in and made himself welcome and comfortable and at home right in your space. Olivia usually found people like that exhausting, but strangely enough, she didn’t mind the thought of having dinner with him.

Not that evening, of course, and probably not ever, but if they all had dinner together, she wouldn’t mind spending time with him.

“This is stuck, too.”

Olivia shook her head. He might be charming, but he was entirely helpless and useless.

“Kick it,” she ordered.

There was a loud thump, another loud thump, a cry, and what sounded like a whimper.

“Are you all right?”

“I need a doctor.”

“What!”

“It’s a joke, I’m joking. I hurt my big toe kicking the door.”

“Of course you did. Did you unlock it?”

“Yes, it’s unlocked.”

Olivia looked around, found a rod that would work as a crowbar, gave the door a kick for good measure but not using her toe like sensible people, and tugged at it.

“It’s just stuck. Stand back, all right?”

She felt where it was stuck, pushed the thin rod in the crack there, and applied pressure as she tugged and turned the knob. It was gratifying to feel it open. It was more gratifying to see the unabashed admiration on Jason’s face.

“Wow. Wow, marry me.”

“What?”

“You’re Wonder Woman. You must marry me. Allow me to marry you.”

Olivia chuckled.

“I’m handy, that’s all. Well, come on, I’ve got stuff to carry.”

“This I can help with,” declared Jason cheerfully, and Olivia was glad to notice that he was strong, at least. Not handy, a bit clueless, but he was definitely strong. He hefted her heavy suitcase as if it was nothing, and didn’t turn a hair when he had to lug it up the stairs and to the bedroom.

Olivia made herself get all the luggage inside before she looked around and took the inside of the cottage in, because she knew she would have stopped halfway if she had taken a break. The cottage lived up to the promise made outside. It had stone floors on the ground floor and hardwood floors upstairs, for the bedrooms. There were two bedrooms and a living area upstairs, and the living area already had a few board games, a lot of books neatly stacked in bookshelves, and a study section where there was a long table and chairs. There were already books spread out there. The bookcase in that section was filled with medical textbooks.

It was just the kind of place where you’d want to work on your thesis. It was gorgeous, with a big, open window and neat blinds. Drawn, Olivia walked to the window and looked out.

“The beach! I can see the beach from here!”

“It’s hard to get down there. It’s pretty much a steep cliff, I suppose you could if you were really determined, but it would probably be pretty dangerous.”

“There must be a path down there.”

“There is, but it’s about twenty minutes away and getting to that little patch of sand you’re looking at is difficult. You have to time it right, too. It’s low tide now, that’s as much as you get to see.”

“Well, the walks along the cliff there must be lovely.”

“Yes, they are. So you like long walks along the ocean.”

Olivia smiled, letting her guard down without knowing it.

“Who doesn’t? But it’s hard to get the time to do it. Definitely hard when you’re doing your residency. I guess I’ll try to find time, but if I can’t, at least I have a window from where I can see it.”

“Is that how you feel about life? Watching is enough if you can’t be a part of it?”

Olivia turned to Jason.