I laugh. “Did Mark or Charlie tell you that?”
“Neither. It was Cullen.”
This makes me laugh harder. “Is that the only reason? Because you wanted to prove yourself to a six-year-old?”
Garrett reaches for my hand, which I give him, and he pulls me into his body, wrapping his arms around my waist. “I did this because I wanted to. Because I think about you every second of the day. And because, Paige, you deserve to know every day how special you are.”
I lean up and kiss him one more time, because how can I not after he says things like that?
I break the kiss a little too early for his liking. “Are you free for the rest of the day?”
He nods. “I don’t have any patients. What do you have in mind?”
I pull on his hand, leading him out the door. “I think you need to be rewarded for being a good boyfriend.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Paige
It’s official. I am completely, one hundred percent, head over heels in love with Garrett Dixon.
Have I told him this? Absolutely not. We’ve only been officially dating for a month. I might not have ever had a real boyfriend, but I do know that one month is way too soon to tell someone that you love them.
Maybe I’m ahead of the game because we spent so long getting to know each other. In those months, I feel like I learned who Garrett was in every way. Well, not every way.
Those other ways I’ve found out more recently. And those ways are really, really great.
Like insanely so, can’t get enough of them, eyes roll back in my head, great.
It’s not just his bedroom skills that have me wanting to scream from the rooftops that I love him. No. It’s because today is the day that everyone can now see the man I knew Garrett could be all along. Not the cocky doctor or the man who dines with the rich and powerful.
Today, Garrett is showing his heart and his humanity to his family, his coworkers. And I couldn’t be more proud.
A few months ago, he was treating a football player at the clinic who broke his leg during spring conditioning. He told Garrett about how many in his school struggle financially, or didn’t have health insurance, and that for a lot of his friends, scholarships, especially sports, were their only chances of going to college. Unfortunately, most couldn’t afford the basic physicals that the state required to be able to play high school sports.
Garrett decided to change that. He talked to the schools in the county and learned that if the kids received physicals in the spring, that they would be valid for the entire next academic year, including the fall, winter, and spring sports seasons. So today, he opened his clinic to every school-age child in the county for free physicals.
And I couldn’t be prouder of him.
When he told me the idea, I screamed so loud I think I woke my neighbors. I couldn’t wait to get started to help him organize it. I called Rebecca, his office manager, the next day to start coordinating. I worked with the high school student council in my district who agreed to volunteer. And of course, Mark, Charlie, Boomer, and Kelly are here as well.
“I can’t believe how many kids are here,” Charlie says, her check-in line finally dying down. “Who knew there were that many kids around here who needed this?”
I nod, checking the last person in for my line. “Really puts it into perspective, doesn’t it?”
“I saw him earlier. He looked so in his element. I still can’t believe he did this.”
I can. Maybe it was because I never really knew the person everyone said he was, but the Garrett I know wouldn’t hesitate twice to be able to use his resources to help people in need.
“I can’t believe that Trevor agreed to help,” Kelly chimes in. “Seriously, though. What did you have to pay him to do this?”
“Surprisingly nothing. He heard Rebecca and I talking about it and asked if we needed another doctor to keep the line moving. I told him to run it past Garrett.”
I’m of the belief that this is Trevor’s way of apologizing. I also have it on good authority, aka Rebecca, that he and Annika are already over. Apparently, after the run-in we had at the Robinsons, Trevor’s sex goggles became clearer. Rebecca told me that the last time she saw her, Annika had come barreling in the office wondering why he didn’t leave her money to go shopping.
Good riddance, if you ask me.
“Well, whatever happened, I’m glad he’s here. We would be here until well past midnight without him.”
