Linc crossed his arms over his chest and took one step back. Doc started muttering under his breath about overbearing cowboys.
“Let’s take your temperature now that you’re no longer roasting under ten layers of clothing.”
Linc just snorted.
Doc used an ear thermometer. It beeped and he looked at it. “It’s good. You ever had your temperature taken with a rectal thermometer, Linc?”
“No,” Linc growled.
Doc turned and grinned at him. “Something to look forward to then.”
She gasped. But then Doc turned back to her and gave her a wink. She dropped her head to hide her smile.
“I usually only use them with sick Littles, but I think from now on whenever someone is late, they’ll get them at their next check-up.”
“If you think that scares me, you don’t know me that well,” Linc replied.
Doc finished up the rest of the exam. “Right, Marisol, everything looks good. But I want to take some blood. Okay?”
“All right.”
Even though she was used to needles and pricking herself, she just hated having blood drawn. It was something about seeing the blood squirt into the tube.
“Hey, you’ve gone all pale,” Linc crooned. “Want to sit on my lap while Doc takes your blood?”
She nodded.
Linc helped her down then led her to the chairs. He sat with her on his lap. Maybe she should have felt silly, being in this position. But as he guided her to bury her face in his neck, she just felt protected.
“That’s it, teeny. Doc’s just going to take a small bit of blood and then you’ll get a Band-Aid.”
“I’ve got different Band-Aids for each of my girls,” Doc told her. Each of his girls? Did he mean all the Littles?
“Let me see, there’s bumblebee ones for Caley. Bears for Ellie. Rabbit ones for Abby. Charlie has mermaid ones. Daisies for Daisy. Eden just likes pale blue ones and Ari has these pretty gold, glittery ones. We tried to find koala ones for Gigi, but that proved a bit hard. So she likes the princess ones. Want any of those?”
“I’d like the princess one please.”
“Good. That’s all done. Linc, hold that there for me and apply pressure.”
She moved her face away from Linc’s neck and looked down at her arm in amazement. “It’s done? I didn’t even feel it.”
“All done.”
Linc removed his hand as Doc put the Band-Aid on. She looked down at the princess Band-Aid with a smile. Doc moved back around his desk and sat.
“When are you going to come into the twenty-first century and use technology?” Linc teased Doc who wrote on a pad.
“Bite me,” Doc replied.
“Now, Doc, I thought you’d never ask.”
Doc shook his head. “All I get around here is insolence. I need to ask Kent for a raise. Anything else you want to mention, Marisol?”
“Umm, no, I don’t think so.”
“Linc, can you go get us some cookies from the kitchen?”
Linc sighed. “Why am I fetching cookies?”