Page 117 of Top Shelf

I pass her the stick, and this time, I stand beside my wife and do not tell her where to aim.

I only wait while she chooses.

Chapter seventeen

Heidi

At the bottom of my to-do list, underlined twice, are the words I’ve been avoiding for the better part of two weeks.

Studio Staff

The words stare back at me from my notebook in the staff room, while my coffee goes cold beside my elbow. I can teach someone to trust their knee again, and I can spot a compensation pattern before the athlete knows they’re doing it. I can build a progressive return-to-performance plan that takes into account all sorts of issues, and the fact that half of these people will lie through their teeth if they think it gets them back in the game faster.

But apparently, I can’t run a newly launched studio by sheer force of will while also being the person everyone comes to see.

With a sigh, I glance through the staff room doorway and see Sloane on the phone at reception, typing with one hand while sliding a form toward a patient with the other. She catches the printer tray before the paper spills, nods to Carina as she passes, and mouths, “Room two,” without missing a word of the call.

I watch her for three seconds too long, because she looks up—and her eyes narrow. I smile, but she points at me and shakes her head.

Ugh. Fair.

Carina appears in the doorway, grabbing her yogurt bowl from the fridge. “Why are you smiling at Sloane like that?”

“She’s unnervingly perceptive.”

“You looked like you were about to silently beg for her help.”

“I kind of was…”

Carina’s spoon pauses in her mouth. “Heid. Sloane has a full-time job here.”

“I know.” I glance back at the list. “I wasn’t going to steal her… I was going to ask with dignity.”

A scoff leaves Carina’s lips, just as Sloane walks in with her headset tucked behind her ear. “No.”

I turn in my chair. “You don’t even know what I was going to say!”

“You were going to ask if I wanted some very flexible, very casual, super fun hours helping at the studio.”

I pause, and Carina’s mouth twitches around the spoon.

Sloane folds an arm across her middle. “I’m staying at Moreno.”

“I respect that.”

“You respect it while hoping I’ll change my mind.”

“Respectfully, I respect that, yes.”

Cal Mercer’s voice comes from the doorway. “Don’t poach Sloane.”

I look over with an indignant sigh. “I’m being attacked by the entire clinic!”

He steps in with a tablet tucked under his arm, and his usual expression of grim neutrality. “You can’t have Sloane.”

Sloane lifts her chin slightly. “Thank you.”

“You need to clone Sloane.”