Jessa James - Dr. Hottie

“I’m Jack’s ex-girfriend,” Rosalie said with a frown. “We went to med school together.”

“Oh. Um…”

Jack entered the main room from the trauma area and pulled off a gown and mask. He stopped short at the sight of Rosalie and Addy side by side. Quickly, he made a beeline for Addy.

“Hey, the man of the hour! I was just telling these two—” Philip started, but fell silent when Jack grabbed Addy tight and bent her backward for a kiss.

“Ew!” Addy could hear the young boy say from somewhere behind her, but there was too much fire between them to stop.

“Please just go with it,” Jack whispered in her ear before he pulled her back up.

She was too shocked to say anything.

“You must have finally climbed out of our bed!” he exclaimed. “I was worried I’d worn you out permanently.”

She blushed and saw both Philip and Rosalie give him startled looks. Addy worked her face into something close to neutral, though she worried that her heart pounded so loudly the entire ER could hear it.

“Hey, where’s your ring?” Jack asked.

She bit her lip and dug it out of her pocket. Addy held it out like an offering, flat in her palm.

“I told you not to worry about damaging it, darling. People want to see it on you!”

Addy blinked and obediently put the ring on her finger. It was strange to have a virtual stranger do something so … personal. Command something so intimate.

Jack grabbed her hand and extended it out to Philip and Rosalie, along with a few nurses who had gathered around the commotion to see. Addy heard the oohs and aahs all around them, but it was Rosalie’s deadly gaze that held her attention. Rosalie blanched, then made an excuse and fled.

Addy felt like she’d done something hurtful to Rosalie, even though she’d only just met the woman.

“Hey! What about my leg?” the boy cried after Rosalie, and a nurse immediately began to tend to him.

Addy searched Jack’s eyes.

“Can I talk to you a minute? Privately?” she asked.

“Ooh!” one of the nurses said, and made kissing noises in their direction. “Stratton’s got dibs on christening the new break room, I think.”

Jack took her hand and led her to a private, curtained room that was empty. He perched on the small bed with paper sheets that crinkled beneath him. “What’s up?”

“What’s up? What happened to dealing with the legal stuff when we got back?”

“Well, hello to you too, love. That plan went out the window when I thought about it a bit.”

“I’m sorry. What?”

“I was working on this guy who came in with chest pains, and the idea struck me. We should stay married for a bit.”

She gaped at Jack, who smiled at her expression.

“Hear me out,” he said. “My mum has been breathing down my neck, wanting to partner me with some dimwitted blonde. In this deal, I get to say, “Sorry mum, I’ve been married, it’s all been arranged”. Which will both delight me, and relieve me of some of my mother’s expectations.”

“Okay but… where does that leave me?” she said, confused.

“You get to show your ex how wrong he was when he ignored you. I will make sure that he realizes what a mistake he’s made. This was your idea, after all!”

“Jack, I was drunk. We were both drunk. And besides, I meant that we should pretend to date, not get married!”

“Keep your voice down, people might hear.”

“Right. Anyway, we can probably annul—”

“No, no. We have to stay married for a while. I’m thinking … two, maybe three months.”

“ What ?” Addy crossed her arms over her chest and started to vehemently shake her head. “No. You’re crazy!”

“Just think of it! I’m not the only one getting something out of this little arrangement. Imagine how miserable we can make Jeremy. So much PDA in public… And my mum will look at pictures of us together, and get so angry…. I’m sure the vein she has in her forehead will pop out.”

He had her there. It was insane, but the damage was already done.

What difference does it make if we’re married two days or two months? An annulment is still an annulment.

“Okay, how about this?” Jack asked as he considered the frown on her face. “You stay married to me for two months, I take care of the annulment, and you don’t do anything.”

“Oh! I don’t know …”

“Addy, the hard part is done! We’re already married. All you have to do is stay married to me for two months. I promise it’s not that much of a hardship. I’m not that bad, alright?”

But if it sounds too good to be true…

Jack grinned at her. “C’mon. I’ll even help you move after my shift.”

“Help me … what? Move?”

“Well, yeah. If this is going to work, we have to look married. And married people live together. Unless you’d prefer I move in with you?”

A rush of panic flooded her. The idea of Jack even meeting her father was enough to put her in a tailspin. She couldn’t fathom telling her father she was married.

“No. Definitely not,” she said quickly. “We’ll, uh… we’ll move to your place.”

“Dr. Stratton?” A nurse popped her head into the makeshift room. “They need you in 2-C.”

“Alright, great,” he said as he swiftly switched to what she’d figured out was his “doctor voice.” Jack stood up and kissed Addy firmly on the lips. “I’ll call you when I get off work.”

The nurse rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

“Okay,” Addy said quietly. “Hey!” she called after him. “Wait! I need your number.”

Jack turned around and grinned. “It’s already in your phone. Don’t you remember?”

“My phone? No …”

“You were quite insistent that you would remember. You put me in as Dr. Hottie.”

Addy felt her face flush red. “Oh, God …”

“But I think you changed it on the wedding night. See you later, wifey.”

As Jack left, Addy pulled out her phone. There was nothing under Dr. Hottie, but there was a new recent contact. “Husband.”

Addy hung her head. I have no idea what I’m in for.

Jack put Addy’s last box in the Jeep. He frowned down at the four boxes, and glanced at the additional two piled in the backseat of her car.

Either she lives a really disgustingly minimalistic life, or she’s not planning on keeping this up for long, he thought.

He crossed his arms and gazed up at the front porch of her house. Jack hadn’t known what to expect when she gave him the address. He still didn’t. She was adamant that he stay outside, and already had the six boxes neatly lined up on the front steps ready to go.

“What if I have to use the toilet?” he’d asked when he arrived and she physically blocked him from the stairs.

“Use the bushes!”

“Why? What are you hiding in there?”

“Nothing,” she’d stressed, and pushed one of the boxes into his hands.

From the outside, it looked like a typical, classic Tahoe house. Designed like a large cabin, it had plenty of rustic charm and a porch swing that could use a paint job.

“Big house for just three people,” he told her. “It looks like a bed and breakfast.”

“It wasn’t always just three people,” she’d muttered.

He’d backed off then, reminded that her mother was still a sore spot for her.

“What do you mean you’re moving? What’s gotten into you?” Her bewildered little sister, Kenzie, faced off against Addison on the porch. Kenzie’s eyes were wide.

“Who goes off and marries a total stranger? Especially you! You were always the responsible one, the planner. I look away for two seconds at the bar, and you’re halfway to Reno with someone who could totally be a serial killer for all we know. No offense,” she called down to Jack.