“How cute would it be if the town lawyer and the town doctor got together?” Pearl said, apparently determined to ignore his vote if it didn’t line up with what she wanted.
“She’s only here for two years,” Jake said, though he wasn’t sure why he was arguing with them. They only heard what they wanted to hear.
“But plans change,” said Karl. “Especially when the heart is involved. Which brings us back to Jason.”
Sawyer caught Jake’s eye and gave a small nod toward Jake’s stool—he still had not sat down.
He shook his head no. This was not why he spent Friday nights at Law’s, to get caught up in the maddening machinations of the town matchmakers. So he turned around and went home.
Nora was finishing up at the clinic when she got a text. Hi. This is Maya. I got your number from Sawyer.
Nora and Sawyer had exchanged numbers and had spoken a couple times during the week about the naloxone situation.
Maya: Are you going to Lawson’s tonight?
She’d considered it. She wasn’t sure how informal the Friday-night thing was—did she need to be invited?
Maya: If you are, any chance you can order a pizza and sneak me a piece or two? Or seven?
Nora laughed. Sure. Or, and I know this is going to sound crazy, you could just order your own pizza.
Maya: I can’t. It’s complicated.
Maya: But also, that pizza is so freaking good I’m having literal dreams about it.
Nora: Understood on both fronts. I’m just about done at the clinic, so I can be there in ten.
When Nora arrived, Maya waved her over to a spot between herself and Sawyer. Eve was on Sawyer’s other side, and Pearl was on the next stool over.
Nora looked around subtly for Jake, but he wasn’t there.
Everyone made easy small talk, and when Law came to check on them, she said, “Can I order the mushroom pizza?”
Maya kicked her in the shin.
“Ow.” She turned to her assailant, who shielded her mouth from Law’s view but very clearly mouthed “Pepperoni.”
“Actually, make that pepperoni.”
“You got it,” Law said. “Small?”
Maya coughed.
“Uh, no, I think I’ll go for a large, thanks.” She turned toward Sawyer. “I had an idea about your measles problem this afternoon. The Mermaid Parade is coming up, right? What if I set up a public information booth along the parade route? Does it go down Main Street?”
“That’s a great idea,” he said. “The parade draws lots of families with young kids.”
“It’s not just about kids, actually. Most adults born from the seventies to the nineties never got a second dose of the MMR vaccine. It wasn’t standard practice then, but it is now. So there are lots of people walking around who need boosters to achieve full immunity. I was thinking we could distribute info sheets.”
“Why not actually set up an outdoor clinic?” Maya asked. “Like, give the shots right there?”
“I bet seeing prominent people in town getting their shots would make an impression,” Eve said. She swatted her boyfriend. “You should find out if you ever got a booster, Chief.”
“I doubt I did.” He turned to Nora. “My childhood wasn’t full of a lot of, ah, oversight.”
“Sawyer raised himself,” Pearl said. “And his sister.” She beamed at Sawyer like a proud grandma.
Sawyer shook his head, clearly uncomfortable with the topic. “Anyway, assuming I need the booster, I’d be happy to be your first customer.”
“Oh! Oh! I have the best idea!” Maya exclaimed. “You could do it on a float in the parade.”
Law, who’d been popping in and out of the conversation, scoffed. “She’s not going to give shots on a float in the Mermaid Parade.”
“It would definitely be a great PR stunt,” Nora said, not wanting to hurt Maya’s feelings. “The problem is, I can’t just randomly give people shots. I would need to take a medical history and all that.” She turned to Sawyer. “If you’re up for doing that in advance, I can definitely shoot you up during the parade.” She made an apologetic face at Maya. “Maybe not in it. I’m not totally confident in my ability to jab people while on a moving vehicle. And the vaccines need to be refrigerated, so it gets complicated logistically. Maybe for now we just set up a table outside the clinic?”
“Works for me,” Sawyer said.
“Okay,” Maya said, “but you have to let me make advertisements. We can hang them on the floats and they can say, ‘Watch Sawyer get stuck with a needle in front of the clinic.’ Or some