Pursuing Doctor West
Chapter 1
The mob of creatures waved signs and circled him, leaving no room for
escape. No matter how he turned, he saw another sign.
College debts. Medical
school loans. Maxed credit cards. Condo rental. Car repairs. Money for his
dream house and dream life.
A deep voice roared.
His father? “You must pay the debts. You must pay the debts.”
The squeaky voices of
the creatures added to the cacophony. They twisted the ends of their Dali-like
mustaches.
From a distance, his
mother’s voice cried her own demands. “Michael, when will I see grandchildren?
You know how badly I want little ones to hug.”
Help! The word
remained frozen.
* * *
Michael West bolted upright and
stared at the clock. Almost seven. He rubbed his eyes. Not the weekend. Not his
city walk-up, where he’d collapsed after a day in surgery and a night on call.
He would be late for his first day as junior partner of Grandvue Hospital
As he showered, remnants of the
nightmare circled in his thoughts. “Sorry, Mom,” he whispered. “No
grandchildren for years. Until the mountain of debts became a molehill he
couldn’t take a wife.
With a towel around his waist,
he shaved and charged into the bedroom. In five years he could recycle those
debts. Then he would be ready to give the woman he selected the things he
believed she deserved. He dressed in new gray slacks, a starched white shirt,
tie, and a black summer weight jacket, grabbed his medical bag and strode from
the apartment to his car.
Though he wished for time to eat
a hearty breakfast, on the way to the hospital, he stopped at a deli for an egg
and cheese bagel and a huge coffee. Ten minutes later, he sat in the doctor’s
parking lot and ate like a starving man.
After stuffing the remains in
the take-out bag, he slid from the sedan and brushed crumbs from his clothes.
He scanned the lot. New car added to his list of wants. His fuel-economy sedan
looked like a waif among the luxury sedans and sporty models. He strode toward
the entrance.
“Michael, slow down.” The senior
partner of the surgical practice waved.
Michael waited for Dr. Probst.
“Good morning, sir. I didn’t expect to see you here so early.”
The gray-haired man smiled.
“Always the first. Good to see you’ve the same habit. Three cases on the
schedule. First one’s at nine.”
“Will I assist?”
“Eager to get your hands in?”
Michael grinned. “Sure am, sir.”
Dr. Probst chuckled. “How well I
remember those days. Before we head to the OR, we’ll make rounds. I’ll show you
the surgical unit.”
“Sounds good.” Though he had
visited the hospital when he’d been recruited, he hadn’t been impressed with
the unit.
“We’ve a new nurse manager.
Young, efficient. Has performed miracles during her five months in charge.
She’s cracked down on the staff. You’ll like her.”
Michael studied the older man.
Was he being set up? Not going to happen.
Casual affairs were his speed. He thought about the nurse manager he’d met
when the guys in the practice had wined and dined him. She’d been old,
steely-eyed, with a thin-lipped smile, making him think young doctors were to
be trained like puppies. Young might mean any woman under sixty. If the new
nurse manager was attractive and would be interested in a fling in the company
of a man with a five year plan, he might give her a try.
They rode the elevator from the
basement to the second floor. When he saw the nurse at the counter with a phone
in her left hand and her right poised over a keyboard, he halted and fought the
urge to run.
“No.” He groaned. “Impossible.”
“Something wrong?” Dr. Probst
asked.
Michael cleared his throat. Don’t be an ass. “I never expected to
see…” Help! His inner voice shouted
the final word of his nightmare.
“Zelda, come and meet the new
addition to our group.”
Michael sucked in a breath. The
bane of his youthful existence left the computer and sauntered toward them.
His throat constricted. His gut
churned. “You work here?” Duh. Could
his foot fit any tighter in his mouth? Why else was she dressed in a white
uniform? And the lab coat spelled administration. He took a second look. The
uniform fit her slender body to perfection.
Dr. Probst beamed. “Guess you
know each other. Zelda is our miracle nurse manager.”
Figured she’d find a way to
plague him. He didn’t like the ideas swarming like gnats in his thoughts. He
batted them away. Sure, Zelda was attractive and probably efficient, but she
was a cyclone centered on destructing Michael West MD. Like visions seen by a
drowning man, incidents flooded him. She had swamped his high school romance
with Allie, and sent depth charges into his summer fling with Bette.
Every time Zelda entered his
space strange events occurred. He tripped over invisible cracks in the
sidewalk, dropped drinks and plates of food. In her presence, he was an
accident primed to happen.
His gaze focused on her. Boy had
she changed. Short curly brown hair, bright blue eyes, slender figure with
tantalizing curves. An urge to taste her kissable lips made him take a step
toward her.
Whoa. This is Zelda. Not a chance. He enjoyed living. His hands
fisted and he tore his attention from her to his partner’s briefing on the
recovering patients and the ones awaiting surgery.
Zelda added comments, reported
changes in conditions and mentioned existing or pending problems. Michael
realized she ignored him more effectively than he did her. Still, he knew plans
for destructing his life stirred like a rising volcano in her head. They always
had.
“Mrs. Greene’s going home
today,” Dr. Probst said. “She’s to come to the office in a week for staple
removal.” He turned to Michael. “Write a prescription for a pain med and
antibiotics, same as she’s taking here. All the info is on her chart.”
Michael went to the computer and
entered his password. He pulled up Mrs. Greene’s chart. He checked her meds and
copied them to an electronic prescription. Once done, he sent the script to her
listed pharmacy. He finished the instruction sheet and closed the chart.
Dr. Probst laughed. “Took you
less than five minutes. One of the reasons we took you on. You can teach these
old dogs some tricks.”
Zelda laughed. “Aren’t computers
great? No more huge stacks of paper to worry about.”
No more paper airplanes. Where had that thought come from? Then he
remembered, Zelda’s many missives sailing over the fence from her yard to his.
He hid a smile as an idea of how to head her off and keep their interactions on
a strictly professional level came to him.
He grabbed a piece of scrap
paper and quickly wrote:
Dear Zelda, So glad to hear you’re doing so well in your chosen
profession. Let’s work to keep our relationship strictly professional. Unless
you need to talk to me about a patient, ignore me. Your former neighbor,
Michael.
He quickly folded the paper into
an airplane. Should he? Naw. He’d
leave it in her office. If he sent the paper plane sailing toward her now, who
knows what disaster would occur.
After rounds and charts, Michael
followed the older man toward the stairs. At the door of Zelda’s office, he
paused and sent the paper flying to land on her desk.
Dr. Probst arched a brow.
“Something brewing between you two?”
“We used to be neighbors.”
“Aha, the girl next door.
. More like the pest, the whirlwind, the terminator of relationships.
He wasn’t about to explain his tangled past with Zelda. He opened the stairwell
door.
A voluptuous redhead exited.
“Dr. Probst, good morning.”
Her throaty voice, plus the
stacked body, sent Michael’s blood rushing south. He smiled.
“Morning,” the older doctor
said. “Gianna Hall, meet Michael West, our new partner.”
“Pleased to meet you, Dr. West.”
Her smile showed interest and
made promises he’d like to see kept. “Same here.” He might have lingered, but
surgery called. “I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
She ran her tongue over her
lower lip. “I’ll make sure you do.”
Michael caught up to his
partner. “She seemed nice.”
“She is. Gianna is the Clinical
Psychologist for the Mental Health Unit.”
Now he knew where to find her.
Michael smiled.
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