After doing a
complete examination of the patient, he returned to the nurses' station. The
young woman looked up. "Is he all right?"
"Yes, and
thanks for your quick action." He opened the chart. "Can I borrow
your pen?"
Another nurse
laughed. "Dr. Carter, surely you can afford to buy your own."
"I do, but
they walk." He scrawled a note. "One more thing. If you ever have a
problem reading my orders, call my office or my home."
"Mrs. Forbes
doesn't allow anyone except her to make outside calls."
He handed her the
chart. "Making calls to doctors when there's a question about an order or
a patient's condition is standard procedure."
The girl nodded.
"Yes, sir."
"By Monday
you won't have to worry about Mrs. Forbes' rules. The new nurse manager will be
here."
"If she stays.
Mrs. Forbes says no one else wants the job."
Jeff frowned. Was
Delores planning to blindside her replacement? Even if she succeeded, he'd see
she wasn't given the position. He wheeled and left the unit. In the hall, he
collided with his daughter.
"More gray
hairs, Dad. You look ready to go on a rampage."
"Don't ask.
Megan, why didn't you take the position as nurse manager on my unit?"
When she laughed
her golden curls bounced. "Bad enough my big brother can order me around,
but my father . . . . Please. So what happened?"
"Another
incident, and this time it could have been serious."
"Your
handwriting, I bet."
He shook his head.
"No matter what it looks like, I didn't write the order."
"Why don't
you print?"
"Don't be a
smart mouth. Never learned how."
She put her hand
on his arm. "Computers will solve the problem. You know most of the units
are already using them? This one should be next."
"I don't have
time to learn how to work one."
"That's
right, you're ancient. Fifty-one in December." Her blue eyes sparkled with
laughter. "They're simple. Just think, you could type your orders, and no
one would complain. You wouldn't have to dictate reports or scrawl progress
notes only you can read."
He shook his head.
"Not sure handwriting's totally at fault. Why would a nurse manager forbid
her staff to make outside calls?"
"To keep them
from making personal calls on hospital time."
"Even to a
doctor? One would have prevented the latest incident."
She frowned.
"What are you saying?"
He shrugged.
"Not sure yet. See you at dinner."
"Won't be
there. The gang's helping Liz move in."
"Who's
Liz?"
"The woman
who's going to solve all your problems."
The gleam in her
eyes alarmed him. "Megan."
"Dad, she's
the new nurse manager. We're helping her move into Laurel's house."
"Why Laurel bought that house
still puzzles me."
"To prove a
point to my thick-headed brother." She turned. "Don't you remember
Liz? She's one of the Grantley gang. You talked to her at Laurel's housewarming."
Jeff frowned. He'd
brought ice cream. There'd been a tall woman with long dark hair. They'd spoken
for a few minutes. She'd seemed shy. "Was she at the wedding?"
Megan shook her
head. "She had to work. Trust Laurel
not to give her friends much lead time."
Suspicions leaped
into his thoughts. "Is this woman married?"
"She's a
single mother with nine-year-old twin sons. She was the oldest member of our
group."
"I'll pass on
the festivities." He met her gaze. Spare me from a matchmaking daughter.
He refused to be her next victim. He'd spent eleven years running from women
with marriage on their minds. He didn't need another wife. The one he'd had had
been perfect.
"Your
choice." Megan backed away.
"I'll give
her time to settle in."
Megan laughed.
"So you won't confront her 'til Monday afternoon." She turned to
leave. "You're not the most patient of men. Just make sure you don't put
your foot in your mouth."
He stared after
her. What did she mean by that?
10 comments:
Great blurb, Janet.
On my browser, though, the excerpt is cut off near the bottom. Could be my problem, of course.
It's cut off for me too. What does he say!?
Seems interesting, at least what I can read.
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Hey, I'm a Gemini too. You've got to watch those twins!
JQ Rose
I couldn't read it all either. Something wrong in the html no doubt.
Don't know what happened. The ending of the scene is telling him all his problems will be solved when Liz comes on as nurse manager. She invites him to the welcome party. He says not. He doesn't need a wife. His was perfect but she died.
I'm a Gemini, also. We need to stick together. Looking forward to getting the book since you told me the end of the excerpt since none of my browsers displayed it.
I'm a gemini too. My dad and my wife's mother were both twins. By all rights we should've had twins, but we dodged that particular bullet. And count me as another who couldn't read all of the snippet.
Great premise. I love your description of the foot-in-mouth Saggitarian. (However that's spelled.)
The excerpt was truncated for me, too, not just at the bottom but on the right margin, too.
After living among older people that had great a marriage they seldom remarry or want remarry. But when the right person comes along it is often a surprise and some have married 2 and 3 times. Is a fun excerpt even with text from the book are missing.
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