earlier today.
Upon returning home from the pet store, Simone had slept for several hours, then showered and got ready for work.
So why was she still so tired?
The only explanation was pregnancy hormones, which meant she’d have to get used to feeling sluggish.
She glanced at the clock displayed on the wall that was directly across from the nurses’ desk: 8:34.
It had been fairly quiet this evening, just the typical Wednesday-night complaints. They’d treated a toddler with a case of croup, a woman with a sliced finger that required sutures and a teenager whose intestinal flu had left him dehydrated.
Currently, they were examining a child with a broken thumb, as well as a middle-aged woman who’d fallen off a scooter and presented with a nasty scrape on her knee and a sprained wrist.
Just steps away, Dr. Ella Wilder was making notes in the injured woman’s chart.
At twenty-nine, Ella was one of the youngest doctors on staff. She was also one of the most attractive.
Her hair, dark brown and straight, was cut in a neat bob that reminded Simone of the style worn by flappers in the Roaring Twenties. It suited her.
And so did her chosen profession.
Ella Wilder had come from a long line of doctors. Her father, Dr. James Wilder, had been chief of staff before his recent death. Her oldest brother, Peter, an internist, was the acting chief of staff until a replacement could be found. Another brother, David, a renowned plastic surgeon who’d been living in Los Angeles, had just relocated here in Walnut River, where he would open a practice.
Only Anna, Ella’s adopted older sister, had opted for a different career path.
From what Simone had gathered, the two sisters had been close growing up, but there was a strain between Anna and all of her siblings now.
Simone, an only child, didn’t understand family dynamics, nor did she try to. Suffice it to say, she found it best to keep her nose to herself and just do her job.
Still, Simone liked Ella, a young woman who’d recently completed her residency in orthopedics at Boston Mass and now worked at Walnut River General. Simone wouldn’t exactly say they were close, since she didn’t warm to many people, but there was something about Ella that Simone admired.
“Dr. Wilder,” Simone said to the orthopedist, “when you have a moment, Dr. Fitzgerald would like you to take a look at some X-rays. Jeffrey Colwell, the little red-haired boy in 4-A, broke his thumb and, apparently, knocked the growth plate out of whack.”
“All right. I’m almost finished here.”
Unable to help herself, Simone yawned again, and Ella chuckled.
Simone felt a little guilty. She prided herself on not missing work more than a handful of days in the last fifteen years, but maybe she should have called in sick today.
“I’m afraid I didn’t get much sleep last night,” she admitted.
Ella slid a glance her way and smiled. “I hope you had a good reason for staying awake—like a special man in your life. Maybe a handsome paramedic.”
There was a glow to Ella these days, which was undoubtedly due to the “special man” in her own life, J. D. Sumner, who had recently resigned from his position with Northeastern HealthCare, the conglomerate hoping to take over Walnut River General.
But Ella was jumping to a conclusion Simone didn’t want anyone to make.
“I hate to blow your theory to smithereens,” Simone said, “but my special someone is a puppy.”
“Oh, really?” Ella closed the file in which she’d been writing. “You adopted another dog, a playmate for Woofer?”
“No. I’m puppy-sitting for Mike O’Rourke.”
Ella’s grin broadened, and her eyes glimmered. “I was wondering how you two were doing. That guy is crazy about you.”
The day after Peter’s cocktail party, while talking privately to Ella, Simone had let it slip that she and Mike had slept together. After all, Ella had seen the two of them locked in a heated kiss beside Mike’s Jeep the night before.
Simone couldn’t blame Ella for wondering, but not everyone was destined for a romantic happy ending.
“Mike’s a wonderful man,” Simone admitted. “And he’ll be a great catch for some lucky woman. But I’m a loner, and I always have been.”
Hooking up with anyone, even a female roommate, would be tough on Simone, who’d grown comfortable with the peace and quiet at home. Of course, having an additional dog around was going to push her comfort level to the limit, but Mike was supposed to be looking for a place that would allow him to keep Wags. So, hopefully, her life would be back on track soon.
“You’ll have to forgive me for wishing it had been the man keeping you awake instead of his dog.”
Simone yawned again. “And you’ll have to excuse me. Boy, what I wouldn’t give to go home early and call it a night.”
“Give me a moment to check that X-ray of Jeffrey’s thumb,” Ella said, “then you can join me for a cup of coffee in the doctors’ lounge.”
“All right.” Simone doubted that the caffeine would be good for the baby, but she also needed to be able to function while at work. She wasn’t going to get off until eleven. Maybe half a cup would be okay.
Fifteen minutes later, as Jeffrey and his mother prepared to head home with his hand stabilized in a cast, Ella returned. “Come on. Let’s take a quick break before we get another rush.”
After letting the E.R. resident and a fellow nurse know where she could be found, Simone joined Ella in the employee lounge, where they poured two cups of coffee and took a seat at the table.
“I’ve been off for a couple of days,” Simone said. “So fill me in. What’s the latest news about Northeastern HealthCare?”
The question shouldn’t have surprised Ella. After all, it was on everyone’s mind.
The threatened NHC takeover had many of the medical staff up in arms. The hospital had a reputation of providing the human touch and the kind of medical treatment patients deserved, while NHC was known in the industry for focusing on the bottom line at the expense of patient care.
“Well,” Ella said, taking a sip of her coffee, “the attorney general’s office has decided to investigate the claims of insurance fraud.”
Simone had known that the state examiner’s office claimed that the hospital was keeping patients longer than necessary and billing for treatment that wasn’t given. She blew out a sigh. “I know we tend to keep patients longer than the average, but that’s because we don’t want to rush them out of the hospital too soon. I can’t believe there’s anything fraudulent going on here.”
“I can’t, either,” Ella said. “But I don’t like what a charge like that means in regard to an NHC takeover.”
