that I need to justify myself to my new physician’s assistant on her first day of work,” he emphasized, “but I graduated first in my class at Johns Hopkins. I worked hard for that. People come to me not because they want good conversation, but because they want me to put them together when they feel like they’re never going to feel whole again. Some other doctor might make them feel all warm and toasty, but I’m the one who’s going to put them together, or keep working at it until I’m satisfied that I’ve done the very best that can be done. My very best. If you have a problem with that, then maybe you’d feel better working for someone else.”
She surprised him with the enthusiasm in her voice as she answered, “No, I wouldn’t.” And then she further surprised him with her offer. “I’ll take care of the feel-good stuff, and you take care of making them feel whole,” Kayley concluded.
Maybe she didn’t realize that she had come across as being critical of him. He did a swift review of the day in his mind. She had needed next to no cues from him.
“Well, you did keep things flowing smoothly,” he allowed reluctantly, “so we’ll give it another day.” There was, however, a warning note in his voice.
Kayley heard it and pretended not to. Instead, she smiled as if they were both in agreement. “Thank you, Doctor. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” he repeated, making it sound as if it represented her last chance to get things right.
* * *
When Luke stepped off the elevator the following morning, he was only moderately surprised to find Kayley waiting by the office door. Maybe she was afraid that her comment at the end of the day had put her in danger of being fired and she was trying to make up for it.
To support that theory, she had a coffee container in one hand and a large pink box that smelled of something warm and tempting in the other.
“Still attempting to outrun possible traffic?” he asked.
Instead of saying yes or no, she told him, “I hate being late.”
He unlocked the main door. “It’s an admirable quality, but don’t you spend a lot of time waiting around for other people to show up this way?”
She nodded. “But that’s still better than being late.”
Having unlocked the double doors, he opened one and stepped back to let her enter first.
“Have it your way.” And then he nodded at the box Kayley was holding. “What is that, by the way?”
“I brought doughnuts for the office,” she told him, heading for the break room.
That seemed a little excessive to him. “How many other people did you offend yesterday?”
His question caught her completely off guard. “Nobody.”
“Except for me,” Luke pointed out.
She hadn’t thought he was really offended. Clearly she’d been mistaken. She quickly rallied. “That was purely unintentional, Doctor—do you like doughnuts?” she asked hopefully.
“No, I don’t,” he answered sternly. Seeing the disappointment on her face, he relented. “But my daughter does.”
“What kind?” Kayley asked. She had picked up a wide variety at the bakery.
Luke shook his head. “I have no idea.”
“Then how do you know she likes doughnuts?” Kayley asked innocently.
“My mother-in-law told me.” His eyes all but bored into hers. “Any other questions?”
“No, but maybe you should ask your mother-in-law what kind of doughnuts your daughter likes so you could surprise her with them. If you still keep in touch with your mother-in-law,” she added, thinking that perhaps, since his wife had died, the man had severed his ties with the older woman.
“Hard not to,” he commented as he began to walk away. He had a full day to prepare for and he couldn’t do it standing here and talking about doughnuts with Pollyanna. “She lives in my house.”
“Oh,” was all Kayley said as she went to the break room.
He’d give her one more day, Luke promised himself. And if she continued meddling in his life and his approach to his patients, as well as offering her fortune-cookie pieces of advice, then he’d just have to tell her that her services were no longer needed.
* * *
“I hear you finally have your own physician’s assistant,” Barbara Baxter said to her son-in-law late that evening, when he finally walked in the door.
He was surprised to find her waiting up for him. He wondered if something was wrong. In addition, her comment caught him entirely off guard. He hadn’t mentioned anything about the change at work.
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