The Boss and Nurse Albright (9 page)

“So what do they do now?” she asked.

“They’ve already started her on tetanus immunoglobulin and transferred her to the ICU.”

Claire flopped against the cushions. “Can you believe it? Tetanus in this day and age?”

“You’ve done another terrific job of diagnosing,” he said with admiration in his eyes.

It made her want to smile, but she curled her toes instead. “You look tired. Would you like some chamomile tea?”

“Sounds good,” he said, “but first I owe you an apology.”

“I wasn’t snooping, Jason.”

“I know that. I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

She stared at him for a long moment, and sensed his sincerity. “Apology accepted.” She stopped herself from saying—
tell me about that picture. Where are they? What happened to them?
“Why don’t you make yourself comfortable while I get that tea.”

He kicked off his shoes and put his feet up on her coffee table, and it surprised her. Maybe he’d relax and finally open up.

On the way to the kitchen, she felt jittery and excitable, as if she’d injected a pot of coffee into her veins. Jason had done that to her. She fished around for some cookies to serve with the tea. Why had he chosen to come in person instead of call?

She wouldn’t waste the chance to talk to him. Who knew if she’d ever have another opportunity?

Jason had put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes when she returned. They opened shortly after she entered the room.

“It’s been a long day,” she said.

He responded with a sleepy smile and, fighting off a
yawn, he reached for a chocolate chip cookie. “My favorite,” he said. “How d’you know?” His eyes teased her as he crunched.

She curled into the corner of the couch and faced him, teacup in hand. Now that Mrs. Densmore was under the appropriate care, she wondered how to broach the other subject foremost on her mind: her new quest for friendship with Jason.

“While I’m apologizing for things, I guess I owe you an explanation for the other night, too,” he said.

She almost spilled her tea, but quickly gathered her thoughts and decided to take a huge risk. “And I’d like to know about your family.”

He scrubbed his face, and stared hard across the room, as though at nothingness, for several long moments.

“Ten years ago I married my wife, Jessica.” His voice sounded monotone and guarded. “Two years later we had Hanna. You found their picture today. They were the light of my life, as the cliché goes. We talked about having more children, but it never happened. Thought maybe the summer would be a good time to try again.” He paused and took a deep breath. “When the clinic opened Phil, Jon, René and I vowed to give it our undivided attention. We worked hard and long at seeing extra patients, hoping word would get out and we’d pick up more clientele. So Jessica and I decided we needed a weekend away. We wanted to do something Hanna would enjoy. She was four, so we made plans to take the train up the coast. But I got held up at work.”

He squinted hard at the fire, as if visualizing something horrible.

“I told them to go ahead. That I’d meet them up there.” He stopped, his brows twisted, and he pinched his lips together as if fighting off a wave of emotion.

Claire’s line of thinking jumped ahead. She remembered a horrendous train crash four or five years ago. She remembered seeing the human carnage amidst twisted metal and derailed train cars on the local TV news. Fifty people had died that day. Her heart squeezed, trying to fathom Jason’s pain. She wanted to lunge for him, to throw her arms around his neck and cry with him, but he wasn’t shedding a tear. He sat as if numbed by the memories. As if oddly removed from the story that had once been a dark and tragic reality.

He glanced toward her with haunted, weary eyes. “I was supposed to be with them.”

Claire’s throat tightened, making it difficult to swallow her tea. She couldn’t believe what she’d heard. In one instant his family had been wiped out. How could anyone deal with such loss? He seemed to stare right through her. She didn’t know what to do. Her hand shot for his. “Jason, I’m so sorry.”

A lump clogged Claire’s chest. She found it hard to breathe. She thought about the precious gift of her child, and wondered what she would do. She couldn’t survive if Gina died.

And Jason had lost both his wife and child.

He moved his hand. “Don’t.”

She thought of how he’d gazed gently at Gina when she’d fallen asleep in his lap that time, and she wanted to cry. What must he have been thinking? Without knowing it, she’d probably caused him more grief.

He put his shoes back on, grabbed his coat and headed for the door.

She rushed to beat him there and, not giving a damn about what his rules were, hugged him, long and tight. She buried her head under his chin and snuggled against his chest, wanting only to show him he wasn’t alone in this world. He may have lost the most precious part of his life, but he wasn’t alone.

Instead of being embarrassed about it, she was glad she’d kissed him with her soul Friday night. He deserved no less. And he’d taken a risk with her by reaching out. It touched her. Made her wish things could be different.

He felt rigid and unreceptive, like a man too proud to let anyone help. What a pair they made. She who’d never allow herself to trust a man again, and he who’d never let another woman into his heart.

She gradually disengaged from the one-sided hug.

“I won’t tolerate your pity, Claire,” he said, then left.

His warning took her by surprise, as if he’d pushed her against a wall. She stared at him as he walked away, and heat rose up her cheeks.

“No more than I’d accept yours!” she called out before he got into his car. A ball of anger and confusion twined around her as she slammed the door with shaky hands.

Tuesday morning, Claire went into work early to make calls to patients who were taking herbs that interacted negatively with their current prescribed medications. She’d chosen to call patients she knew worked and were up early. This way she’d have time in the evening to visit Mrs. Densmore. She heard Jason’s footsteps up the
stairs and her heart stumbled over the next beat. He stopped outside her door. Turned his head and nodded a greeting.

“Hello, Jason,” she said, as casually as her thrumming pulse would allow.

“What are you doing here so early?”

She explained why she’d come in and he stepped inside her office. “Give me some of those,” he said, reaching for her pile of surveys.

“You don’t have to help.”

He tossed her an impatient glance and grabbed half the stack on his way out the door.

As she shook her head at the empty doorway, she heard him step into the waiting room and fiddle with something. Was he turning on the diffuser for the aromatherapy?

A few minutes later when the scent of lavender, ylang-ylang and rosemary wafted up her nose, she smiled in disbelief while she made her next phone call.

Throughout the day, in between her patient appointments, she cogitated over how to reach out to Jason, how to be his friend. He wasn’t looking for a replacement for his wife, and she didn’t want to ever depend on a man again—theirs seemed like an ideal friendship. Except her body always reacted in unexpected ways whenever he was near, and she was confused about desiring him as a man while settling for a tame friendship. It seemed such a shame to let a good man like Jason live life as a zombie. But if he continued to shut her out of his personal life, all she would have was their business relationship.

She wanted more. The thought sent her sitting back
in her chair. She was kidding herself about only wanting friendship with Jason. If she analyzed further, this desire to be friends with Jason was her way of working up the confidence to trust a man again. She shook her head. Of all the men in the entire world to get involved with, Jason seemed the least likely candidate.

That evening at the hospital ICU, Claire was surprised to see that her landlady had been intubated. Claire reached for her hand and squeezed when she arrived. Mrs. Densmore’s anxious flitting eyes found Claire and blinked with questions.

Her nurse explained that reflex muscle spasms were causing respiratory compromise, and they planned to perform a tracheotomy the next day. She said they intended to use neuromuscular blocking medications and Mrs. Densmore needed to be mechanically ventilated.

The thought of Gerald Densmore going to the hospital and never coming home had been enough to make her delay seeking medical advice. She could only imagine what was going through her landlady’s mind now.

Claire got close to her face. “You are going to pull through this. I know you will.” She held both of her hands and squeezed. “I’m taking care of the cats, so don’t worry.” The irony of a woman who’d avoided the doctor all her life, only to wind up in the ICU in such distress, didn’t go unnoticed by Claire, and she suspected it was all that Mrs. Densmore thought about while lying in the bed staring at the ceiling.

Wednesday Claire worked like a fiend to complete her initial herbal supplement survey, and gave the “What
to Expect When Nursing” class for René’s pregnant clients in the morning. After, she called the hospital and found out Mrs. Densmore’s procedure had gone well, and she was stable.

In the afternoon, she facilitated the “Stop Smoking Now” class for Phil’s pulmonary patients. When the memo came across her desk about the staff meeting on Thursday night, Claire worked even faster to finish the survey. Unfortunately for the other doctors, Gina would again be taking the meeting along with them.

Gina brought her brand-new board book,
Find the Puppy
, along when Claire picked her up from the sitter’s Thursday evening before the staff meeting. She’d also drawn another picture for Jason. They’d spent no less than five minutes rehearsing how to say his name.

This time, they arrived early enough for Claire to feed Gina some finger sandwiches and apple slices before the meeting began.

Jon was the first to arrive, looking as though he’d just completed a mini marathon in a damp T-shirt, warm-up pants and running shoes with huge soles. He’d been known to hit the beachside trail during his lunch hour for a quick run, but today he must have gone after the clinic had closed. It was no secret he was training for the May marathon in Los Angeles and, for a man his age, he looked in tip-top condition.

Phil swaggered in next, looking ready for a hot date in dark slacks and a thin baby-blue, long-sleeved v-neck cashmere sweater that brought out his dreamy eyes. In comparison to Jon, he smelled great!

René and Jason arrived together. They spoke casually and laughed like old friends. Claire was surprised by the spike of jealousy that came over her.

Everyone greeted each other, and Jason’s eyes met Claire’s for a brief moment before he called the meeting to order, causing a quick release of butterflies in her stomach.

As with the last meeting, each member had their specific area of clinic business to report on. When it was Claire’s turn she was prepared with her spreadsheet and several surprising revelations about their clientele and herb-drug interactions.

“Though drug-to-drug interactions are usually more serious, many herbs can interfere with or create potential hazards for our patients,” she said. “For example, we know that grapefruit juice can cause abnormally high concentrations of certain drugs in the blood because it inhibits a specific liver enzyme. And did you know that some patients take grapefruit concentrate pills from the health store?”

She looked around the table and noticed a few raised eyebrows.

“We know to warn our patients on those specific medications to avoid grapefruit and grapefruit juice, but can we trust they’ll put two and two together about the Pill? And if we don’t know that our patient is taking, let’s say Goldenseal, when we prescribe them erythromycin for an infection, they may experience toxicity.” She glanced around the room, and found everyone, including Jason, to be listening intently. Fortunately, Gina was just as intent drawing yet another picture for her
new favorite person—Jason. “And it’s also important to be aware some herbs can greatly reduce the effectiveness of our prescribed medications.”

To conclude her report, she passed around her list of common herbs and potential drug interactions. “I’d like to make sure that every patient receives this flyer at each medical appointment to remind them to check with their doctor before starting a new herb. And I’d also like to say a word on behalf of the benefits of supplementing medical care with herbs. It has helped tremendously with my battle with Lupus. So herbs aren’t by any means all bad. We just have to stay on top of things where our clinic patients are concerned.”

“Thanks for this,” Jason said, speaking for the group. “How is the survey coming along?”

“We’ve got a few stragglers who have yet to send back their information. I’d like permission to work a few extra hours Saturday morning to call each of them and encourage them to fill them out and send them in.”

All the doctors nodded their approval.

At some point, during her presentation, Gina had wandered over to Jason and crawled into his lap again. He didn’t seem to mind. When Gina heard the trigger word, Saturday, she parroted Claire’s promise made earlier that evening.

“We go to park on Saturday.”

She’d forgotten! Now she’d promised to work Saturday, and Gina would be very disappointed.

All the other doctors had left, and Claire smiled ruefully at Jason.

“I totally forgot about taking Gina to play at the
park Saturday.” Before Claire could say another word, Gina broke in.

She jumped up and down. “Da park! Thwings.” She clapped her chubby hands.

“Maybe we can go on Sunday, honey,” Claire said, using her calming mother voice to help ward off the inevitable Hurricane Gina.

The child screwed up her face in preparation for crocodile tears. “Thwings,” she cried.

Jason tossed Claire an exasperated glance, then got down to Gina’s level and cupped her arms. He gazed into her big blue eyes. Without meaning to, Claire had put him on the spot. “I’ll take you to the park on Saturday so Mommy can work. OK?”