A Second Chance For The Single Dad

Chapter Two

The Orthopedic Surgeons Medical Building was a square white building that had only two floors. The bottom floor housed an outpatient operating facility as well as an area where MRIs and other diagnostic scans were taken. The front of the second floor was a communal reception area where patients could sign in and then wait to be taken through the double doors to the myriad of rooms that honeycombed the rear of the floor. That was where a variety of orthopedic doctors, each with his or her own specialty, would see them.

When the elevator doors opened on the second floor, the solemn-looking man riding up with her put his hand out again, this time to assure that the car’s doors would remain open. Then he stared at her, waiting.

“Oh.” Kayley had been lost in thought, but now she came alive, realizing that the strikingly handsome man was holding the doors open for her. “Thank you,” she told him quickly, hurrying out of the elevator.

“Don’t mention it,” the man murmured in a deep voice that seemed to surround her even though there was all this wide-open space around her.

As she tried to orient herself, the first thing Kayley saw was a long dark teak reception desk. There were currently three women seated there, each incredibly perky looking and each busily engaged, typing on computer keyboards.

Kayley waited until one of them was free and then walked up her. It was a petite brunette with lively green eyes.

Giving her a cursory glance, the brunette asked, “Name?”

It had been several years since she’d had to go through the interview process. Kayley felt the tips of her fingers grow icy as she answered, “Kayley Quartermain.”

The receptionist skimmed a list she pulled up on her screen. Frowning, she looked up again and asked, “And you’re here to see...?”

She’d memorized everything on the piece of paper Aunt Maizie had handed her, but she still looked down at it before answering.

“Dr. Dolan.” It felt as if the man’s name was sticking to the roof of her mouth.

The receptionist pulled up a new list, this one apparently highlighting that particular doctor’s schedule for the day. If anything, the frown on her lips deepened.

“Are you sure you have an appointment?” the woman asked. “I don’t see you on Dr. Dolan’s list.”

“I’m sure,” Kayley told her. “I called your office to verify the appointment yesterday afternoon.”

The receptionist shrugged and reached toward a shelf where two sets of forms were stacked. “New patient or follow-up?” she asked.

“Oh.” It dawned on Kayley that the receptionist was making a mistake. “Neither.”

Confusion creased the young woman’s high forehead. “Well, then, I’m afraid that you can’t—”

“No, you don’t understand,” Kayley said, cutting her short. “I’m applying for the position of Dr. Dolan’s physician’s assistant,” she explained. “I was told he was looking for one.” Then, to back up her claim, she added, “I emailed him my résumé.”

The receptionist instantly became friendlier. “Boy, is Rachel going to be happy to see you,” she said with enthusiasm.

“Rachel?” Kayley asked uncertainly, not sure what the receptionist was telling her.

“That’s Dr. Barrett’s physician’s assistant,” the receptionist explained. “She’s helping Dr. Dolan out until he finds his own PA. But she’s also working for Dr. Barrett and between the two, she can hardly draw two breaths consecutively.” The receptionist lowered her voice. “The poor thing’s worn out,” she confided.

Kayley nodded sympathetically. “Hopefully, she’ll be able to draw a lot of consecutive breathes shortly.”

“Yes.” The receptionist offered her a quick one-size-fits-all smile and then told her, “Please take a seat in the waiting room. Someone will be with you very shortly.”

The “someone” turned out to be the physician’s assistant who was currently juggling patients for both Dr. Dolan and Dr. Barrett.

Young and undoubtedly vibrant, Rachel Mathews fairly burst through the double doors that led to the back offices.

After a brief word with the receptionist, the beleaguered physician’s assistant made eye contact with her and immediately broke out in a huge relieved smile. Rather than standing and waiting by the door to the back rooms, Rachel swiftly came up to her and put her hand out as she asked hopefully, “You’re the one here about the opening for a physician’s assistant?”

“Yes, that’s—”

Rachel wouldn’t even let her finish her sentence. Judging by the young woman’s expression, Kayley had the feeling that Rachel was fighting the urge to throw her arms around her.

As it was, Rachel cried, “Thank God! I don’t think I could have taken one more week of doing double duty.” She shook her hand vigorously. Again, the woman seemed as if she was on the verge of embracing her.

Had she already landed the position? Kayley asked herself. Granted, she was very proud of her medical skills and what she had learned during the last round of courses she had taken to improve upon her degree, but there was no way that this Rachel person could know that. For all she knew, Kayley could have fabricated everything on her résumé.

“Come with me,” Rachel told her. “I’ll take you to the back and you can tell me about yourself.”

“It’s all there, in my résumé,” Kayley told the back of Rachel’s head as the PA led the way through a maze that eventually brought them to a room in the extreme rear.

“It’s always good to get the feel of a person,” Rachel said. “Looking into a person’s eyes tells me more than the words on any résumé.”

Taking her into what was clearly an exam room, complete with a monitor that highlighted X-ray films, Rachel gestured for her to take a seat.

“You can sit on either the chair or the exam table, whatever makes you feel the most comfortable.” It was obvious by her mechanical tone that she recited those words to anyone she brought into either of the two doctors’ exam rooms.

“I’ll take the chair,” Kayley told her. Sitting on the table would make her feel too vulnerable. As it was, she could feel her fingertips getting cold again.

She handed the woman a copy of the résumé she’d sent the doctor by email and then braced herself for a shower of questions.

The shower didn’t come.

Instead, Rachel just began to talk to her. “Dr. Dolan is a really nice man. But the poor man’s sad. Very sad. He’s going through a rough patch. You shouldn’t take that as any kind of reflection on you,” Rachel warned.

After having given up a rather lucrative, promising position for a prominent doctor to come back home and nurse her mother, she couldn’t afford to be overly picky. Her mother had left her a little bit of money in her will, so there was no need to sell her soul—not until the end of next month, at any rate.

“Is there a reason why he’s so sad?” Kayley asked, wondering if there was something that she should know ahead of time. She didn’t want to inadvertently make a tactless remark.

“An excellent reason,” Rachel told her. “The doctor’s wife was in a car accident and died. His four-year-old daughter was in the car at the time, too, although she’s all right now—at least that’s what I’ve heard,” Rachel said in a lowered voice. “If you ask me,” she continued in an even lower voice, “the doctor blames himself for not being there when it happened.”

“There probably wasn’t anything he could have done at the time, anyway,” Kayley said, thinking of her mother and how hard she’d tried to find a way to get that awful disease to go into remission.

“You’re probably right,” Rachel agreed. “But word has it that’s not the way he feels, which is all that counts. Anyway—” the physician’s assistant shifted her focus and skimmed over the copy of the résumé that Kayley had just handed her “—everything looks in order and I, for one, would love to have you on board,” she said with a great deal of enthusiastic sincerity. “But you understand, the doctor has to have the final say.”

“Of course,” Kayley concurred. She expected nothing less. “To be honest, I thought he’d be the one conducting the interview.”

“He’s still with his patient, but he’ll be here,” Rachel promised. “He’ll probably ask you a couple of things,” the young woman told her. “And, just so that you know, for some reason he turned down the other five applicants.”

That didn’t sound promising, Kayley thought, her uneasiness growing, although she managed to keep it from Rachel.

“Was there a reason?” she asked, wanting to know what she was up against. If she knew, she might be able to be more in line with what the surgeon was seeking.

But Rachel shook her head. She seemed really disappointed that she couldn’t offer anything helpful. “Not that he said. He just shook his head after each of the people he interviewed had left and murmured, ‘Not the one.’ I thought for sure he clicked with Albert,” Rachel told her, and then sighed, “but I was wrong.”

“Albert?” she asked.

At least the doctor had no preconceived notions about the person he was looking for to fill the position. If he had, he wouldn’t have interviewed a man for it—or if he had set notions, he might have only interviewed men for the job.

Rachel nodded. “Albert was the last PA who applied.”

This was not shaping up to be particularly encouraging. But then, if this didn’t work out, she would be no worse off than she was right now. Besides, she had a ton of her mother’s things to go through and if worse came to worse, that would take up a good amount of her time. At least she would stay busy until she was able to find a job.

“Wait right here,” Rachel said, about to leave the room. “Dr. Dolan will be with you as soon as he finishes up with his patient,” she assured her.

The moment she said the words, Rachel suddenly turned rather pale. “Omigod, I forgot he asked me to bring the last X-rays for Mr. Mulroney.” She began to rush out of the room, pausing only to toss a few last words over her shoulder. “I really hope you get this job.”

The corners of Kayley’s mouth curved ever so slightly as she watched the other woman dash out. “Me too, Rachel,” she said, knowing that the PA was no longer in earshot. “Me too.”

Kayley sat back in her chair and waited.

And waited.

After twenty minutes, she started to grow rather restless. She also started to think that very possibly, she had gotten lost in the shuffle. When she’d come in, she had noticed that there were probably more than two dozen people sitting outside in the waiting room. And although there appeared to be about ten or eleven physicians presently in the building, she could see how she might have just gotten overlooked or even fallen through the cracks.

For the next five minutes, Kayley debated between waiting in the room quietly and going out to see if perhaps her theory was right and she had been forgotten about.

Since she wasn’t the type to simply sit on her hands, choice number two won.

Picking up her shoulder bag, Kayley got up and went to the door. She pulled it open with the intention of heading back to the reception desk to find out what was going on.

It all happened so fast her brain almost went numb.

She got as far as taking one step out of the exam room when she walked straight into a tall athletic man in a white lab coat. The scent of musky aftershave immediately filled her senses.

It was the same man she had shared the elevator with, she realized.

The man wasn’t a patient. He was a doctor.

Was he her doctor? she couldn’t help wondering, still trying to get her bearings.

“Hey, slow down,” he cautioned, catching hold of her by her shoulders to steady her. “You create quite a jolt when you walk into a person.”

Startled, Kayley tried to back up. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to walk into you.”

“Well, that’s comforting,” he commented drolly. Dropping his hands to his sides, he said, “Rachel tells me that you’re here to talk about the physician’s assistant opening in the staff.”

As subtly as she could, she drew in a breath and then answered, “Yes, I am.”

Nodding, the doctor gestured toward the chair. “Please, sit down.”

Kayley turned and went back into the room, feeling as if she were moving in slow motion. She took a seat as he’d instructed.

Looking up, she saw that the doctor had followed her in and sat down on a stool, the seat she assumed he would have taken when talking with a patient.

He skimmed the résumé that she’d sent via email and that he’d printed up. “I see that all of your experience has been in San Francisco.” Setting the paper down, he stared at her. There wasn’t even a hint of a smile in his expression. “Why did you leave your last place of employment?”

“I had to,” she told him simply.

“Had to?” Luke repeated. The first thing that occurred to him was that she had been asked to leave. “Were you terminated?”

His question jolted her. “Oh no, I wasn’t fired. I found out that my mother had cancer and I came back to take care of her.”

He gave no indication of what he was thinking when he began to ask, “Did she—”

“Make it?” Kayley supplied, guessing at what the doctor was about to ask. She shook her head. “No, she didn’t.”

“Oh.” That wasn’t what he’d been expecting to hear. Over the last nine months, he felt as if everyone had gone on with their lives and he was the only one to have faced such a glaring loss.

The situation felt awkward and for a moment, he had no idea what to say. Finally, he told her, “Well, at least you got to be with her before she passed on.” With all his heart, he wished that he had had that same good fortune. There were so many things that had been left unsaid. He would have given anything to have had even just one last day with Jill.

But that simply wasn’t in the cards.

“Yes, I did,” Kayley replied. What else could she have said? she thought, shifting in her seat.

“So, why are you looking for a position in Bedford?” he asked her bluntly. “Why not just go back to the Bay Area?”

No small talk here. The man’s bedside manner really needed work. But then, she wasn’t looking for a friend, Kayley reminded herself. She was looking for an employer.

“Well, I’m originally from around here. Staying in Bedford just seemed like the right thing to do. To be honest, I like living in Southern California a lot more than living up in San Francisco. I find that the people are friendlier—and the weather is certainly better,” she ended with a smile.

There wasn’t a single shred of emotion on his face as he said, “I see.”

She could see that her answer had made the man thoughtful and she couldn’t imagine why it would have that kind of an effect on him. She wasn’t certain exactly what sort of an answer the doctor wanted. All that she could do was be honest.

“And, when you get right down to it, this is home,” she added, hoping to move the interview along past what was clearly a sticking point for the doctor for some reason.

Luke nodded. Her response had reminded him that he hadn’t been able to get back for Jill’s last breath, her last moments.

Realizing that he’d been silent longer than he’d intended, Luke picked up her résumé again and took a breath.

“I’m going to have to check these references out,” he informed her.

She’d been braced for a rejection, and she instantly perked up. “Of course.” He sounded as if he was about to get up and leave the room. “Is there anything you want to ask me while I’m here?”

“Yes.” He looked into her eyes, trying not to get lost in them. “Why a physician’s assistant? Why not a doctor?”

“Frankly, there wasn’t enough money for me to go to medical school for the length of time it would take me to become a doctor. I was working part-time already and I didn’t want to incur a staggering debt that was going to follow me around for the next thirty or so years.” She smiled as she added, “Becoming a physician’s assistant was as close to becoming a doctor as I could get. And I was always interested in helping people. In healing them.”

For a long moment, the doctor merely stared at her. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking and she wondered if she had talked too much.

Mentally, Kayley crossed her fingers.

Chapter Three

There was a knock on the exam room door and the next moment, Rachel stuck her head in.

“I’m really sorry to interrupt, Doctor, but your next patient is getting very restless. Mr. Jeffers says he has an appointment with his lawyer right after he sees you and he’s worried that he’s going to be late. His lawyer charges by the quarter of the hour—whether he’s there or not.”

Having delivered her message, Rachel flashed an apologetic look in Kayley’s direction.

Luke rose from his stool. “Tell Mr. Jeffers I’ll be right with him.” Turning back to Kayley, he told her, “Thank you for coming in, Ms. Quartermain. I’ll be in touch.”

Her heart sank a little. Kayley knew what that meant: Don’t hold your breath.

Still, she wasn’t about to be rude. There was protocol to follow. Kayley forced a smile to her lips and went through the motions.

“I’ll look forward to your call, Doctor,” she told him—or rather his back because Dr. Dolan was already walking out the door and on his way to his impatient patient.

“Well, I tried,” she murmured, sticking her hands into her pockets. Her right hand touched the penny she’d found right outside the office. “I guess this wasn’t our lucky day after all, Mom,” she whispered just before she walked out of the exam room.

* * *

Giving in to impulse, Kayley stopped at the supermarket and picked up a consoling pint of rum raisin ice cream. She was tempted to buy two, but she knew that she had absolutely no willpower when she felt this disappointed. That meant that if she bought two pints, she would wind up eating two pints—in one sitting.

Keeping this in mind, Kayley restrained herself, took only the single pint to the checkout counter and then hurried out of the store before she weakened and went back for another one.

With the supermarket doors closing behind her, she stepped off the curb—and saw yet another penny.

“Nice try, Mom,” she said with a touch of sarcasm. “But I’m not buying it.”

Kayley walked right by the lone penny and was halfway to her car when her desire to think the best of every situation got the better of her. She stopped, turned around and retraced her steps until she was looking down at the penny again.

Picking the coin up, she found that unlike the shiny one she’d found earlier in front of the medical building, this one was old, worn and sticky. Apparently, some sort of gummy substance had been spilled on it.

Still, now that she’d picked it up, she couldn’t just toss it aside. Holding on to the coin, she headed back to where she had parked her car.

“Okay, so sue me. I’m an idiot and I have to believe in something,” she muttered as she opened her car. “I have to believe it’s going to be all right.”

Leaning over in her seat, she put the pint of ice cream on the passenger-side floor. Then she buckled up and drove home planning her evening: consuming a pint of rum raisin ice cream and watching an old movie on one of the classic-movie channels.

* * *

Her landline was ringing when she walked in.

Hoping against hope, Kayley dropped her purse on the floor next to the door and, still carrying the bag of ice cream, she quickly made her way over to the phone that was sitting on one of the two side tables bracketing the sofa.

Kayley grabbed the receiver and uttered a breathless “Hello?”

“How did it go?” the cheerful, maternal voice on the other end of the line asked.

Kayley suppressed the sigh that rose to her lips. It was her fairy godmother, calling to check on her. She should have guessed.

“I don’t know yet,” she told Maizie, temporarily sinking down on the sofa. She tried not to sound as dejected as she felt when she added, “Dr. Dolan said they’d be in touch.”

“Yes, but how did it go?” Maizie repeated with a touch of eagerness in her voice. “You must have some sort of impression about the way the interview with Dr. Dolan went.”

“As a matter of fact, yes, I do,” Kayley answered. “It went fast.”

There was a pause on Maizie’s end. “I’m not sure I understand,” she said.

“The doctor squeezed my interview between seeing two patients. That didn’t exactly give him much time to talk to me,” Kayley explained. Then, because Maizie had gone out of her way to arrange this interview for her, Kayley decided that it was only right to give her godmother a few more details. “He came in, looked over the copy of my résumé that he’d printed out and asked a couple of questions.”

“What kind of questions?” Maizie asked.

She told her godmother the first thing that she remembered. “Dr. Dolan wanted to know why I left San Francisco.”

It was obvious by the tone of Maizie’s response that the woman thought this was a good thing. There was almost excitement in the older woman’s voice as she asked, “And did you tell him that it was to nurse your poor sick mother?”

“Yes, I did, Aunt Maizie,” Kayley replied dutifully, smiling at the question.

There was a time when she would have resented being treated like a child, but now that her mother was gone, she had to admit she rather liked it. It took her back to when she was younger and was still someone’s little girl. Something that she was never going to be again, she thought sadly.

“And what did he say?”

“Something strange, actually,” Kayley answered. “I’m paraphrasing but he said that at least I was lucky enough to be able to be there to share some time with my mother before she died.”

“That’s because he was serving overseas when his wife was killed,” Maizie told her.

Kayley was surprised that Maizie knew that. But then again, Maizie always seemed to know everything.

“The physician’s assistant he’s sharing with another doctor told me something about that,” Kayley admitted.

Maizie’s tone brightened a little as she asked, “And then what did he say?”

“He didn’t,” Kayley told her. “He became very quiet and just stared at my résumé. Then the physician’s assistant stuck her head in to tell him that his next patient was becoming restless. That’s when Dr. Dolan thanked me for coming in and told me that he would be in touch.” Kayley sighed deeply. She was feeling rather dejected. This was the first interview she’d landed since her mother had died and it hadn’t gone very well. “Doesn’t sound very hopeful, does it, Aunt Maizie?” she asked.

“Oh, on the contrary, dear. It sounds very hopeful,” Maizie assured her. “Just remember, not everyone jumps into things the way you and I do,” she told her goddaughter. “Some people are quite slow and deliberate. They need to think things over before they make a decision.”

Kayley really wanted to believe that, but she didn’t quite see it that way. “The other physician’s assistant told me that Dr. Dolan had already interviewed five other candidates for the position and he’d turned each one of them down.”

“Did she happen to tell you why?” Maizie asked.

Kayley sighed again, feeling more and more certain that she was never going to hear from the doctor again—or if she did, it was going to be because he was turning her down and he didn’t like leaving any loose ends.

“No, she hadn’t a clue.”

As was her custom—because she had always been such an optimist—Maizie took the information in stride. “Well, you’ll get the job, dear. He rejected the first five applicants. Six is your lucky number.”