He shook his head and put his phone in his back pocket. He was in town anyway for a doctor’s appointment. It wouldn’t hurt to grab Meredith and take her out to eat as his mother said.
The excitement in her voice just now told him he might not be putting enough into this.
But he went to dinner with her parents yesterday. What more did anyone want?
He walked in the door of the medical arts building, went to his doctor’s office and gave his name, then took a seat.
The last thing he wanted to do was to keep this appointment when he had enough shit to do in a day, but he came once a year, had all the normal crap done, then went on his way.
No way he was letting Blaze give him a hard time over skipping out on it. He was in perfect health. At least physically. He was positive he was getting there mentally now too.
Which went right back to Meredith and that he should put more effort in.
His name was called by a young nurse. She was grinning at him when he stood up.
“I’m Evelyn. I’ll be your nurse today. We need to get you on the scale first.”
His blood pressure and pulse were perfect like always. He answered all the questions again that he’d preregistered, not sure why he had to waste ten minutes doing that if he was going to have to here.
“The doctor will be in shortly,” Evelyn said, pulling out a gown and handing it over. “Everything off but your underwear.”
“I know the deal,” he said.
He undressed and put his clothes on the chair, threw the gown on and tried not to have flashbacks of all his physicals in the service. Where you waited for one minor thing to come back and you’d be off the team.
Or benched until everything was perfect again.
“I’m Dr. Black. We haven’t met yet.”
He shook hands with the young guy. “Nice to meet you. Is Dr. Zang off?”
“He actually relocated. The same with me. I started a few weeks ago and am doing a few days a week here, the rest of the time in Glens Falls,” Dr. Black said. “I have to say, I noticed the name. How common is Ridgeway around here? I’m friends with Dr. Ridgeway at the hospital in Glens Falls. He is the one who reached out with the opening.”
“My brother,” he said.
“I thought so,” Dr. Black said. “I can see the resemblance. Your brother and I go way back. Good guy.”
“He can be,” he said. “Forces my butt here or I get a lecture.”
“I’ll make it as painless as possible.”
They went through all the routine questions and exams, then Dr. Black stopped typing into his laptop. “Everything okay?”
“I know you were in the Navy. Not just from Blaze, but your records. It’s a safe space, but I know it’s hard for people to talk about this. You could go to the VA but came here. Can I ask why?”
“This is closer,” he said. And he didn’t want to deal with all the damn questions he was most likely going to get now.
“And less intrusive,” Dr. Black said. “Got it. Anything you want to share or just move on?”
“I’m good,” he said. He could confidently say that. “Better than I was two years ago if that helps.”
Dr. Black nodded his head. “I’m here if you find you’re not. But I’m positive you can go to your brother also.”
“I could,” he said. “I don’t need to.”
But Blaze would be the one he’d talk to before anyone else. He wasn’t so afraid to talk as his family feared.
It had more to do with working it out on his own.
