She ducked out the door before I could make more of a fool of myself.
Way to go, Ash. Always great at first impressions.
I closed the file and put them back in the cabinet. There was no discernible order of the files in the drawers. Yet another thing to add to my to-do list.
For now, I should probably go meet some of my new patients and let them see my face. I grabbed a notepad and pen, slid them into my pocket, then exited my office to peer down the hall in both directions before heading toward the nurses. I scanned my entrance card and pushed through to the other side. The other side was empty, so I wandered until I found a single patient in the social room, watched over by the stone-faced Nurse Styx.
I caught her eye and gave her a smile. She smiled back tentatively and then seemed to remember herself. I continued my exploration. The place was similar to most hospitals, if those hospitals had as big aesthetic budgets as they did medical supply budgets. Past the social room started several patient rooms. As far as my research went, this was a quiet hospital with few patients and very generous donors. Which usually meant we had a celebrity hidden in our midst. The few encounters I’d had with celebrity patients always ended the same way. A lawyer checking them out, declaring themselves cured without a doctor’s input at all. I wasn’t looking forward to meeting him or her. I turned and headed back toward the nurse stations. Nurse Minthe was gone.
Styx now sat behind the desk. She quirked an eyebrow at me. “Can I help you, doctor?”
“No, thank you. I’m just exploring, getting to know the place.”
She continued reading her book, and I went around to check out the patient rooms on the other side. I didn’t open any doors, just walked from one end of the hall to the other, and returned. The grey lady didn’t look up as I scanned back through the door toward my office. I found my way back and closed the door behind me.
I was supposed to eat lunch with the trustees soon, something I wished I could get out of. And afterward, one of my first patient sessions. The only bit of the day I looked forward to.
I sat behind the desk again feeling restless, itchy. My mind strayed back to the woman from last night. She seemed troubled, but hopefully, she got as good as she gave. I could still feel the echo of her skin flush with mine. I wondered if I went back to the bar, if she’s be there again, and up for another round.
A speaker went off somewhere, and I pulled myself from the memory of her with reluctance. I stared at the file cabinet, not sure I was ready to take on that herculean task just yet. Shouts echoed down the hall, and I caught the sound of rubber soles on linoleum. Running. I vaulted around my desk toward the door. The hall was empty by the time I poked my head out. I went to the nurse’s station and peered over the counter. “What’s going on?”
Minthe now, who jerked at the sound of my voice. “Nothing but the usual. Our resident celebrity just arrived for her annual stint still half drunk. She knows she’s not supposed to drink with her medications.”
She didn’t sound too concerned. “Should I go check on her?”
She waved me off. “No, she’ll sleep it off, and then we can start her on her usual regime once all the alcohol and god knows what else is out of her system.”
“Did you say annual stint? Who is she?”
She leaned closer and the scent of mint wafted from her skin. “She’s some high profile senator’s daughter. I heard the senator is about to make a bid for president.”
Her answer told me nothing about my patient. Which concerned me. If the staff only cared about her mother, what were they doing to help her?
I peered down the now silent hall. All my instincts were telling me to check on this poor girl. “Can I have her file please?”
With eyebrows raised and lips pursed, she stared at me for a heartbeat, then slid her chair to a cabinet and grabbed a manila file from the holding tray. She pushed off the cabinet back toward the desk and offered it to me.
I gave her a smile to hopefully lessen the sting of my doing what she said was futile. Her cute blush told me I’d been forgiven already.
I turned the corner and walked slowly toward her room as I scanned: Kory Persephone Sito. When she said some kind of celebrity, I didn’t actually expect to recognize the name. I’d seen her mother on TV before I left for work. How had she committed her daughter and made a TV appearance within hours?
I kept reading. Self-admitted then… How often did that happen, and why did she admit herself every six months? More questions bloomed in my head as I walked. This was the same patient who I’d found stuffed in my filing cabinet. Except this record was more thorough and even more confusing.
No diagnosis, her medications didn’t make sense, and the session notes seemed perfunctory. Not a single observation from the last doctor, nothing. What the hell?
I stopped outside her door, all was quiet now. They’d give her a sedative, but if Minthe’s accusations were true, the woman likely needed an IV drip and cup of coffee.
I knocked softly, and a quiet reply called, “Come in.”
As I pushed the door open, she was already speaking. “I don’t know why you bother knocking when we know you’re going to enter anyway.”
I froze, hand on the door, and stared at the small woman sitting on the bed surrounded by books.
The woman I kissed last night. The woman I still tasted, and felt, and desired. The woman who could now completely ruin me.
She tilted her head to the side and studied me. “Long night, doctor?”
Her words from last night the ice cold slap I needed to jolt me into action. “Sorry I…”
