He didn’t, though. She’d shown up this morning with her camera, dressed in a chic pencil skirt and blouse with her hair in that tight bun, and informed him in no uncertain terms that he needed to workwithher today. If he didn’t, she’d said, she wouldn’t be able to help him.
So, Nathan was trying. Even though Zoe’s expectations were unreasonably high. Even though he was worried about sacrificing patient care. Even though, every time the camera came out, he felt like he was failing as a doctor.
“Fine,” he said. “Last time, Mrs. Gallagher.”
“No worries, Doc.” She smiled at him.
“Okay. Mrs. Gallagher, I love your smile, that’s great,” Zoe said. “Nathan, can you angle a little towards me and try to look like you didn’t just eat a lemon?”
Nathan’s gaze narrowed at her comment. He didn’t look like he’d just eaten a lemon. Right? Yet all of Zoe’s comments were about how he should smile or hold his arm in a different position or stop looking “like a robot.” What did that even mean? She was supposed to be good at this, but all of her comments just set him more on edge.
“Fine,” he said again. He angled towards her and tried to put on a friendly and approachable smile. Smiling came naturally to him — he automatically smiled at each of his patients, and he’d been told before that he had a friendly face. Now, though, he was so uncomfortable that it was like he was arranging facial features on a Mr. Potato Head instead of his own face.
Zoe snapped the shot and sighed. “That’s not bad. Now, Nathan, could you lean forward and put your hand on Mrs. Gallagher’s, like you’re supporting her through a difficult situation?”
“No, we’ve delayed long enough.” Nathan turned to Mrs. Gallagher. “You’re all good to go, ma’am. Would you please tell Maya to hold my next patient for a few minutes?”
“Sure, Doc.” Mrs. Gallagher made her way slowly out of the exam room. When the door finally shut behind her, Nathan rounded on Zoe, who was looking through photos on her camera and didn’t seem to notice how annoyed he was.
“What was that about?” he asked.
“Oh, no.” Zoe looked up at him, her brown eyes narrowed, her usually full, pink lips a thin line. “You don’t get to do that. You agreed to work with me today.”
“I agreed to work with you, but I didn’t agree to you trying to fabricate moments.”
“Seriously?” Zoe came around the exam table to stand next to him and held out the camera. She showed Nathan a few shots of him with patients, and evenhehad to admit that he looked a little stiff and uncomfortable. “These are the best shots I’ve got so far. If we don’t find a way to inject a little interest, the pitch is going to be all videos of you sitting and talking to patients or standing like a statue next to them. So, yes, that means manufacturing a few moments.”
“What do you mean, ‘inject a little interest’?” Nathan asked.
“I mean, we need some intrigue. Some drama. A patient with a serious illness that you alone can figure out. A secret relationship that adds spice to your life. At the very least, I need a few good shots of you holding babies and comforting kids.”
“Intrigue? Drama?” Nathan shook his head. “No.” He was still standing right next to Zoe so that he could look at the images on her camera, but he stepped away now. He needed to put space between them. “This is supposed to be a serious medical documentary. I want to show how my clinic works, what my patients are like, and how essential small places like this are for rural communities. We can highlight how I’m the closest doctor for miles and how many of these people can’t afford more expensive medical care.”
“That’s great, but it just isn’t interesting enough.”
“You promised me a platform to tell my story,” Nathan reminded her. “Interesting or not, this is my story.”
“Iwillgive you a platform,” Zoe said. She ran her hand over her hair, which was still pulled back in her tight bun. “But youneed to get people to pay attention first, before they’ll listen to what you have to say. That’s why we need a little drama, a little intrigue.”
Nathan took off his glasses and started polishing them on his lab coat. “I can take pictures with some babies.”
“Great. And we need something else… An unusual medical case. A small-town scandal.” Zoe began to pace, seemingly energized now that Nathan had agreed to at least one of her suggestions. “Maybe you can fake a relationship with someone, like your receptionist.”
“Maya?” Nathan took a step back, glasses forgotten in his hands. “What are you talking about? She’s more than a decade younger than me!”
“Exactly. That adds a good element of scandal.”
“No.” Nathan put his glasses back on. “Enough. I’m not going to fake an affair with Maya.”
“Fine. We can keep brainstorming. Even though you’re being a real stick-in-the-mud. You need to acknowledge that I’m the professional here and that you might have to do a few things differently than you usually would.”
“No,” Nathan repeated. “I think it’s time for you to go. We both need some space. We can meet tomorrow and discuss all this.” That discussion, Nathan had already decided, would involve him telling her in no uncertain terms that this wasn’t worth it. No matter how beautiful or charming or intelligent Zoe was, she’d gone too far by suggesting a fake relationship with Maya.
“Not good enough.” Zoe shook her head. “At some point, I need to get usable footage. You can’t keep sending me away whenever we disagree. I’m staying.”
Nathan forced himself to take a deep breath. “You can stay, but no interfering.”
“Can’t you just let me do my job?” Some of the annoyance drained out of Zoe’s voice, and her shoulders slumped a little. For the first time, she looked less like a quick-talking, charming PR manager and more like a real person. A wisp of blond hair escaped from her tight bun and fell to frame her face.
