“Uh, no. Honestly, I stopped seeing the specialists a while ago,” she confessed.
“Time allows the swelling from the trauma to go down. From your first scans to the last, your measurements decreased significantly. Before you get your hopes up, there’s a lot of testing.”
“No worries there. They’ve already broken the news to me. I’ve accepted it and there’s no need to repeat everything,” she said, already bored by this discussion.
“I work with a team of highly specialized surgeons. Dr. Winters calls upon us when he has a special case.”
She scoffed. “I assure you there’s nothing special about this. The explosion hit us out of nowhere, and thensomething fell on my head. I opened my eyes and I saw the smoke. It’s the last thing I saw.”
The door opened, and Doc Winters entered. “Hello, Issac. Sorry, I’ve kept you waiting.”
“Scarlett informed me you left to deal with a crisis. I hope everything’s all right. Leo didn’t set fire to anything again, did he?”
Doc laughed. “No. It seems we have a prankster in town. This time, he snuck onto the bread truck and poured a substance all over everything. The delivery man arrived with our order and opened his vehicle to find everything soaked.”
Dr. Warren sighed. “They seem to have it out for you. How many times have they ruined the hospital’s supplies?”
“This makes the fourth time this month. They hit the community center. We have cameras installed around the bakery and staff houses to identify the person responsible. It seems he knows how to evade them. Kassie called the police. With only two men on the force, it seems unlikely they’ll catch them. I called Leo and the team. They’ll arrive soon.”
“If anyone can get to the bottom of it, they will,” Dr. Warren assured him. “I spoke with Scarlett. We need new scans made to make an informed decision. She already has formed one of her own, I’m afraid. She’ll fit right in here with the Serenity ladies.”
“He’s referring to my wife and her friends. They tend to have an opinion on everything,” Doc said to Scarlett.
“Let’s not forget Kassie, Catherine, Melody, Emma, all have red hair. They’re very opinionated. Oh, and we can’t dismiss the bossy one…”
“Victoria,” Doc finished.
“Exactly. She’s a force to be reckoned with,” Dr. Warren exclaimed.
“It’s one way to describe her. I’m sureyou’ll meet the crew over the next few days. They tend to stop by,” Doc explained.
“With all of us redheads in the same room, it sounds like it may be dangerous,” she quipped.
“It usually is,” Doc laughed. “I’ll ask Claire, our psychiatrist, to take her to X-ray after they meet, and we’ll have the scans to you later today.”
Shocked at how fast this place worked, she sat up. “Why do we need any more? Several specialists already insisted I’m a lost cause.”
“No one’s a lost cause here,” Doc said firmly. “We only want to cover all our bases. Sometimes we find things others miss. Regardless, when you leave here, you’ll have all the skills you need to succeed.”
“I’ll pop in tomorrow on my way to Seattle. It’s nice to meet you, young lady,” Dr. Warren said as he left the room.
Doc sat on a stool and wheeled it toward her. “Sorry for the interruption. Kassie worried about the substance in the truck. One of the teens and the delivery driver touched it before she got there. Saint obtained a sample and will take it to Seattle to ascertain exactly what we’re dealing with. Don’t let it worry you. Usually, we’re a sleepy small town, except when Victoria and Ivan return.”
“The force to be reckoned with?” she asked.
“Exactly. You’ll know her right away. I reviewed your records and see you suffer from migraines frequently. Does anything help them?” he asked.
“Not really. I’ve tried all the normal routes and the usual medications. They started me on monthly injections, and it didn’t seem to help at all,” she informed him dismally.
“On a scale from one to ten, how bad do they get?” he asked.
“Ten, definitely.”
“How many times do you get them during a week, andhow long do they last?” he said. “I’m shining a light into your eye.” Doc tilted her head and examined each one.
“They last for hours and I tend to get them about three to four days a week,” she sighed, tired of repeating the same thing over and over.
“I know it seems redundant. Things can change and you admitted you stopped attending appointments,” he reminded her.
