I bit the insides of my cheeks until I tasted blood.Please stop talking, Pen,I wanted to say. I tried to signal this with my eyes but to no avail.
“I told her she can call me anytime.”
“We’re actually going to have a little talk about performance,” Helen said.
“No,” I said. Both of my partners stared at me. I’d never been this…firm…the entire time I’d worked here. “Something—something’s come up. With me.” I cleared my throat. Something important.”
Just then, Edith, our sweet, gray-haired, bespectacled office manager, knocked on the door, waving a good old-fashioned pink slip, the way we still received our phone messages. “Here you go, Dr. Green. A message. They said it’s urgent.” She handed it to me. It was from Children’s Services, and it read,Home inspection tomorrow. Case worker coming at 4.Be ready.”
My heart leapt and sank at the same time—basically weaving like a basketball inside my chest. Up because something was getting done! Children’s Services was looking at my case, and a decision would follow.
And down because my house was…a disaster. And making it not a disaster by tomorrow would be…impossible.
“Oh, Dr. Green,” Edith said, “we heard from Dale that you’re working to adopt that little baby. How’s that going?”
Did I say Edith was sweet? I meant that she was a devil in disguise.
“Adopt a baby?” Helen asked, her sandwich literally falling from her mouth.Ew.
Pen added, “The baby that was surrendered?”
I nodded. “If things work out, I’m going to be able to be a foster mom. With the potential to adopt. That’s what I needed todiscuss today—I have a plan for finding a replacement for myself for the next month or so.” Which was all I could afford, since you had to be an adoptive mother to get real leave. “Would you like to hear it?”
“Oh, Ani,” Penelope said. “That’s amazing. Congratulations.” She was so nice. I wished that I could figure out how to help her.
“You’re a foster parent?” Helen asked with a frown.
“Daria Lowenstein is going to supervise me. She’ll be the foster parent on record. And hopefully I’ll get a chance to take over.”
“We’ll never find a locum now,” Helen said. “If we’re lucky, we can find people who are finishing their residencies and looking for a job. Everyone good is already hired by this time of year.”
“I’ll hire a headhunter,” I said, although I needed someonefast.
“Someone inquired about a job,” Helen said. “Edith, who was that guy who called the other day? He said he was headed out to LA in a few months but was looking to work in Oak Bluff until then.”
“Dylan Baird,” Edith confirmed, staring straight at me. She ran to her desk and returned with a few sheets of paper. “I’ve got his CV right here.”
I closed my eyes. Edith had been around town long enough to know why.
“Ani, are you okay?” Pen asked, immediately picking up on something.
“I know Dylan,” I hedged.
Pen practically jumped in her seat. “Is he a good doc? He’s a warm body. Let’s hire him!”
“Um, I’m not so sure?—”
“Why not?” Pen flipped through the papers. “He’s from a great program. He’s got great recs.”
Dylan had been my college sweetheart, the reason I’d applied to med school. He was a free spirit, very West-Coastian in his heart, very bohemian. “He’s my ex,” I said.
“Ex-boyfriend?” Helen asked. “Get over it.”
“No, ex-husband,” I said.
Penelope looked up. “Oh.”
Helen sighed heavily. “Did he cheat on you? Lie? Steal?”
