Gabe couldn't help wincing as the doctor listed his daughter's injuries.
"She's been in a rehabilitation center for eight weeks, but she'll be coming home soon and will need extensive physical therapy. Making the trip to Pasco three times a week will be more than she's capable of for some time."
So, this is personal to the doctor.
Extensive therapy meant Gabe would have job security for a time, but then what? Would he end up having to close the office, because they didn't have enough clients to warrant keeping it open? That wouldn't look good on his resume.
Dr. Young must have sensed his concerns. "Providence is growing. Initially, we'd only require you to have the office open three days a week with extended hours to accommodate patients' work schedules, but if the need grows great enough, we'd welcome a full-time PT office."
Extended hours would mean long days for him, but it’d be worth it for his own space. He knew better than to get his hopes up for a full-time office though.
"You'd finally have your own office," Dr. Stoker said, reading Gabe’s thoughts. "And of course, I can always use you here on the other two days of the week. Your leaving will put me in a bind, but I think you should take advantage of this opportunity."
Gabe let out a deep breath and studied the industrial carpet in front of him. The whole thing sounded almost too good to be true.
It's not like he had a social life that would suffer. He'd hardly dated since Harper left him standing at the altar six years ago. And he'd still be able to spend time with his mom and sister on the weekends.
Mom.
All he'd ever wanted was to make her proud. Opening his own PT office would do that.
Dr. Young cleared his throat. "I'm prepared to offer a 'sign-on bonus.'"
Gabe lifted his head to find the older man making air quotes.
"As an incentive, or whatever you want to call it, to sweeten the deal."
"I'm listening."
Dr. Young threw out a figure that was more than Gabe made in a year. He could pay off his student loans and his car.
Dr. Stoker let out a long, low whistle. "If Gabe doesn't want the position in Providence, I'll take it." He chuckled and gave Gabe a look that said he’d be crazy to turn this down. And he was right.
"I’ll do it.” Gabe locked gazes with Dr. Young's intense blue ones, hoping he didn’t end up regretting this down the road.
CHAPTER 2
Gabe took a final look around the office that smelled like new carpet and vinyl furniture to make sure everything was ready for patients. He let out a sigh. It had been a busy two weeks. The gym wasn't as large as the one in Pasco, but it had all the latest and greatest equipment.
He opened his laptop and clicked on the email Dr. Young sent a few days ago. He'd been so busy getting the new office set up while still logging hours at the office in Pasco that he hadn't had time to look over Paige Young's medical information.
The more he read, the more he realized Paige was lucky to be alive. She'd suffered internal bleeding with multiple pelvic and femoral fractures, in addition to wrecking her right shoulder. The girl had more metal plates, rods, and screws in her body than the weight sets mounted to the wall. Sympathy filled him for a patient he had yet to meet.
The door opened behind Gabe, and a rush of air swept through the room.
"Hey, Gabe. This is a change, huh?" Luke Morrell, one of the assistants from the Pasco office, set his backpack and helmet down behindthe receptionist's desk in the corner and peeled off his leather bike jacket before turning on the computer.
"Tell me about it. I can't recall the last time I stood in an empty PT office." Gabe looked around again, feeling a sense of pride laced with a side of panic. The emotions simultaneously took his breath away and made him want to throw up. Could he really make this a profitable office? "Did you complete all the training you were supposed to do?"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean I won't still have questions or find a way to screw things up. I'm a PT assistant, not a receptionist."
"Me either. But we get to do double duty for a while until we're busy enough to require our own receptionist."
"Come on. You know that's never going to happen." Luke tapped a few keys on the computer. "We have a total of six people on the schedule today."
That's three more than I expected.
"I know." Gabe shook his head. "Which means we are going to take very good care of them. At least you get paid whether we have patients or not."
