Page 55 of The Love We Deny
“Huh.”
Chapter 15
Interviews between patients make for a stressful day, but it’ll be worth it in the end.
Will finished the last exam room a week ago, and the inside of the building no longer looks like a construction site.
It’s actually starting to look like a place someone might want to come for their healthcare. That was always the plan. Jess and I would open our own practice where I would be the doctor, and she would work as a nurse a few times a week.
It was our dream.
Now it’s becoming something without her, all thanks to Will.
I try not to think about that much.
I’ve posted listings for a nurse practitioner and a nurse, and I’ve actually received quite a few responses and have four interviews lined up for today, back to back, between patients.
“Does this mean I’m getting fewer hours?” Victoria asks, when I tell her, a hint of concern in her voice.
“It means you’re getting help.” She seems to find that acceptable, but I know she worries about money, being in school full time, and needing to help out with bills at home. I would never do anything to jeopardize her job.
The first two interviews are both nice, but not really what I’m looking for. A recently retired doctor looking for part-time work, and a young woman who just graduated from nursing school, who I think needs a bit more experience.
The third one is Nora.
She’s in her early thirties, professional, and answers my questions easily. She has ten years of experience working at a practice in the next town over, but would like to move closer to home.
“What made you want to work in family medicine?” I ask.
“You really get to know your patients. And they’re what this is all about.”
She asks good questions that even I have to think about, and I’m honest with her. That it’s a new business and it’s not perfect, but we care about what we do here and hope to grow more and more in the following years.
She seems like she isn’t scared of that.
I tell her I’ll be in touch by the end of the week, but I know I’ve found the perfect fit. I almost cancel the last interview.
Until twenty minutes later, I look out the window of my office and find Nora still standing outside on the walkway, talking to Will.
He’s got his arms crossed, his hands covered with a pair of gloves. He looks…very good. And she’s laughing at something he said. He’s smiling too, wide and unguarded, and I hate every second of what is happening out there.
I can’t look away.
Will comes in from working outside around five, when the last patient has left, and Victoria is walking out the door. I hear him say something to her on the way out, and even though I normally would, I don’t look up.
He’s been fixing the gutters today, something he noticed last week that I never had, and added it to the long list of things wrong with the place he keeps in his phone. He drops his tools onto the front desk, and from where I’m sitting, I can see hisshirt ride up when he stretches, but I force my attention on the computer.
“Done for the day.”
“Mhm,” I say, typing my email, forgetting letters, but determined not to look at him. If he wants to talk to someone, maybe he should talk toNora.
“Rough day?” he asks, drumming his fingers on the desk.
“Fine. Stop doing that.”
He taps harder to spite me, watching in silence, and I’m starting to regret ever hiring him. He’s annoying, and he taps on things, and he’s using the jobIgave him to pick up women.
“You hire anybody yet?”
