Fuck, maybe Mia was right. Maybe I was nuts. Maybe I shouldn’t be working like this. I hadn’t missed anything, the pregnancy test notwithstanding. But I was being sued for malpractice, and my head wasn’t in the game like it should be. I was operating from constant fear I was going to fuck up instead of a competent physician looking to treat and help people.
“Your girlfriend is here,” Peggy said with a nod toward a curtained off exam area.
For a minute, I thought of Mia. Of course, she wasn’t my girlfriend. Peggy’s smirk told me it was Joyce. Jesus, just what I needed. Then again, chances were Joyce wasn’t sick. She was just here for her monthly Dr. Foster fix. On the other hand, what if she was sick and I missed it? It was wrong of me to dismiss her. Yes, she was the girl that cried wolf, but that didn’t mean she was lying every time. Fucking A I was a mess.
“You all right, Dr. Foster? I can see if someone else will see her,” Peggy said.
“I’ll see her.” Get a grip, Foster, I told myself. I went to the curtain and entered. “Ms. Maynard. What seems to be the problem today.”
“Oh Dr. Foster, I’m so glad you’re here. I was afraid you’d be on administrative leave or something.” She sat on the exam table in a tight-fitting tennis dress. The hem barely reached mid-thigh. The top buttons were undone, showing off her ample cleavage.
I quirked a brow. “Why?”
She looked at me for a moment and then shook her head. “Nothing. I think I sprained my ankle.”
“Let’s take a look,” I said, reaching down to her ankle. She’d already taken off her shoe and sock.
“You have such warm strong hands,” she cooed as I held her leg at the calf and did a visual exam.
For once she did seem to have signs of injury as the ankle was swollen and bruised. “Can you move your toes?”
She waggled her toes painted with bubble gum pink polish. “I guess it’s good I had a pedicure,” she said.
“Does it hurt when I do this?” I touched various parts of her foot and ankle, noting when she winced or told me it was sore.
When I was done, my instinct said sprained ankle. Before Ms. Mason’s death, I’d have said sprained ankle, wrapped it, and prescribed pain reliever, elevation, and ice. Today, I looked at the swelling and bruising and wondered if I should get an x-ray.
“Are you able to put any weight on it at all?” I asked.
“It hurts when I do,” she said, lifting her foot to my groin level. I put my hand under it before she got any ideas.
“On a scale from one to ten, how painful?” I asked, lowering her foot and going to the computer to enter the information.
“Eleven. I should probably stay for observation.” She leaned forward, and I wondered if she had a sports bra on because it looked like her tits were about to come out of her top. “You know, Dr. Foster, I don’t believe what people are saying about you making a mistake and causing Ms. Mason’s death. She was so old.”
I gritted my teeth. How fucked up was the world that one person who supported me was the one I didn’t want on my side.
“It must be so hard to have the whole town talking about you like that,” she finished.
Fuck. The whole town? “I’m going to order an x-ray just to make sure there isn’t a fracture.”
“So, I needed to stay a little bit?”
“Yes. I don’t think there’s a fracture. If not, we’ll have your ankle wrapped and send you home with some pain reliever. But no tennis for a while.”
“How will I get my exercise?” Her foot reached out and touched my shoulder.
I closed my eyes, willing God to give me strength. I typed in the order for the x-ray and then stood, moving away from her.
“I’m going to call up to make sure they’ve received the order and find out how long it will be.”
“I’ll be here,” she smiled seductively.
I left the area, reminding myself to keep the curtain open when I returned after the x-ray. I called up and verified the test would be done within the next thirty minutes or so. I wished I’d called up the day Ms. Mason was in.
My next patient was a man with the flu, and after that, I stitched a hiker’s calf, cut on a fall while venturing off the trail path.
“Joyce’s x-rays are done,” Peggy said after I gave the hiker his discharge information.
I blew out a breath. “Any chance you can come with me?”
Peggy laughed. “You’re not afraid of her, are you?”
“Yes. Yes I am.”
“I believe in you, Dr. Foster,” she said with a wink as she carried a syringe to a woman in another area.
“Ms. Maynard,” I said, leaving the curtain open. “I’m sorry for the wait.”
“I don’t mind, although it would have been more fun with you here.”
I sat at the computer, trying to angle myself away from her limbs. I pulled up the x-ray, read the radiologists notes, and examined it myself.
“Good news. No fracture. It’s just a sprain.” I found the treatment notes for a sprained ankle, copied and pasted it into the EMR, with a few tweaks for her care. Then I stood. “We’ll wrap it up, and you’ll want to stay off it as much as possible.” I gave her the rest of the treatment prescription. “A nurse will be in to wrap—”
“Can’t you, Dr. Foster? I trust you more than a nurse.”
I looked at the treatment area and most nurses were busy. The faster she was wrapped and discharged, the sooner I’d be away from her.
“Sure.” I got the bandage and other items,
