“I know, I know.” Mrs. Casey shrugged her off. My mom took the hint and went back to her seat. “It’s silly. I know that Robbie has his friends and his business—he has a very full life—but I’d like to see him settled down, you know, to leave with the knowledge that someone will be there for him, no matter what.”
“His friends will be there for him.” I didn’t know Rob very well as an adult—we were just Facebook friends—but I could tell he had a large group of long-term buddies who always had his back. “He’ll be fine.”
Mrs. Casey shook her head. “His friends have all settled down. They have families.”
I was about to say it didn’t matter that they all had families of their own now, that their friendships would stand the test of time, but, no, Mrs. Casey did have a point. Yessi and I were still close, but she had Polly and Olivia now, not to mention her career. Naturally, she couldn’t be there for me and Kelly like she could back in our twenties.
“I want to see him married again,” Mrs. Casey said. “Maybe that’s selfish of me, but…it’s how I feel.”
My mom squeezed her friend’s hand. “I totally get it, Regina.”
I shot Kelly a “kill me now” look. I’d heard this song and dance not infrequently from my mother—that she wanted to see me settled down and married, as if that would signal the end of my story, like people didn’t grow or change or get divorced or die or anything like that, like marriage was the final nail in someone’s coffin. I was a doctor with a very successful practice—a job that kept me busy seven days a week. People paid a hefty fee for me to be at their beck and call. Maintaining romantic relationships had always been tricky, and my mom knew that. Still, none of that counted for anything in her mind. She’d only be fully proud of me when I had a ring on my finger.
And now they were discussing poor Rob behind his back, making assumptions about what he wanted. He owned his own construction business and worked a ton, too. From what I could ascertain on Facebook, he seemed happy and content. He’d already tried the marriage thing once, and apparently it hadn’t worked out.
Maybe Rob was fine on his own, like me. And Kelly.
For me, marriage had never been the be-all and end-all. It had never been a priority. I knew at a young age that I didn’t want kids, and so I never felt that urge to partner up. Having a spouse was great for some people, but I had something equally great—a best girlfriend who was also perpetually single and who’d be my ride-or-die companion through our adult lives. We’d been talking about it for years—traveling around the world together after retirement, buying a home down in Florida, drinking daiquiris, and carrying on affairs with various pool boys.
I nudged Kelly gently in the side, and she shot me a smile tinged with sadness. She was so sensitive, Mrs. Casey’s story was probably hitting her right in the feels.
Then, suddenly, her eyes lit up mischievously. “Maybe Rob and Annie should get together.”
I glared at her. I expected that kind of comment from my mom, but not from my traitorous best friend.
“I’ve always thought you and Rob would make a great couple. Annie, you know that.” My mom’s eyes turned dreamy. Thank you so much, Kelly, for putting this particular bee in her bonnet. Now I’ll never hear the end of it.
“Rob always has such nice things to say about you,” Mrs. Casey said.
“I haven’t talked to Rob in a long time,” I said, “but he was always nice to me when we were kids.” I tactfully left out the part about losing my hand virginity to him.
“You are both single and about the same age,” my mom said.
I laughed off her comment. “Like that’s all it takes, Mom. We’re not pandas at the zoo.”
“Circumstance is a powerful thing.” Kelly looked as dreamy as my mom now. She was probably trying to imagine which of Rob’s groomsmen she’d hook up with at our wedding.
“Okay, so why don’t you go out with him?” I said, smiling sweetly. “You’re here today. That’s as much circumstance as me being here.”
“We were talking about you, not me.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m fine on my own. You all know this.” I had the dating apps on my phone. Sometimes I even looked at them. I wasn’t utterly useless, dating-wise. “I understand this is all coming from a good place, but it’s making me uncomfortable.”
“Annie, we’re just trying to help,” my mom said.
“I get that, but it feels a little like you’re ganging up on me,” I said.
Kelly snapped out of her daydream. “We’re not ganging up on you, Annie. We love you and want you to be happy.”
“I am happy,” I said, shrugging, “and the only reason you guys are pushing this is because Rob is single and I’m single. That’s it. I think I’ve spoken to him twice in twenty years. Why on earth do you think Rob Casey is the key to my happiness?”
“And why are you one hundred percent sure he isn’t?” Kelly asked.
Well, I didn’t have an answer for that.
“You and Rob should exchange numbers, at least,” my mom said, pulling out her phone.
“Mom—” I warned.
“I’m not trying to start anything, Annie. Seriously.” She tapped on her phone.
I chuckled. “Sure you’re not.”
“I mean it. You’re right that we were only trying to push you two together because you both happen to be unattached right now. I’m sorry, and I won’t do it again.”
I narrowed my eyes, watching her carefully. I didn’t buy it. She never gave up this easily.
She scrolled through her phone. “I’m just saying, Rob should be able to reach you in case Regina needs anything, or if Rob has any questions about her care.”
Damn it. She’d played me like a fiddle, and she knew it. She pretended to drop the whole dating-Rob scenario and tapped into my doctor gene, knowing that I’d never be able to live with myself if I didn’t do all I could to support Mrs. Casey. “Okay. He’s welcome to contact me if he has any health-related questions.”
My phone pinged, and I looked down. My mom had already sent me Rob’s number. That woman worked quick. I loaded his contact info into my address book.
“But that’s it.” I raised my eyebrows at my mother and Mrs. Casey. “He should call me only in my official doctor capacity.”
All three women stared at me, wide-eyed and innocent. Kelly blinked.
“Of course, Annie.” Mrs. Casey winked at my mom, who passed it on to Kelly.
Shaking my head, I stood. I had to get out of here and away from the three matchmakers trying to orchestrate a love connection. “I’ll bring out our sandwiches,” I said, leaving the three of them to plan my imaginary future nuptials to one Robert James Casey.
Chapter Five
Lights, Camera, Questions!
Jen the producer smiled at me reassuringly. “Just act natural. Do doctor stuff.”
I haltingly reached for my iPad, which sat next to me on the large, round counter in the middle of our office space. I held the tablet as if it were a foreign object I’d never encountered before. With one barely functioning hand, I attempted to push my glasses up over the bridge of my nose.
“Annie,” my physician’s assistant, Tina, hissed into my ear. “She said act ‘natural.’ You have heard that word before, right?”
“Of course I have.” I gave up on the iPad, setting that back down. Dealing with any kind of modern technology right now was not going to end well for me. Instead, I went analog, grabbing the nearest pen and pretending to scrawl some very important words on a pad of paper.
“She’s doing fantastic,” boomed a deep, melodic voice from the doorway.
I glanced up and found a very familiar face grinning at me, a face I had seen hundreds of times before—not in person, but on TV and on massive billboards splashed all over I-294. Hand out and ready to shake, he strode across the room
toward me.
“Doctor Annie Kyle.” He took my hand in both of his large, warm, smooth ones. “So delightful to finally meet you.” He winked.
Little points of heat formed on my cheeks. “Nice to meet you, too, Mr. Carver.”
He patted my hand. “Darius, please.”
As he wandered over to speak to his producer, Tina got right up in my face and started whisper-squealing in my ear. “Oh my god, he is hotter than he looks on television I am going to faint I swear to you right now I am going to faint prepare yourself for that eventuality.”
“Tina,” I said calmly, mentally trying to reroute the blood rushing to my face. “He’s just a human being. And it’s not like he’s the first famous person to step into this office.”
“No, but he is the most beautiful. I mean, even you with your weak eyes can see that.” She flicked the side of my glasses.
Yes, I could see through my nearsightedness and astigmatism that Darius Green, Man on Main Street reporter for WTS TV, was a very good-looking human being. I wasn’t kidding when I said that we were used to having famous people in this office—my clients ran the gamut from a former Top Chef contestant to, of course, the lead anchorwoman at Darius’s station, Gayle Gale, an icon in Chicago if ever there was one.
But Darius did outshine them all, objectively, looks-wise, even if he was a little plasticky for my taste. I’d gone out a few times with another TV newsman, who gave off the same aura of perfection. Darius’s teeth were whiter and straighter than the laws of nature allowed. His dark brown skin glowed in a way that suggested a bathroom cabinet full of expensive creams and serums.
And, besides, he was here in a professional capacity, so even thinking about his looks was out-of-bounds.
“Annie.” Darius returned to me, and a whiff of spice and wood hit my nostrils. “Jen showed me the footage so far, but I need a bit more. Can we get you into an exam room with a patient?”
I checked the clock. I’d blocked out an hour for this interview. My next patient wouldn’t be here for another forty-five minutes. “We’d have to wait…and I’m not sure my patient would be okay with that. They’re very private.”
He glanced at his watch. “I have to depart before then anyway. Maybe you know someone who can pose as a patient?” His high-wattage smile tractor-beamed right to Tina, who nearly melted into a puddle. She reacted to Darius the same way she reacted to her favorite K-Pop acts, or whatever they were called, on YouTube.
But she rallied quickly, and her hand shot up. “Me,” she said with authority. “Yes, I will do it.” She reached behind the desk and grabbed her gym bag. “Call me ‘Mrs. Chestnut,’ heir to a generations-old beverage company, who has been carrying on an affair with a member of the British royal family.”
“You are aware you won’t have any lines,” Darius said.
“I still need to get in character.”
As Tina left the room, I said, “She started out as a theater major.”
“What happened?”
I winced. “She can’t act.”
Darius chuckled, and the sound of his titter resonated off the office walls. “While she’s preparing herself, why don’t you and I sit down for the interview.”
I led Darius, Jen, and their cameraman to my private office. After I took the seat behind my desk, Jen came around and helped me with a microphone. “I’m a little self-conscious about appearing on camera.” I shot Jen a shy smile as she pushed my long, brown hair over my shoulder. I usually wore it up in a ponytail, but today, because of the interview, I tried to style it myself, with curlers and everything. I’d even put on mascara, only managing to poke myself in the eye twice. A new record! Normally I would’ve had Kelly do the whole beautification thing for me, but she’d been scarce since the weekend—probably making up for lost time at work. “I wouldn’t normally do something like this, but Gayle convinced me it’d be the right move for my business.”
“She’s right.” Darius unbuttoned his suit jacket and settled into the guest chair on the other side of my desk. “I’ve interviewed all kinds of people, from teachers to research scientists to busboys. This particular series is all about highlighting folks with various jobs around Chicago. When Gayle told me about you and your practice, I knew we had to talk. I’d heard about concierge medicine but didn’t know much about it. This is our chance to educate the public”—his white teeth flashed my way, his handsomeness sending a giddy thrill down my spine—“and give your business the publicity it deserves.”
I took a deep breath as Jen and the cameraman checked my lighting and did some other video-related stuff that I certainly didn’t learn in med school. I smoothed down my baby blue button-down shirt under my pristine white lab coat. I could feel my brain swirling and a bout of lightheadedness coming on. I knew it was just nerves, but the sensation unsettled me.
“Okay, Annie,” Darius said. “You ready?”
I nodded, swallowing, trying to quickly dissolve the dry knot that had developed in my throat. I was going to blow this. I was about to make a fool of myself on national television. Okay, not “national” television, but WTS was a superstation, right? People from here to Nebraska would tune in to watch me make a jackass of myself.
Very cool and exciting. Thank you for goading me into this, Gayle Gale.
I felt my lips pull into something I hoped resembled a smile.
Darius leaned across the desk. “Just act natural,” he whispered.
There was that word again.
“Pretend we’re just two people having a conversation.”
His warm smile did ease my nerves a bit. The gorgeous man was right. I’d do fine. This was just a simple chat on a topic I knew well.
“Let’s go,” I croaked. “I’m ready.”
I grabbed a sip of water from the mug on my desk as Darius did a quick intro.
“We’ll do the voice-over later, but for now, I’ll just say I’m here today talking to Dr. Annie Kyle, a Chicago physician, who has a very unique kind of job.” He smiled at me again, and I almost forgot about the microphone on my lapel. “We’re going to edit this down for time, so you and I can keep our banter casual here. Don’t worry about going too long or too in depth on your answers.” He paused and drew in a breath. “Dr. Kyle, why don’t you start by telling us what kind of doctor you are.”
Just a conversation. Just a conversation. A chat all about me. This is a test I can’t fail because I know all the answers. “I’m a concierge doctor.”
“A concierge doctor?” He chuckled, and I knew it was a laugh of faux surprise because Gayle had told him exactly what I did for a living and he’d just mentioned it a few minutes ago. “Concierge? Like at a hotel.” He nodded slightly, urging me to go on, to give him more to work with.
Easier said than done.
“Yeah.” I looked right in the camera, and the cameraman shook his head fiercely. Come on, Annie. My eyes shot back to Darius. “Yeah. Like the hotel thing, but not…”
I noticed him glance at Jen as if sending an SOS message. Great. “Can you explain exactly what a concierge doctor does?”
“Yes,” I said, then nodded. My body parts had stopped cooperating with one another. It was the iPad all over again. “A concierge doctor…” I straightened my torso. “A concierge doctor is a regular physician, but patients pay me a monthly fee…”
“And what does that get them?” He smiled encouragingly.
“It gets them…” Again, my eyes snapped to the camera; again, I had to pull them away. I touched the inside of my wrist. My pulse was racing. I drew in a deep breath. Just a conversation. Hardly anyone is going to see this—just the millions of people in the greater Chicagoland area. I’m only here to explain what I do. That’s it.
I straightened my shoulders. “It gets them access,” I said with more confidence. “I take on a smaller patient list, so I’m on call for them twenty-four sev
en and it’s much easier for them to get in and see me when they want to. I’m available to my patients, whenever they need me.”
There. That wasn’t so bad. Darius and his team of editors could do something with that. Probably.
“So you’re on call constantly?”
I scratched my neck and accidentally moved the microphone. Jen ran over to fix it. I folded my hands tightly in my lap to keep from making that mistake again. “Um…yes. I’m the only doctor in the practice right now—my mentor, who brought me in, retired about a year ago—which means I’m officially on call all the time.”
“That must be tough on your social life.” Darius winked.
A blush crept up my neck, and I checked myself before I said What social life? “It’s okay,” I said. “My patients don’t really abuse the situation. But, yeah, my time is never really my own. There’s always that looming responsibility. I can’t let go and unwind like other people.”
“If you were to unwind,” he said with a smirk, “what would you do with your time?”
“Um…” I frowned. What did anyone do with their time? “I like running. I watch a lot of TV and movies.”
“That’s fun.” He smiled encouragingly. “Do you travel?”
“I haven’t been on vacation in years,” I said.
“Because you can’t take time off, or…?”
“Because I choose not to. Because my job is what I do with my time. My mentor, Katherine, brought me into this practice because she knew how seriously I would take the job.” I leaned forward, feeling a bit more secure. “I could bring in another doctor or someone to cover for me once in a while, and maybe I’m a perfectionist, but I don’t feel comfortable doing that. This is my vocation, and I’m fully committed to it. Besides, with a practice like this—” I clamped my mouth shut.
“With a practice like this…?” Darius raised his eyebrows, encouraging me to continue.
“I just meant that in a practice like this, I have a lot of VIP clients. I mean, to me, all my clients are VIPs, but some of them are also, quite literally, very important people, even outside the doctor’s office.” I chuckled. “I don’t feel comfortable handing their care off to just anyone.”
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