For a moment, Brett grinned, but he wasn’t stupid. He had been raised on the wrong side of town and he knew you never got something for nothing. Sheldon and Harry weren’t stroking his ego for the fun of it. He folded his arms on the table and took the straightforward approach.
“Who do I have to kill?”
Harry let out a robust laugh. “That’s a good one. I like you, Doc.” He sighed. “Wish it were that simple.”
Sheldon settled back in his chair as if his part was over and Natalie’s attention was still on her smartphone. She appeared to be texting someone.
“Doctor, we’ve got ourselves a family problem,” Harry said. “It’s my mother. Anna Layton. She’s eighty-two and it seems her heart isn’t beating the way it should. What did you call that?” He looked at Sheldon, who was checking his phone too.
“Bradycardia.”
Brett nodded. Bradycardia, a slow heart rate, was common among the elderly. He treated the condition on a regular basis. Without hesitation, he offered his medical opinion. “Barring any underlying problems, a pacemaker implant should improve her heart rate.”
“That’s what Sheldon said. We’d like you to see her.”
“Of course.” He would make his services available immediately. “I’d be happy to see her in my clinic and do a full cardiac workup on her. I could do it this afternoon.” Giving up a day off was a small sacrifice if it meant an office on the top floor.
“The thing is Mama hates doctors and I’m not gonna lie to you. She can be a contrary woman when she sets her mind to it. Nobody tells her what she can and cannot do.”
“I’m sure I can win your mother’s trust.” How hard could it be to charm an old lady? Confident, Brett continued, “Over half my patients are elderly people like your mother. I have an excellent rapport with them.”
They loved him. It was like having dozens of grandmas and grandpas, who loaded him up with home baked goodies during holidays and fresh vegetables from their gardens in the summer. He enjoyed their adoration.
“It won’t be that easy.” Natalie finally sent a zinger across the table.
“I deal with senior patients on a daily basis.”
“You haven’t dealt with Anna Layton.”
“Your grandmother’s heart rate is going to continue to decline.” Brett decided to make things simple for Natalie since she had a simple mind. “When her heart rate reaches the forties, she’ll have some bouts of dizziness and fatigue, which could result in a fall that might kill her or put her in a bed the rest of her life. A heart rate below twenty can be fatal on its own.”
He turned to Harry. “Mrs. Layton and I will get along just fine.” Type A. All about being assertive. Projecting confidence. “What time would you like to bring your mother to the clinic?”
Harry grimaced. “Mama’s kinda stubborn about such things. Like going to the doctor. She never liked going to the doctor.”
“Nana has a mind of her own,” Natalie interjected with a sweet smile.
Brett scowled and Harry continued, “She says she’s not gonna sit around in a waiting room full of old people carrying freezer bags full of pill bottles and going on about all their ailments. She says she has better things to do.”
Brett studied. Okay, what could he do with that? He took the initiative again because people who didn’t take the initiative never won and he always won.
“I can make a house call this afternoon.” He had never made a house call before but he would now. He would move in with the old lady if he had to. “Whatever time that’s convenient for Mrs. Layton is fine with me.”
Harry glanced at Natalie and then at Sheldon. “Here’s the deal, Doc. You can’t just go over to Mama’s house like a doctor going to see a patient. She’d have a hissy fit and run you off.”
A hissy fit? Brett glanced at Sheldon, who shrugged and said, “I’m Anna’s brother-in-law and not one of her favorite people. Half the time she doesn’t speak to me and she’s banned me from her house.”
The old lady must have some dementia. “What about Mrs. Layton’s primary care physician?” He figured he’d need to form an alliance with that doctor.
“Doctor Gaskey was always our family doctor,” Harry answered. “Of course, he’s been dead a while now. There’s a nurse practitioner who lives in the neighborhood. She looks in on Mama when Mama calls her. Otherwise, Mama treats herself.”
“Have you spoken with Mrs. Layton about the importance of medical care?”
“Nana is a retired botanist and she’s a believer in natural medicine.” Natalie offered him a look of sympathy as if that was the best she had to offer.
Harry spread his hands and Sheldon said, “I stay away. I’m afraid of the cat.”
“Nana has a thug cat,” Natalie again. Could she get any more annoying? “We don’t mess with the cat.”
Brett tried to hide his amazement. He was looking at the two most powerful men in the hospital if not the city. The only two men who mattered. They had the clout to make or break his career. And they were both cowed by a little old lady and her cat.
Talk about the opportunity of a lifetime. If he could become Anna Layton’s physician, he would have it made. He would have Harry and Sheldon’s support and gratitude, and then he could create a superior cardiology program at LFMC. Perhaps someday there would be a heart center named after him and he would be remembered for all posterity.
“Do you want to speak with your mother and then give me a call?” he asked Harry.
“Well, we have a little something different in mind.” Both Harry and Sheldon looked at Natalie as if it was her turn to speak up.
She tapped her fingers on the table. “I’m home for a few weeks and I’m staying with my grandmother.” She managed to choke out the rest. “You can come over as my dinner guest tomorrow night.”
It took him a moment to process that. “Okay. So I’m not coming over as a doctor. I’m coming over as your date?”
“A date is kinda stretching it,” she said, as if to say that was never gonna happen. “An old friend from school.”
“Friend,” he repeated, meeting her gaze. “Seriously?”
“It was Uncle Harry and Auntie Lorraine’s idea.” She was quick to clarify and she frowned at her uncle, who had a mouthful of cheese Danish. “And it’s a bad idea. It’s not going to work. Not with Nana.”
“Natalie, you promised us you’d help out.” Harry took a swig of coffee. “We’re counting on you.”
She shook her head and Brett realized she was totally against the idea, which might cost him the chief of cardiology position.
He sat up straight. “Natalie, you do understand what’s at stake here?”
“Besides your ego?” She didn’t blink as she stared him straight in the eye. It appeared that, since high school, she had developed a Terminator stare.
He didn’t flinch. “Do you want me to help your grandmother or not?”
Her phone lit up and she checked a text message. She stuck her phone back in her purse and withdrew a small notepad. She scribbled on it, then tore off the paper and folded it. “I’ve got to go meet someone,” she announced.
She hitched her purse strap on her shoulder and she leaned across the table to hand Brett the folded paper. “Here’s my number. If something comes up and you can’t make it tomorrow night, call me. Otherwise, dinner is at seven. Sports jacket. No tie. Be at Nana’s house, which is the Castle House on Rosewood, by six forty-five.”
“I’ll be there.” He tucked the paper into the pocket of his jacket.
In a low, vindictive voice, she said, “Isn’t it amazing to think that I’m the key to your success?” She glanced at Sheldon and Harry before she delivered a parting blow. “Nana is a piranha, Brett. She’ll eat you alive and not even burp.”
Holy crap. He turned to Sheldon and Harry as Natalie left the conference room. “A piranha?”
“Aw.” Harry waved his hand in the air. “You know how women are. You can’t pay any attention to what she
says.”
Brett glanced at Sheldon, who completely side-stepped the issue. “Well, it appears we’re done here.”
The men stood and Harry slapped his hand on Brett’s shoulder. “You help us out and we’ll take care of you, Doc.” Harry was nothing if not smooth. “You’re gonna love having an office up here on the top floor.”
Sheldon simply said, “Good luck.”
Brett checked the messages on his phone before he left the conference room. He had a message from his friend and colleague, Dr. Marla Grant, who was off in California with her new husband.
Are you in trouble again?
Brett shook his head. You know, gossip travels at the speed of light in this hospital.
Kayla ran into Aaron and he said you got called in for a meeting with Sheldon. We were worried about you.
He should have known it was the other LaLa. He had always referred to Marla and Kayla as the two LaLas. He sent the message to both Kayla and Marla.
Dear LaLas, I am not in trouble. Things could not be better. Don’t worry about me.
Then he decided to add Natalie’s phone number to his contacts. He probably shouldn’t have picked on her in school. Of course, he had been seventeen and full of himself like most teenagers and he’d had something of a secret crush on the unattainable.
On his way back to the elevator, he stopped in the hallway and looked at the nameplate on a closed office door. Beneath Dr. Collins’s name was a wide strip of gold engraved with the title Chief of Cardiology.
Determination settled around Brett. In a few weeks his name would be on that door. Unfortunately, Natalie Layton would likely be the key to his success with her grandmother, but that was nothing he couldn’t handle. He gazed at the gold nameplate. He was going to make this happen just like he had made everything else in his life happen. Totally Type A.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and sent Natalie a text.
Hi. This is Brett. We need to talk.
By the time he reached the elevator he had a reply.
No, we don’t. A frowning, red-faced emoji followed her message.
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About the Author
Patricia Preston is a Southern author whose dream come true would be living in the French Quarter. Besides writing, she loves music, history, taking road trips, and anything containing chocolate. Having fun is her objective when it comes to storytelling and she hopes her readers will find her amusing, feel-good romances entertaining. You can visit her at www.patricia-preston.com
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One Week in Your Arms Page 25