by Nancy Adams
There was still an assortment of old office furniture in the building, and Katie Lou sat down at a desk and took out her cell phone. Within forty-five minutes, she had all of the utilities scheduled, as well as furniture and equipment deliveries. She had taken her test a couple of weeks earlier, and was more than ready to get started.
That made her think about the business aspects, and she made some calls to find out where to get her malpractice insurance, as well as insurance on all of the furniture and equipment she was putting into her clinic. There was a lot of money invested in all of those things, and she needed coverage for them, just in case.
She knew there would be more things to deal with in setting up her business, though she wasn't sure what all of them would be. She was sitting there thinking about it, when it suddenly dawned on her that she knew someone who could give her advice. A quick glance at the time told her that it was almost a quarter till noon, and she hurried out the door, locking up behind her as she rushed to her car.
It only took her a little over ten minutes to make it to Rob's clinic, and she parked her car in the parking lot as she'd done over and over before. Anna looked up as she came through the door, and let out a squeal.
“Katie Lou! Did you forget you don't have an appointment here today?”
Katie Lou laughed, shaking her head. “No, I didn't forget,” she said. “I've just been over at my new clinic, getting everything set up, and I thought I'd come over and see if I can take you and your brother to lunch. I'm pretty sure we know a place we all like, right?”
Rob suddenly appeared through the door beside the reception desk, and his face broke into a huge smile when he saw Katie Lou. “Hey! I didn't expect to see you today. Everything okay?”
Katie Lou smiled at him. “Everything is fine,” she said. “I was just telling Anna, I went ahead and took the clinic that I was telling you about last week, and I've been over there getting utilities on and such. I just thought I'd come down and see if you guys want to go to lunch.”
“Of course we do,” Anna said. “Come on, Bubba, we don't have another appointment until one thirty. Let's go, it'll be like the Three Musketeers riding again!”
Rob laughed, but followed the two girls out the front door and locked it behind him. They all climbed into Katie Lou's car and she drove down to their favorite restaurant. Miranda, the waitress, spotted them as they came in and let out a squeal of her own. It was the first time she had seen Katie Lou since she'd been on the walker.
“Oh my goodness, girl, look at you! You're up and walking all on your own! When did that happen?”
Katie Lou beamed at her. “Just in this past week,” she said. “We thought we'd come down here to celebrate.”
“Well, come on in and grab a table. I know what you all want to drink, unless you changed on me lately. I'll get those, you guys decide what you want to eat.”
They sat down at a table and Miranda was back only moments later with their drinks. Katie Lou announced that lunch was on her, and ordered steaks for all three of them.
“So, anyway, I've been getting everything set up so that I can open my practice, and it occurred to me that you would know a lot about what hoops I need to jump through. Would you mind to let me pick your brain?”
“Mind? I'd be delighted. And when are you going to show us your new place?”
“Today,” Anna said, “right after lunch. You're taking us on a tour, right, Katie Lou?”
13
Rob and Anna were amazed at the building Katie Lou had managed to secure. It was actually bigger than Rob's clinic, and had more rooms, although the area that she considered her offices was not that large. When she had rented the building, though, she’d found out that she got the whole thing, including four additional rooms on the opposite end. There was a beautiful reception area with a somewhat small waiting room, three offices, a break room and both public and private bathroom facilities. The offices were on the east end of the building, and the break room was just behind the reception area.
The other four rooms, on the west end, were pretty bare. Apparently, they had only been used for storage in the past, so there had never been a need to decorate them. Katie Lou didn't have a specific use for them, other than as a place to store all the leftover office furniture from the previous tenants.
“This place is really great,” Rob said. “And the location is absolutely awesome. If it had been available when I bought my clinic, I might've tried to come over here.”
Katie Lou giggled. “Too late, it's mine. I saw it first.” She looked over at Anna, who was leaning against the wall with her arms folded and just staring at her. “What?”
“I don't know,” Anna said. “It's almost like you're up to something. I haven't seen you this cheerful in days, so what's up?”
Katie Lou giggled again, and started to turn red. “Why does something need to be up? Can't a girl just be in a good mood?”
Anna's eyebrows shot up. “Sure, you can be in a good mood. I'm just getting a kick out of the fact that you're in such a good mood while you're hanging out with my brother. Has there been a change in the whole gotta-figure-out-what-to-do situation?”
Katie couldn't help it, she looked over at Rob. “Well,” she said slowly, “I actually went to go have dinner with Darren last night, but after five minutes in the restaurant, I got up and walked out. I told him I'm done, and I don't want anything to do with him.”
Rob stood there and stared at her for a moment, then let a smile begin to spread across his face. “Does this mean I could think about that whole second date thing again?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Katie Lou said, and then her face sobered a bit. “Actually, there's something I need to talk to you about at some point. It doesn't have to be right now, but should be soon.”
“Uh-oh,” Anna said. “Is it something bad?”
Katie Lou shrugged. “Well, it isn't something nice, but it isn't really all that bad, either. Just another reason why I'm done with Darren; let's leave it at that for now, okay?”
Since Rob had another appointment coming up, they cut the tour short, and Katie Lou drove them back to the clinic. She promised to call Rob later, after his working hours, and grabbed his jacket to pull him over for a quick kiss before he could get out of the car. She waved at Rob and Anna as she drove away.
Getting a restraining order was not a difficult thing to do in Missouri. All it required was going to see the local county prosecutor, and making a complaint of a threat or harassment. Katie Lou went down to the prosecutor's office in Maxwell, since it was the county seat, and filled out the required form. Twenty minutes later, she was in front of the judge.
“Ms. Brennan,” the prosecutor began, “would you tell the court why you're seeking an order of protection?”
“Well, it's against my ex-fiancé. He had broken up with me after I was injured in an accident a few weeks back, and came back about a week ago to asked me if I would consider reconciliation. I told him I was willing to talk about it, and see where things went, but as of last night, he informed me that that's not good enough, and he expects me to make a commitment right now. He also informed me that he’s had people following me, taking pictures and video of me. I told him I'm done and I don't want anything more to do with him, and he started calling my cell phone over and over. I just think that it would be a good idea to get this on record.”
The judge looked down at her. “The defendant in this case is Darren Allsip? Is that James Allsip's boy?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” she said.
“And you're the young lady that was in that terrible accident with him a while back, then, is that correct?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Mm-hm. Is that somehow related to this petition?”
The prosecutor stood up. “Your Honor, Ms. Brennan was actually engaged to marry Mister Allsip when that accident took place, and it was apparently the fact that she was paralyzed after the accident that caused him to break off the engagement. Th
at breakup is apparently the foundation of his attempt at reconciliation, which became verbally abusive and revealed stalker-ish behavior last night.”
“Ms. Brennan,” the judge asked, “is that a correct assessment of the situation?”
“Yes, Your Honor, it is.”
The judge nodded. “Very well. Based on the information presented, and without any evidence to the contrary, the court rules that Mister Allsip's behavior does in fact warrant an order of protection. That order is hereby granted to the petitioner, and will be served on Mister Allsip at the earliest possible moment by the Sheriff's office. Mister Allsip is prohibited from initiating or attempting to initiate any contact with the petitioner, and from any attempted interference in her life, including surveillance of her activities.” He had been filling out a form as he spoke, then signed it and passed it to the clerk. “Ms. Brennan, a copy of this order will be ready for you at the clerk's office in about fifteen minutes. You are dismissed.”
Katie Lou left the courtroom, and the prosecutor escorted her to the clerk's office. A lady there told her to have a seat for a few minutes, and it was actually closer to twenty minutes before her copy of the restraining order was available.
“Now,” the lady said as she handed it to her, “we'll give the Sheriff's office a copy of this to serve on Mister Allsip, but they may not get it done today. That probably won't really matter, since he's an attorney. We've already notified his office, so I'm sure he knows about it. If he bothers you, just call the police.” She leaned forward, and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Listen, sweetie, we all heard what he did to you, dumping you the way he did. That was just plain wrong; a man like that doesn't deserve a woman like you. I'm glad you're standing up for yourself, and I mean that in every way. It's good to see you back on your feet.”
Katie Lou smiled, but stared at the lady for a moment. It took a few seconds, but then she recognized her as being a member of her family's church, and her smile got bigger. “Thank you,” she said.
She went home, and found Kylie sitting at the kitchen table, filling out applications. There was a pot of coffee on the counter, so she got herself a cup and sat down beside her sister.
“So, how goes the job search?”
Kylie glanced up at her and grinned. “Pretty slow,” she said. “Right now, it looks like I got a choice between working part-time at Walmart, or taking the night shift at Jiffy Quik Mart. I can't say that either of those strikes me as a good career choice.”
Katie Lou nodded, her face a mask of seemingly innocent ignorance. “Yeah, I see your point. Don't think I'd want to go for either of those, either, especially if I had a sister who was willing to offer me a better job.”
Kylie nodded back. “Yeah that would be awesome, I'd…” Her eyes suddenly snapped up to Katie Lou's face, and her jaw dropped. “What did you say?”
“I said I wouldn't take one of those jobs either, if I had a sister who was going to offer me a better job.”
Kylie stared at her, her mouth still hanging open, for several seconds. “Are you implying that I have a sister like that?”
“I am,” Katie Lou said, breaking into a huge smile. “I signed the lease on my clinic today, and I'm planning to open in about two weeks. I need a receptionist. Didn't we talk about that?”
Kylie's eyes were still wide. “Yeah, we did, but I didn't think you were serious! I thought you were just kidding around. You'd really hire me?”
Katie Lou shrugged. “Hey, it seems to be kind of traditional. Look at Rob and Anna: he went into a medical practice and hired his sister to be his receptionist. Why can't I do the same thing?”
Kylie swept a hand across the table, throwing all the applications in front of her to the floor. “When do I start? Hey, how much am I getting paid? And when's payday?”
“You can start tomorrow,” Katie Lou said. “All the utilities are getting turned on tomorrow, and they'll start bringing the furniture and equipment. I've got everything scheduled by appointment, so in between deliveries and utilities, we can go shopping for other office supplies and decorations. The place needs to be brightened up.” She took the keys out of her purse, pulled one off of the key ring and passed it to Kylie. “That's your key to the front door. As for pay, I was thinking about six fifty a week? And we'll just do paydays on Friday. Is that okay?”
Kylie's eyes were bugging out. “Six hundred and fifty dollars a week? Katie Lou, as good as that sounds, you can get somebody a lot cheaper than that. Hell, you can get me a whole lot cheaper than that!”
Katie Lou shook her head. “I did a little research into what a good receptionist gets paid, and I'm actually starting you out on the lower end of that spectrum. I know how smart you are, so I know you'll do a great job, and while we occasionally butt heads, I do tend to like having you around.”
Kylie suddenly leaned over and threw her arms around her sister. “Katie, this is awesome! It'll be great, you and me working together!”
The two of them sat and discussed plans for the following day, and were still at it when her mother walked in the door. Judy was delighted at Katie Lou's decision to hire her sister, since Kylie had already declared that she wasn't going back to college. Judy had been worried that Kylie might end up in a dead-end job, or pack up and move across the country to find a better one.
Their father was equally delighted with the outcome when he got home. Like many parents, the idea of having the family all close together appealed to him, even after his girls were grown into adulthood. He couldn't, however, resist the chance to have a bit of fun.
“This is terrific,” he said. He turned to his wife. “Judy, do you realize what this means? For the first time in history, both of our daughters are going to be gainfully employed.”
Judy smiled and nodded. “Yes, it's wonderful!”
“Yeah! And even better than that, they can both start paying rent!”
That set off a family discussion that bounced between sarcasm and laughter, but it was interrupted when Katie Lou's phone rang. She glanced at it and saw that it was Rob calling, excused herself and took the phone up the stairs to her bedroom as she answered.
“Hey, there,” she said.
“Hey, yourself. I thought it seemed like a good time to give you a call. How did your day go?”
“It went good. I got a restraining order with no problem, so Darren's history. And I hired my sister Kylie to be my receptionist at the clinic, so the whole family is having a happy fit about that. Daddy has decided that she and I both need to start paying rent, and realistically, I agree with him. It's saving us an awful lot of money, being able to live at home.”
“Yeah, I'm sure it is, but I'd bet that both of you will be looking for your own places before long. You're both adults now, and I just don't see either of you as the type to keep living at home for long.”
Katie Lou smiled. “Oh, I don't know,” she said. “I'm not sure about Kylie, but I could probably manage to stay here for a while. And it isn't even so much about saving money, as just a convenience. I've got my own room, I can come and go as I please, and if I really, really needed privacy for anything, I'm pretty sure I can find somewhere else to stay for a night.”
It took Rob a minute to regain his composure. “You're right, you're absolutely right, and I'll just be quiet over here.” That got a chuckle out of both of them. “So—you're serious about being done, where your ex was concerned?”
Katie Lou grimaced. “Yeah, I am, and about that—remember, I said I had something I needed to talk to you about?”
“Yes, I remember. Does it have something to do with this?”
“Yeah, I'm afraid it does. Last night, when we were at the restaurant, I found out—I found out that Darren, or maybe it was his father, they had somebody following us Saturday night. I guess whoever it was took pictures of us kissing, and gave them to Darren. Somehow, he got the idea that you and I were planning some sort of plot so that I could sue him for more money. I told him he could forget that, and that I
don't want anything from him at all, ever!”
“He had someone follow us?” Rob sounded incredulous. “Wow, I never would've expected that.”
“Neither did I, and that's the problem. It shouldn't have been something that I'd have to worry about, especially since he and I were considering getting back together. You know, I'll grant that, since I was talking to him about possible reconciliation, you and I probably shouldn't have been kissing each other like that, but I hadn't made any commitments to him. I didn't even keep you a secret from him, I told him about us. As far as I'm concerned, he had no right to be spying on us.”
“I have to agree with you on that,” Rob said. “If I had seen someone—wait a minute, now that I think about it, there was a car that I thought might have been following us, just as I was leaving your house after dropping you off. It was a few houses down the street, and as soon as I backed out to leave, its headlights came on. It turned, though, so I didn't think much of it.”
“Well, whether that was the spy or not, it doesn't really matter now. The only thing Darren accomplished with this is making sure that I'm convinced, now, that his chapter in my life is over. There's a big part of me that's very thankful that I didn't end up married to him. God, can you imagine what he would have been like if we were married?”
“Well, that issue is settled, now.” Rob's voice took on a flirtatious tone. “So, now that that's settled, I can get back to developing my master plan to win your heart.”
“Master plan?”
“Oh, yes, I have a master plan. It involves convincing you that there is no one in the world who will love you more than me, or who will be better to you than I will, or who will adore you and worship you and cherish you as much as I will. Should I go on?”
“Oh, absolutely! Don't stop now!” Katie Lou laughed.
“Well, maybe I should hold some things back for later. I mean, I don't want to scare you off just yet.”