Doctoring the Single Dad

by Marie Ferrarella

  Nodding, he opened the door for her, then watched as she walked back to her car. He didn’t feel nearly as lost as he had a few hours ago. Things were falling into place, his daughter was asleep and he had someone to turn to.

  Lucas took none of that for granted.

  Chapter Six

  “So, how’s our girl doing?” Nikki asked, addressing the question to the little girl propped up on the table as she walked into exam room two.

  Heather’s folder was in her hand, but she hadn’t opened it yet. Instead, she relied on what she saw—a very happy, healthy-looking baby—and what the baby’s father would tell her. If there was something wrong—or not completely right yet—Wingate would fill her in within the first three minutes.

  He appeared as happy as his daughter and a great deal more rested than when she’d last seen him two days ago.

  “You were right,” Lucas told her. “She was cutting a tooth.”

  Taking the baby’s chin gently into her hand, Nikki coaxed her mouth open.

  “And there it is, tiny and white and right in the middle of her lower gum,” she declared, pleased. The worst was behind Heather—until the next tooth.

  Heather closed her mouth down on her finger. The baby was still teething, Nikki noted. There would be another tooth coming in soon. She’d left Lucas enough gum medication to see him through several teeth. He was going to need it.

  “No more fever?” she asked him, gently removing her trapped finger.

  “No more fever,” he confirmed, guarding the wiggling baby to keep her from making a dive for the floor. Heather was a study in perpetual motion. “She’s been her happy self again these last two days.”

  “Terrific,” Nikki said, pleased.

  She made a notation in the folder, then closed it again. Leaving the folder where it was for the moment, she smoothed down the frilly pink dress the baby wore. Her father was dressing her as if she were sugar and spice, but underneath that, Nikki had a feeling that Heather might have a tomboy streak in her.

  Good for you.

  She smoothed down the dress’s hem. “Have you looked into getting a nanny or a housekeeper yet?” she asked Lucas.

  “I thought I’d hold off until I saw you,” he told her. “I’d rather go with a recommendation than just take a shot in the dark and call a number out of the classified pages in the phonebook.”

  “Always a good idea,” Nikki agreed. And then a question occurred to her. “Is that how you came to me? Did someone recommend me to you?”

  Lucas picked Heather up and tucked her on to his hip. Heather settled in as if she belonged there. “As a matter of fact, yes.” And he would be eternally grateful to that real-estate agent, Lucas thought.

  It was the one line that Lisa had accidentally forgotten to include when she’d printed up the new forms, the line that asked if the new patient had been referred by someone. Nikki liked to stay on top of that.

  “If you don’t mind my asking, who was it who referred you?”

  “It was—”

  But before Lucas had a chance to tell her, there was a quick knock on the door and then it immediately opened. Bob stuck his head in. “Sorry to interrupt, Doctor,” the nurse apologized, “but Mrs. Henderson just called. Ptolemy did it again.”

  Nikki sighed as she momentarily closed her eyes. The woman definitely needed to watch her son more carefully. “What did he use this time?”

  Bob grinned, obviously entertained by the boy’s antics. “She thinks it was one of his brother’s miniature figures.”

  “He’s getting to be very creative,” Nikki commented dryly. “Tell her to bring him in. I’ll take him as soon as she gets here.”

  “You got it.” Bob closed the door.

  She could feel Lucas looking at her curiously before she even turned around to face him. “Mrs. Henderson’s youngest likes to stick things up his nose. Frequently.”

  He laughed shortly. “I would too if my mother named me Ptolemy.”

  “She has a penchant for unusual names. She named her other sons Cicero and Euripides.”

  This Henderson woman definitely had a problem, he thought. “I hope they’re being homeschooled—or that she’s at least taking them to martial arts classes.” Otherwise, he had a feeling they were being picked on daily—or worse.

  “As a matter of fact, they are being homeschooled,” she told him. “But I think you might be on to something with the martial arts classes. They’re going to need them when they get older. Can’t hide in the house forever.” For now, her own curiosity had to be put on hold. Not that it was a burning question. Heather’s father was probably referred by the mother or father of one of her patients. Most likely, he lived near one of them. “Well—”

  Again she was interrupted by a knock on the exam room’s door. Bob was back.

  “Almost forgot to tell you, Dr. C, the computer tech guy called. Said he wasn’t going to be able to fit you in until sometime late next week. With luck.”

  “Terrific.” This time, rather than triumphant, the single word had a world of weariness wrapped around it and tied up with a bow.

  “Hey, I’m just the messenger,” Bob informed her before withdrawing and closing the door behind him.

  As with all things that had to do with the computer, Lucas’s interest had been stirred. “Your office computer have a problem?” he asked.

  “No, thank God, or I’d really be in trouble.” Heather, she noticed, was drooling again. Taking a tissue from the dispenser, she wiped the baby’s chin. Lucas had another rough night in his near future. “It’s my home computer,” she said, tossing the tissue into the wastepaper basket. “It’s been acting up for a month now. I’m beginning to think it’s possessed. It arbitrarily shuts itself down whenever it wants to. Whole sections of data disappear. Sometimes they come back when I reboot, sometimes they don’t. I really don’t know what to do to get it back to its old self.”

  She was referring to the computer in human terms, the way he sometimes did. Lucas found that amusing. “I can take a look at it for you.”

  “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

  Lucas raised his eyebrows. “Said the woman who came over in the middle of the night to hold my hand and take care of my sick baby.”

  “It wasn’t the middle of the night,” she recalled. “I just happened to collapse early on Tuesday.”

  “Late or not, you still went out of your way,” he reminded her. “Computers are my thing. It’s what I do for a living and a hobby. Don’t make me beg, Doc. Let me help.” Satisfied that he’d made his point and glad that he’d found a way to repay her in some small way, he asked, “Is it a laptop?”

  It was as large a laptop as she could find at the time. She got it so that she could tuck it away when she entertained. It had been on her dining room table for two years now.

  “As a matter of fact, yes, it is.”

  “Good, I can pick it up from you, either from your house.” He realized she might not be comfortable with that, so he suggested additionally, “Or you can bring it in to your office and I’ll swing by here to get it.”

  Nikki didn’t mind putting herself out for her patients, or her friends, but she definitely felt uncomfortable about being in debt to anyone who wasn’t family or a lifelong friend. Lucas was too busy with his daughter, his new house and his career to be put out like this.

  “I’ll get back to you on that,” she promised.

  As Nikki put her hand on the doorknob, about to leave, a third knock reverberated on the other side of the door. This time, it was her receptionist who pushed the door open.

  Because of the resistance Lisa felt as she tried to come in, she glanced down on the other side of the door as she pushed it open.

  “Oh, I thought it was stuck,” she remarked, then got down to the reason she was there. “Mrs. Williams is on line three. She says she needs to talk to you right away.”

  Mrs. Williams was another one of her regulars. One she could easily do without if the woma
n ever suddenly decided to uproot her family and move to the opposite coast.

  “What is it this time, Lisa?” Nikki asked. “Is Janine talking in tongues or did she master Beethoven’s Fifth with one hand tied behind her back?”

  Lisa grinned. “I didn’t ask. Line three,” Lisa repeated.

  This time, she didn’t even have to turn around to know that Heather’s father eyed her curiously. “Mrs. Williams thinks that her four-year-old daughter, Janine, is a gifted prodigy. Since I’m Janine’s pediatrician, Mrs. Williams feels compelled to call every time she perceives that her daughter had done something outstanding.”

  “And does she?”

  “She does as far as her mother’s concerned. Her main achievement to date was being toilet trained at eighteen months.”

  “And that’s early?” Lucas asked.

  She knew what he was thinking. He was measuring his days in diapers being changed. Without thinking, she placed her hand on his shoulder in mute comfort. “I’m afraid so. I’ll see you later.”

  It was a throwaway line, but he heard himself using it as a link. “You really could use some downtime, you know.”

  “I’ve got some scheduled for 2012,” she assured him, opening the door. “May 4th.”

  “How about something a little sooner?” he posed. Catching her attention, he continued. “Say like Saturday? I’d like to say thank you by making you dinner,” he added quickly, despite the fact that cooking wasn’t something he did with any degree of expertise. He had a feeling that if he offered to take her out, it might seem like stepping over the line to her. “Unless you’re busy.”

  It never occurred to Nikki to play games or act coy. “No, I’m not busy. But won’t you be?” she asked. “With Heather?” she clarified when he looked at her, somewhat puzzled.

  As long as Heather was fed, dry and not crying, he could keep her in her port-a-crib and juggle several things at the same time.

  “When she’s not sick, I’ve gotten pretty good at multitasking,” he answered. “Besides, my mother taught me that one good turn deserved another. She would have never forgiven me if I took what you did the other night for granted and just walked away.”

  She already knew that his mother had passed away a long time ago. As much as her mother drove her crazy at times, she knew if she ever lost her mother, the feeling would be unbearable.

  “I wouldn’t want to offend the memory of your mother,” she agreed.

  “Good.” He knew he only had a few seconds before she was gone. “Saturday,” he repeated. “When’s a good time for you?”

  She thought for a second. There had been things she had been meaning to get to. Nikki left herself a little leeway. “Six?”

  “Six,” he agreed, nodding. “And bring your laptop with you,” he told her. “I’ll see if I can arrange an exorcism.”

  He was referring to the fact that she’d called it possessed, but he wasn’t laughing at her or making her feel as if she was a computer dummy. She appreciated that. “That’s over and above the call of duty,” she told him.

  “So’s what you did the other evening,” Lucas countered.

  Nikki had a strong feeling that she wasn’t going to win this debate and she had to admit, she rather liked that in a way. Liked someone taking charge.

  Other than her mother, of course.

  She loved her mother more than anything or anyone in the world, but she really balked when the woman took it upon herself to try to commandeer her life from time to time. She often attempted to steer it in a certain direction, one her mother thought was right for her.

  “Okay,” Nikki surrendered. “I’ll be there at six.” Heather made what sounded like a squeal just as Nikki started to walk out of the room. “Yes, I will see you then,” she said to the baby as if she were responding to a question. And then she left.

  Heather’s smile went from ear to ear.

  Lucas picked up the all-purpose bag he carried with him whenever he left the house with Heather and slung it over his shoulder before he switched his daughter over to the same side.

  “You know, Heather, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you and the lady doctor were communicating.” Heather raised her eyes up to him and went on smiling. “Maybe you are at that,” he said under his breath.

  “Hi, darling.”

  Maizie did her best to sound cheerful, but she absolutely hated talking to her daughter’s answering machine. While it didn’t really bother her one way or another to leave messages on anyone else’s machine, it irritated her when she had to do the same thing on Nikki’s. Not the least of which was because half the time, her messages went unanswered and unreturned.

  “I was wondering if you were up to a dinner and a movie tomorrow. Chinese and an action movie,” she specified. “I’d rather see that new romantic comedy that just opened, Jeannie’s Secret Lover, but I know you prefer action movies, so we’ll go see Fatal Explosion instead. Get back to me when you can.” Maizie threw in a little guilt for good measure. “I’ll be the mother sitting patiently by her phone—”

  There was a noise on the other end and Maizie thought she heard the receiver being picked up.

  “Hello, Mother sitting patiently by her phone.”

  It looked like she’d lucked out after all, Maizie congratulated herself. “Is that really you, Nikki? Or have you trained your answering machine to be clever?”

  “Yes, Mom, it’s really me.”

  There was a breathless note to her daughter’s voice. She’d obviously caught her either coming in, or hurrying off. Either way, she’d take it. “Great. So, how does dinner and a movie sound?”

  “It sounds wonderful,” Nikki began.

  “Good!” Maizie declared, relieved. Because of their busy, conflicting schedules, it had been a while since they’d gone out together and she did enjoy her daughter’s company. “Then I’ll—”

  “But I can’t.”

  Having gotten Nikki live and in person, at least on the phone, Maizie refused to accept defeat so easily. “If you’re on call, we can still go out. I’ll understand if you have to rush off in the middle. And, most of the time,” she added quickly, trying to cut off any protest that might be coming, “they don’t even call you.”

  “I’m not on call this weekend, Mother,” Nikki told her patiently.

  “Then what’s the problem? If you’re not on call, then you’re free to go out.”

  If she told her mother the truth, Nikki knew she’d be leaving herself open to intense grilling, both now and right after she came home. Still, she hated the idea of lying to her mother. The very first man she’d ever fallen for lied as effortlessly as he breathed. She absolutely refused to be like that self-centered slimeball.

  “I’m sorry, Mom, but I’m busy.”

  “Busy doing what?”

  She could tell her mother’s curiosity had really been aroused. “Just busy.” Even as she said it, Nikki knew she’d never get away with that. In the name of love, her mother wasn’t the type to respect boundaries. At least not hers.

  There was silence on the other end of the line and just for a split second, Nikki thought—hoped really—that she was in the clear. But then, in the next second, hope came crashing down and died a fiery death when she heard her mother say, “You’ve got a date, don’t you?”

  Maybe if she explained. “It’s not a date, Mother,” Nikki told her. “It’s…dinner.”

  “With a girlfriend?” Maizie asked in a lofty tone, her voice clearly indicating that she doubted it.

  “With someone who is going to fix my laptop.” That, at least, was the truth.

  “I can think of other things that need fixing first,” Maizie murmured under her breath, knowing that it was loud enough for her daughter to hear. “You’re going out to dinner with a computer technician?”

  Nikki shut her eyes. Just say okay and hang up, Mom. “Not exactly.”

  Maizie gave every indication of digging in for the long haul. “Then what ‘exactly?’”
<
br />   “He’s not buying me dinner, Mother, he’s making dinner.”

  “Oh.” The single word was bursting at the seams with meaning.

  “No ‘oh,’ Mother. If you must know, it’s the widower. The one I mentioned to you the last time,” she recalled. “His baby was running a high fever late one evening and he called me in a panic. I came over—”

  “You came over?” Maizie repeated. She had trouble containing the feeling of absolute triumph vibrating within her. She did her best, though. “I thought that house calls went the way of the eight-track tape.”

  “Stop interrupting, Mother,” Nikki requested. “I came over, I gave the baby a shot, she got better. He’s grateful. End of story.”

  No, my darling, it’s only the beginning. God willing. “I would imagine he’d be grateful,” Maizie agreed. “And he’s making you dinner?”

  “That’s how he wants to show his gratitude,” Nikki explained, feeling helpless. Once her mother got hold of something, it was like trying to pull a bone out of a pit bull’s mouth. Next to impossible unless a gun was involved.

  “I can think of better ways to show gratitude,” she heard her mother say.

  “He’s also going to take a look at my computer,” Nikki reminded her. “He’s a software programmer or engineer or something.”

  “Handy man to have around in this day and age.” Nikki could hear her mother smiling. “So, what’s this grateful programmer’s name?”

  She wasn’t stupid. “Oh no, I’m not telling you his name.”

  “Why?” Maizie asked innocently.

  “Because I know better than to give you any more information.” She’d already told her mother too much, Nikki thought. Why hadn’t she let the answering machine just take the message? It would have been so much easier that way.

  “You’re exaggerating, Nicole.”

  So, now they were getting formal. Her mother was playing the mother card. Well, referring to her by her full name no longer had the same effect that it had when she was ten.

  “No, Mother, I’m not. I tell you his name and you’ll be printing up wedding invitations by Sunday morning.”