by Barbara Ebel
“Circumstances change. I think I’m going to love it, especially if I get a group of great kids.” A pause settled, allowing her to wonder about him searching for the form.
“Sara, I thought about letting you get settled into the job but - upon reconsideration - I would like to ask you out now. A casual date. In other words, I’d like to ask you out the first time while you’re not a school employee. I’d feel more comfortable this way.”
He smiled tentatively at her. “I’ve probably said too much already. However, just in case you aren’t aware of it, I’m a widower, not a married man hitting on you.”
Sara’s hand encircled the end of the arm rest. The surprise request and flattery registered with her quickening pulse. “Oh, I’m so sorry. May I ask what happened to your wife?”
“She died from malignant melanoma.”
Sara bowed her head for a moment. “Okay,” she said. “A casual date would be nice.”
Ross smiled as his eyes twinkled. He picked up the form smack in front of him and handed it to her across his desk.
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After the reporters and news camera people left the auditorium, the docs peeled out. Danny got in his Lexus and drove to the office a few minutes away. The schedule would be jammed and they had to finish by 5 p.m. in order to make Harold’s family memorial in time.
Danny put his cell phone and briefcase in his office as Cheryl tagged after him. “I’ve got two patients in rooms waiting on you,” she said, “and Bruce wants a quick word after he finishes dictating for a patient’s chart.”
As Danny slipped into his white coat he entered Bruce’s office. Bruce looked over his bifocals while finishing his microphone entry and handed Danny a file folder. The inside didn’t hold a patient’s history, but a resume on a Dr. Jeffrey Foord. Danny scanned the CV – a Knoxville-trained doc who just finished his residency.
Bruce stopped, pushed back, and draped one long leg over the other. “What do you think?” he asked.
“Most programs finish this time of year and residents have jobs lined up. This would be too good to be true and timely. But why didn’t he have a job already?”
“He had a position in Indiana allready to go, but there was a snag and that state license didn’t come through in time. They gave his spot away to someone else. He’s coming in shortly for me, or us, to interview him.”
Danny nodded and smiled as he put the folder back on Bruce’s desk. “He’ll be green around the gills getting out in the real world but there are advantages. He may be someone who stays with us a long time; he’s younger with perhaps new ideas and concepts and, again, the timing is perfect.”
“My sentiments exactly. So, how did the press interview go?”
Danny gave the highlights as well as an update. Bruce opened his top drawer and took out his notepad. He wrote under his previous notes, putting the day and date, number of cases and where, and the new antibiotic. “This is just so I keep abreast of the current facts, not what I hear from the rumor mill. Speaking of which, patients are asking intelligent questions and I’m hearing concern about being seen in this office.” Bruce’s voice turned somber, but he shot the next statement to Danny in one breath. “So try to assure patients today we’re not spreading infectious diseases.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Bruce pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. “Actually, I’m worried about you. Based on what you say, this is deadly and won’t go away with an aspirin. One person can do major damage to others. Are you harboring even a trace of a symptom that tells me you shouldn’t be here?”
Danny leaned forward, running his hand over his temple. “Not even an infinitesimal grain. I feel fine, maybe more healthy these days than usual.”
“But you were proactively treating the pod of people catching it from each other.”
Danny had nothing more to add as they both rose with quizzical expressions and went to see patients.
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After Danny saw two patients for post-cancer surgery follow-ups, he stepped into an examining room to see a young man who’d been in the ICU two weeks after a motorcycle accident. His mother sat across from the twenty-year old, wearing a grateful look that her son had escaped near death.
“It pleases me to see you both under different circumstances,” Danny said, “and I’m happy to report your last MRI is totally normal.”
“Thanks, Dr. Tilson,” the young man replied, holding his cell phone on his lap.
“It’s not my business to police patients in their private lives,” Danny said, “but please reconsider wearing a helmet if you get back on a motorcycle.”
His mother nodded. “He’s lucky to be alive,” she interjected. “That’s what I told him from the beginning.”
The boy twisted his mouth. “Dr. Tilson, I don’t want to go through this again. You’ve got a deal.”
Danny shook his hand as Cheryl rapped on the door and stuck her head in. “Dr. Tilson, in case I miss you between patients, please see Bruce again in his office.”
After completing the patient’s visit, Danny returned to Bruce’s office to find Jeffrey Foord, standing alongside the window as Bruce pointed to the various medical buildings nearby. When he turned, Danny noted him to be a baby-faced thirty-one-year-old with dark red hair - fluffy around the ears and neck – and a few matching freckles.
Bruce introduced them and invited them to sit down at the round mahogany table. Danny enjoyed the originality of Jeffrey’s one small earring, unusual for a neurosurgeon, but the sneakers along with a coat and tie for an interview took him by surprise. He wondered how Bruce would interpret it.
“Matthew Jacob is another member of our group,” Bruce said. “We need to get back to four of us instead of three. I contacted your program in Knoxville and they gave you flying colors. Why do you think we should hire you?”
Jeffrey had already posed his right elbow in the palm of his left hand and had his fist by his chin, like a sturdy listener. “We’re both in the market for what the other has to offer. I work well with colleagues and yet I’m independent with my own cases. I’m born and bred in Tennessee and will slip right in. The only reason I was leaving the state was because nothing turned up here.”
“You have any areas of interest?” Danny asked.
“Yes, awake craniotomies and electrophysiologic monitoring.”
“I’ve done a few myself,” Danny said.
After ten minutes, Bruce cut the interview short. “We’re on a short time frame,” he said, “and there’s a remembrance at six o’clock for our colleague who passed away. I’ll give you a call by tomorrow night.”
Jeffrey got up on cue and shook their hands. “I’m sorry to hear about your other partner. It’s all over the news in Knoxville. We also just confirmed two cases in our teaching hospital today after talking with someone at the CDC in Atlanta yesterday. Apparently the other case in Tennessee outside is in Chattanooga?”
“That’s correct,” Danny said. “How sick are the patients in Knoxville?”
“Practically went straight into comas on admission.”
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The office closed promptly at five and Danny headed straight home. Casey pulled his Jeep into the driveway ahead of him but drove into the garage; Danny parked in the driveway.
“You must have been seven-to-three today,” Danny said, “but I never saw your ambulance as I went back and forth to the hospital.”
Casey walked toward him with his gym bag. “Mark and I only made one run there at the end of the shift, an elderly lady with a broken hip. And I avoided getting up close and personal with not one but three ER admissions they just received - hospital staff with probable meningoencephalitis.”
“Damn,” Danny said, leaning against his car. Anger welled up … how he hated this spreading disease. What else could he do? The situation seemed hopeless. Even the CDC was stumped. Casey stared at him. “We have to get three doses of the new antibiotic into the current diagnosed p
atients before they can possibly turn around.”
Casey grabbed Danny’s upper arm and tugged. “Come on, let’s go in. Dakota’s barking at the door.”
“Joelle Lewis said it’s got an acronym called PAM,” Danny said. “And, by the way, I swear you’re getting more ripped.”
“I only did an hour but, yeah, I’ve slimmed down and am muscling up for the wedding.”
Danny grinned as they opened the house door. Dakota’s tail wagged feverishly as he pushed his back end into them, blocking their entrance. Casey dropped his black bag and hoisted the dog into his arms. “How’s this for a view, Dakota? See, you’re not the strongest body in here.” Casey took several steps and then placed him on the floor by the French doors. Dakota put his rump up in a play bow, taunting Casey to try it again as Danny savored the show.
“Leave the milk out,” Casey said as Danny poured a glass. He stepped away from Dakota, pulled out a big container from the closet, and dumped powder and milk into a blender. He turned on the machine, emptied the contents into a large glass, and downed the protein drink in a few gulps.
“Isn’t tonight the night Howard’s family has an open house?” Casey asked.
Danny crouched down face-to-face with Dakota and, with both hands, massaged the dog’s neck. “Yes, I came home to change my shirt and spruce up. I’m taking Sara out, but I never called to tell her we’re stopping there first.”
“Really?” Casey said surprised. He put the glass in the sink and smiled. “Tell her ‘hi’ and have a great time, which should be a no-brainer unless you screw it up.” Before he gave Danny a chance to respond, he ran up the stairs to see Mary.
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Hushed conversations lingered inside the Jackowitz’s home. Most of the staff from The Neurosurgery Group made an entrance, giving condolences to close family members and sharing office stories about Harold. Although no one mentioned it, Harold’s remains sat on the fireplace in a keepsake urn surrounded by flowers and sympathy cards. His emotionally wrought mother sat very close in an armchair as if she couldn’t put distance between her and her son.
After making appropriate rounds, Danny went to her and crouched. “Mrs. Jackowitz, it grieves me every day what happened to Harold. We didn’t see this deadly epidemic coming. I am so sorry.” Her hand rested on the arm rest and Danny clutched it and squeezed.
“My son was happy working with all of you. I know you helped take care of him in the end. Thank you.”
“You have every reason to be proud of him.”
Sara stood alongside him, grim and weary over the young physician’s demise. There’s nothing worse than a child’s death, she knew. She gave Mrs. Jackowitz a slight hug after Danny got up. All of his co-workers knew Sara but he introduced her to other family members and his friends by simply giving her name and not mentioning her as his ex-wife.
After fifteen minutes, Danny, Matthew, and Bruce stood in a partial circle near the dining room buffet.
“Matthew, you didn’t meet him,” Bruce said, “but Danny and I interviewed Jeffrey Foord today. He’s straight out of residency and looking for a neurosurgery position.” Bruce turned to Danny. “What do you think?”
Danny cracked a smile. “He’s a bit unique for the specialty.”
“But … that doesn’t matter, does it?”
“No, not in the least, although he may spice things up a bit.”
“Hire him?”
“Hire him.”
A hand tapped Danny from the side. In a low voice to the three of them, Cheryl said, “This morning’s news conference is on. In there.” She pointed toward the den.
Danny nodded to Sara to follow as they moved to the next room. A TV sat in a shelf opening, broadcasting the nightly news. A middle-aged reporter with an English accent spoke from the street in front of the hospital entrance. “The death count and reported new cases in the unusual meningitis outbreak continues to climb. This epidemic claimed one more life here a short time ago, there are three more suspected cases, and two more confirmed in Knoxville. We go now to the medical news conference highlights, which took place here this morning.”
The major network aired the meeting while their names appeared at the bottom of the screen. Sara wrung her hands as she found it difficult to take the next breath. What Dr. Lewis seemed to be saying was that the prognosis for patients and their recovery looked dim if the present course of antibiotics failed. The coverage ended with the last statement from the CDC.
Chapter 14
Sitting at a window table in Downtown Italy, Danny broke apart garlic bread and handed Sara the other half. He took a bite and raised his wine glass for a toast. “To a nice dinner together,” he said as he clinked her glass. “I hope you didn’t feel uncomfortable earlier at the Jackowitz’s. Going there wasn’t something I planned on when I asked you out.”
“I understand. The circumstances are extraordinary. Do you know who died this afternoon?”
“No, I’ll find out tomorrow. It’s too grim to speculate. Perhaps we can talk about the girls and the upcoming wedding, about nice weather and fishing, and even about us.”
Sara hid behind her wine glass, then put it down and brushed her hair behind her ear. Her eyes went to the table but not for long as she leaned in and spoke softly. “Danny, life comes without guarantees. Things don’t always work the way we plan them. I realized that when Melissa died.” On the brink of crying, she buried her forehead under her hand.
Danny ran his fingertips through the soft hair near her temple and savored the special moment looking at her. The ivory-flowered necklace draping her neck - he remembered they’d bought it on a trip - and the peach cotton pullover with a V-neck she wore complimented her complexion. The few intimate seconds seemed like an hour.
“I promise,” Danny said, “to make life run as smoothly as possible for you and the girls from now on. Whether we’re living with each other or not, married or not, if you let me - I’ll look after you three like there’s no tomorrow.”
Their eyes locked. “That’s sweet, Danny. I’ll try and believe you.” She knew it was more complicated than that. He had an infant as well, the result of the extra-marital affair he’d had with Rachel. For the first time, however, she realized the new baby wasn’t insignificant; their own daughters now had a half-sister.
As if reading her mind, Danny placed his hands on his lap. “I know. I have a baby, too. I’ll pull my fatherly responsibility and more, but that situation is separate from my first and foremost family.”
Carrying two plates, the waiter stopped at their table and placed the hot entrees they’d ordered in front of them. “Would either of you care for fresh parmesan cheese?”
They both nodded, allowing him to turn the grater over their plates. “I’ll be back to check on you. Enjoy,” he said and left for another table.
“Okay,” Danny said, “let’s eat. And thank you for finally accepting my invitation.”
“You’re welcome. This brings back memories. Your dad and mom were the ultimate owners here and I miss Angelo. But this does look pretty good.”
“He was special, wasn’t he? Now for the taste test.” Danny twirled linguini with shrimp around his fork and took a bite. He nodded. “How’s your ravioli?”
She savored and swallowed. “Very nice.”
They sampled each other’s pasta and Sara complimented the waiter on the food when he returned.
“I have big news,” Sara said. “Not as important as what you do or how you’re being heralded on national TV.”
“Sara, I just do my job. But what is it?”
“I’m going back to work,” she beamed. “Same as years ago before I gave it up. First year biology right under the same roof as the girls.”
“That’s fantastic. Good for you. You not only loved to teach, but you’re crazy about the subject.”
“Yes, well… anyway, I’m ready.”
“Another toast,” Danny said. “Enjoy the second phase of your beloved career.”
They skipped dessert and Danny drove Sara home. He zipped around the car and opened her door, then walked her to the front entrance.
“I bet your days have been extra long lately,” Sara said.
“Some of them remind me of the hours I pulled during residency.” Danny gently put his hand on her shoulder as they stepped onto the porch. “Sorry we didn’t linger longer over dinner. I’ll be jumping into bed after walking Dakota as soon as I get home.”
“No, this was perfect. The girls and I are having early days, too, before starting school next week.”
“They’re coming over again next weekend, if that’s okay. I’m not on call and I’m picking up Julia late Friday. We’re having a fun dinner at the house Saturday night. You know you’re welcome and invited.”
“I have plans Saturday night,” she said after a moment, in a bemused way.
Danny cocked his head. Maybe she’d explain.
“I have a date,” she said, causing Danny to gulp.
“Anybody I know?” he managed to ask.
“It’s the principal at school.”
Danny racked his brain on the way home, wondering if he’d ever met the man and what he looked like.
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Danny waited for Casey to catch up. They’d both left the house the same time, Danny slightly later than normal. Casey trotted upon seeing Danny outside the doctor’s parking zone and they walked together across the asphalt into the ER back door.
“Are you going to pry about last night?” Danny asked.
“I figured you’d tell me if you wanted to.”
“Things were going well until she dropped the ball. She’s got a date Saturday night with the principal of the girls’ school.”
“Where she’s going to work?”
“You knew about that?”
Casey shrugged his shoulders. “Danny, Mary and I see her more frequently than you do. She’s been getting ready for it.”
“Oh,” Danny said flatly.
“And she’s a smart, pretty, sexy, and fun lady. She’s noticeable. The men were going to show up sooner than later.” Casey pointed to the coffee room in the hallway and Danny followed.