Page 5 of Savage Peril

Chapter 2

After lunch, Lori asked her uncle to drop her at the pain clinic. She wanted to get back to work and not dwell on her sorrows. Patients counted on the clinic, and the staff depended on her to keep the operations running, despite any personal upheaval.

Uncle Sheldon had been impressed with Lori preventing the death of a passenger on the flight home. She relayed the story, leaving out medical data that he wouldn’t understand. The tale was electrifying, even Lori thought so as she told it.

Her uncle had heard of Marco Bacci’s firm, although he hadn’t used his services. Since there was no specialty listed on his business card, she assumed Marco handled general legal matters. Sheldon didn’t have more to add. Lori mentioned that Bacci’s office was in Santa Monica, probably not too far from the clinic.

Before getting out, Lori kissed her uncle on the cheek and thanked him for lunch. He tried to persuade her to take the rest of the day off, but she assured him that it would be better for her to work. She walked to the front entrance of the clinic, feeling better already.

Waters Pain Clinic was etched into the glass of the sliding doors. Lori found the environment comforting, despite the stresses of caring for patients. The clinic was where she fit in, where she had a valuable role to fill. It grounded her in an otherwise tumultuous world.

The lobby and waiting area were decorated in blue, green, and orange. Lori had chosen those colors to make the atmosphere cheerful. All white looked too sterile, and patients had enough to deal with. A small thing like feeling good in the space could make a difference.

There was a framed photograph of her father on the wall in the lobby. Lori planned to leave it there, since he was the founder of the clinic. She could take over operations, but she had no desire to take her father’s place in patients’ hearts.

Relieving pain was a vital medical specialty. From personal experience, Lori understood how pain could destroy a patient’s quality of life. Her mother had been brave, enduring years of discomfort, including acute and chronic pain.

Her father had arranged for a variety of therapies and continued to embrace any new technologies that appeared promising. Patients didn’t solely rely on pain medication, although prescriptions were given as required, including nerve blocks in extreme cases.

There was pain therapy, injections, implantable devices, as well as oral pain medications. As a clinician certified in the treatment of chronic pain conditions, Lori recommended behavioral and psychological therapies as well. Even lifestyle changes could make a difference.

The check-in clerks were busy assisting patients, so Lori went to her office. She had a couple of urgent matters to handle, ones that wouldn’t take long to deal with. Then she would talk with the doctor on duty and find out how things had gone in her absence.

Lori’s phone vibrated; it was her brother Nick. He was three years younger, but at age thirty-three he was very immature. She loved him, but he’d caused trouble for the family. In his teens, Nick had gotten in with the wrong crowd and had a drug addiction that was tough to break.

Initially, drug rehab hadn’t worked. Nick was irresponsible and drifted back into old patterns. It took several attempts before he could overcome the addiction and function better. He had attended college but didn’t graduate. He had no career, due to a lack of motivation.

Lori assumed that Nick wasn’t on drugs but was uneasy. She had no way of knowing for sure. His call might mean that he needed money, and this wasn’t a day that she felt tolerant of her brother’s failings. She would call him back later.

Clinic matters would have to come first. Lori headed for the doctors’ station, but only a few steps down the hallway, she ran into Matt. She had hoped to avoid a confrontation, but from his expression, she feared that would be unavoidable.

Lori held up a hand. “Not now, Matt. I just got in and I’m busy.”

Matt looked handsome in a blue dress shirt under a tailored blazer. He had neatly groomed short brown hair that she had run her fingers through more times that she cared to remember. And his piercing blue eyes gave her pause.

Despite Matt’s good looks and charm, Lori didn’t respond as she might have. The emotions that he had been so adept at stirring within her weren’t there. She realized that she was over him. That had been a gradual process, so Lori wasn’t sure exactly when her feelings had changed.

Matt was smart, athletic, and good at his job. He was a good catch for the right woman. But Lori wasn’t the one. His personality, along with his fine attributes, left her cold. She tried to envision how she’d agreed to marry him.

“You didn’t return my calls,” Matt said, blocking her path.

“If it was clinic business, you should have emailed.” Lori refused to look up. At five feet one, she didn’t reach his shoulder level. She wasn’t going to satisfy him by staring up and feeling submissive. She was done with that.

“Would you have answered?”

“You are the clinic director,” Lori said. “Of course I would reply to your email.”

Matt put his hand on Lori’s shoulder. “Is that all we are to each other, coworkers?”

“I don’t want to do this right now, Matt.”

“But I do.”

Lori brushed his hand away and stepped around. “Not in the hallway. This is uncomfortable, and I don’t have any more to say to you anyway.”

Matt looked at her with pleading eyes. Lori recognized the expression. “It’s not going to work this time. I won’t give in. I’ve already told you that, and I explained why.”

“You told me, but I don’t think that’s all,” Matt said. “After losing your father, I’d think you would want intimacy. It’s natural to reach out during grieving.”

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