Page 27 of Tumbleweed Temptation
“I think it’s carbon monoxide poisoning,” he said. “I need you to keep an eye on him, let me know if there’s any change. “I’m going to put Mrs. Crowley in the other exam room and give her the same treatment.”
“I already put Mrs. DeWinne in there, your nine o’clock appointment.”
“Okay, well, she’s going to have to wait. I’ve taken a blood sample from each of them and I’m going to test it to be sure, but they’re presenting with symptoms. Anyway, you keep an eye on him, I’m going to keep an eye on her. Mrs. Crowley can wait in my office, I guess. We might have to put everyone else on hold until we get this figured out. I don't think they’ll have to go to San Angelo, but they might.” He put his hand under Mrs. Crowley’s elbow. “Good call, Gin. If you’d sent them home, we might be picking up their bodies tomorrow. You have good instincts.”
He offered her a smile that made something in her chest blossom. She just nodded, though, and took the seat Mrs. Crowley had vacated.
Almost an hour later, Austin came back in. She didn't know what he was doing about his scheduled patients, but she didn't want to leave Mr. Crowley to find out, even though the man appeared to be resting.
“Everything okay in here? Mrs. Crowley is doing better, and she’s calling Tommy to check out their car. She said they drove to San Antonio and back yesterday and were both just feeling terrible.”
“I was wondering, because I thought heaters were what caused that.”
“Yeah, usually, but cars can cause it, too. Anyway, that’s the suspicion. If Tommy can’t find the cause then we’ll look into something else, but anyway. Let’s see how he’s doing.” Austin crossed in front of her to check Mr. Crowley’s vitals.
“He’s been sleeping pretty much the entire time, but the readings on the monitor have been normal.”
“Good, that’s good. You did a good thing here today, Ginny. But maybe you can go back out front. Mrs. Sokolov is here with her two kids, and I think they have the same thing as Melissa’s kids. So that will be fun.”
“How can I help?”
“Well, get her to do the paperwork, and help Mrs. Crowley finish their paperwork. We’ll get the kids back as quickly as possible, and you might want to run the disinfectant wipes I bought last night over the doorknob and any place you think the kids might have touched.”
Super fun times, indeed.
Because of the morning emergencies, their lunch break was truncated. Ginny ordered in from the diner, and Janine herself delivered.
“Having fun?” the older woman asked, and her attitude made clear what answer she wanted to hear.
“Now I know why doctors schedule a two hour lunch break,” Ginny said. “It’s been crazy. We have about twenty minutes to eat before our one o’clock patient.”
“Our patient?” Janine asked.
"Well, you know. For the day. Thanks for bringing over lunch.” She rose from the chair with the styrofoam containers. She didn't know where he usually ate lunch, but his office was pretty clean, so maybe there?
“You’re going to be back Saturday?” Janine asked from the counter.
“I’ll be back.” But man, sitting down most of the day had been nice.
“Okay, see you then.”
“Hey, what smells good?” Austin asked, stepping out of the exam room after Janine left.
“I ordered us some lunch. Where do you usually eat? There doesn’t look like you have a break room.”
“She usually eats at her desk and I eat at mine.”
“Ah. Oh.” She opened the bag, wondering which container was hers.
“But you can—there’s room. Come in and eat with me.” He stopped at the sink and scrubbed his hands again. He walked into the office and bent down to open the refrigerator behind it. “Want a water?”
“Oh. Yeah.” She sat across the desk from him. “I would ask how your day has gone, but I think I have a pretty good idea.”
“Yeah, I keep hoping for an easy day, but none have gone the way I’ve planned yet.”
“I would guess if that’s important to you, you should probably not be a doctor.”
“There’s that,” he said with a grin, opening up his container. “Hey, how’d you know? I love fried bologna sandwiches.”
