Page 65 of Anatomy of a Meet Cute
“I spent nine minutes floating off?” Sam said, shocked.
“Technically seven minutes. You were two minutes late too.”
“Do you know how many seconds I was late as well, or should I even ask?” Sam feigned hurt. Kaiya grinned conspiratorially as if adding a little salt to the exchange was fun for her, and Sam said, “Never mind, just tell me what you learned.”
“All right then. As I was saying, our early evaluation forms are really promising. The first-month program surveys for the group who are seven-months-ish pregnant suggest that families are feeling better informed about what to expect in the final term of their pregnancies. Several respondents said that they even reached out to their nurse or physician with questions based on their consultations with their doula, so anecdotally anyway, it looks like patient engagement with the doctors themselves is also improving.”
“That is amazing,” Sam said. Obviously, she wouldn’t have birthing stats for this group for a few more months, but this was promising.
“I thought you’d be happy to hear it. I know that the third-trimester-pregnancy cohort is only fifteen people, but if we see these same results come back from the first- and second-trimester cohort, I think we are onto something really amazing.”
“What about the doula evaluations? Are they seeing the same thing the patients are feeling?” Sam asked, her mounting excitement causing the words to tumble out of her. Kaiya opened her mouth, likely to try to slow Sam down, so she added, “I know, I know, it’s only a month’s worth of data.”
“You are stealing my disclaimers,” Kaiya said, shaking her hair over her shoulders and smiling at Sam. “I’m still missing Earnest’s evals—I’ll follow up with him today—but so far, everyone feels like they are starting to build rapport and their clients are getting comfortable. I joke that once people start asking me about their digestive issues, I know I’m building a bond. It seems like we are getting there with all our cohorts. And next week, some of us are starting house calls, not just phone calls or video chats.”
“I can’t believe how fast this is all moving. I mean, it felt like it took forever to get here, but now we are at house calls. Pretty soon, we will have our first center babies. We should order special onesies for them!” Sam grinned at Kaiya, who didn’t even try to bring her back down to earth.
“I will give you credit for this, Sam.” A warmth that Kaiya typically reserved for her clients rolled off her as she said, “I always thought I was a lone wolf in this work, but I am really enjoying having a community of practitioners around me. When a client isn’t bonding with one of us, we can all meet and discuss if swapping clients might be a good idea or how to work through different ways to grow the relationship. It’s actually really nice to be able to share what I know.”
“Is it too soon to say I told you so?” Sam asked, fighting the urge to dive across the table and hug her.
“Much too soon.” Kaiya rolled her eyes like Sam was the corniest person she’d ever met. “Anyway, I’ll finish getting the first-trimester, second-trimester, and doula documentation together and send it over to you and Grant. Do you need anything else from me for the upcoming progress report to Anjo?”
“Nope. Once I have the physician responses and visit-attendance data, I’ll summarize everything and send it off by the end of next week. Then we can keep trucking along.”
“All right, then, I think we are done here,” Kaiya said, picking up her papers and tapping them twice on the desk so they were perfectly aligned before placing them in a purple folder.
Sam looked at her phone, then cocked her head at Kaiya and said, “With three minutes to spare. Despite my staring into space.”
“Don’t get big in the britches, Miss I Got One Good Month of Results,” Kaiya snorted. “Now get outa here so I can reset the room for the first-time-pregnant parents’ group and then the chaplains’ staff meeting.”
“Do you want help?”
“No,” Kaiya laughed as Sam’s eyebrows shot up. “I want you to go be a doctor and deal with whatever you need to deal with so that you are paying attention next time.”
“Fine. I can take a hint,” Sam sighed and picked up her bag.
“Not a hint. It’s practically a billboard,” Kaiya cackled as she started to push filing cabinets around the room.
“Laugh if you want, Kaiya; I still think you’re the best, and I know deep down you like me too,” Sam said, refusing to let a roasting keep her newfound good mood down.
“It must be buried real deep.” Kaiya snorted as she pushed another small cabinet into place.
“It’s still there, so I’ll take it,” Sam called over her shoulder as she reached the door, the sound of Kaiya’s chuckles following her out. She made it exactly four feet into the hallway before she whipped out her cell phone. She didn’t have much time before she needed to go back to observations, but she had to text Grant the good news.
Just met with Kaiya. 3rd Trimester group loves the program!
Sam tapped the phone in her palm while she waited to see if he was going to reply. Usually, if he was awake and not in the shower, he didn’t keep her waiting long. They had been texting back and forth all week. Not so much the steamy stuff Sam had imagined they’d text, although there was some of that. Mostly, Grant texted sweet little personal things like GIFs fromA Goofy Movieor clips from an opera that Grant promised Sam would enjoy when they watched it together. Admittedly, Sam thought the plot of that one sounded ridiculous—why would a grown woman need permission from an entire army regiment to get married?—but Grant swore that it was his favorite role his mom had ever sung, so Sam guessed she’d learn to like it.
The thought of learning to like something for Grant made her pause. Was she really planning to study an entire genre of music for a guy she’d made out with exactly once? Sure, Grant could be sweet underneath that prickly exterior. And he was funny. Who else appreciated an unintentional sex joke as much as she did? But was that really enough that she was about to just hand over her heart? She shouldfocus on getting her progress report to Anjo. She knew better than to rush into a relationship, especially with someone who had their life so figured out, but—
The feel of the phone vibrating against her palm stopped Sam’s thoughts. Looking down at the screen, Grant’s name flashed up at her. Quickly unlocking the phone, she read,
That’s amazing! Need any help with the Anjo report?
Sam paused. A small corner of her mind pointed out that she had her mom’s party, the center’s grand opening, and that silly video they needed to film for Anjo all happening in the next week. But it wasn’t like Grant didn’t have just as much on his plate. When she’d started the center, she’d said none of the work would land back on him. One date with the guy didn’t earn her the right to go back on that promise.
I think I got it. But thanks.
