Page 63 of No Way Home
A laugh slipped out, rattling my chest. I pulled my phone from my back pocket and sent my mom a text.
How did you ever fall for Billy Adams? He’s an absolute clown.
The Best Mom God Ever Made
I ask myself that same question every day.
Chapter Twenty-Four
MAGNOLIA
After eatinglunch alone at the park—a turkey and provolone sandwich I’d brought from home—I walked back into the clinic ready to work. Nurse Betsy was gone for the afternoon, driving her husband to the optometrist. I could hear Dr. Adams and P.A. Markson in separate rooms, attending to patients.
Room one had a blue flag flipped out, which meant that the patient needed their vitals taken. I grabbed the computer cart, checked the chart of Maeve Coleman—a fifteen-year-old girl experiencing stomach pains—and gave the door a light knock before pushing inside.
“Good afternoon,” I sang softly.
Sitting on the exam table, decked out in head-to-toe black, Maeve was the poster child for all things emo. Black nails, a black lip ring, and jet black dyed hair.
Her mother was the opposite in soft pastels, blond hair streaked with gray. She looked stiff and a touch irritated. Maybe they’d gotten into an argument before I arrived?
I smiled, hoping to ease the tension. “I’m Maggie, and I’m going to take your vitals, if that’s okay.”
Maeve recoiled, eyes darting to the floor, hands tremblingagainst her knees. I glanced at Mrs. Coleman, trying to understand what was going on.
She seared me with her stare. “We had one request,” she gritted out. “No med students. No nurses. Just Dr. Adams. Is it that hard to follow directions?”
“Oh…” I said, confused. “I’m so sorry. Normally, they put a sign up on the door if that’s the case.” It wasn’t that I was trying to pass the buck, but no way would I have walked in if I’d known.
The woman shook her head, lips pressed in a bloodless line. “She has POTS, which causes severe anxiety. I swear, y’all don’t care about your patients at all. Last time it was that blond kid with the mullet.” That would be Topher. “Now it’syou. Is Dr. Adams just letting any old hooligan up in here now?”
Hooligan? I blinked. I couldn’t even jaywalk without feeling guilty.
Her arm slid around Maeve as if she needed protection from me. “C’mon, sweetie, we’re going someplace that has its act together.”
I stepped back, letting them pass, heart in my throat. “It was just a simple misunderstanding,” I followed them from the room. “I promise the people here at Seddledowne…”
The words lodged in my throat as Dr. Adams exited exam room two. One look at Maeve and her mother, and his smile disappeared. “What’s going on?
“What’s going on is that your med student can’t read simple instructions.” Maeve’s mother jammed her pointer finger at the door of exam room one, where, sure enough, there was a bright red octagon-shaped sign hanging from the handle that readNo Student. “Not sure how she got into med school.”
“Maggie?” Dr. Adams’ nostrils flared ever so slightly.
“U-uh,” I stammered, trying to hold it together. “That wasn’t there before.” It wasn’t. I checked.
He sighed. “Yes, it was. I put it there myself.”
Maeve and her mom looked between us, not knowing who to believe. “It doesn’t matter,” Mrs. Coleman said. “We’re done.” She stomped toward the exit, Maeve in tow. “Please have our records sent to Dr. Torres’s office in Honeyville.” Then they were gone.
Dr. Adams stared after them, an angry blush creeping across the top of his bald head.
“I’m s-so sorry,” I choked.
He looked mad enough to break something. “They’ve been coming here for a decade. It took years to earn Maeve’s trust. You and Topher managed to destroy that in less than a month.”
My instincts screamed to stand up for myself. The sign hadn’t been there when I entered the room. I was certain. But the first rule of being on rotation is that you don’t question your attending. Not if you want to pass. “What can I do? Do you want me to go apologize again? Maybe if we give them some time to calm down?—”
“Forget it. She’s more protective of Maeve than a hen with one chick.” He shook his head, hands on his hips. “I hope you know I just lost an entire family of patients. Seven of them. I might lose their extended family too.”
