Page 88 of Forever Never
“It was the cold and probably a bit of the adrenaline,” Remi said, wincing at the cold stethoscope on her back.
“Mmm,” Dr. Ferrin said.
“Oh. And then there was the yelling,” she added. “I did a lot of yelling. So that probably didn’t help.”
“You know what would help?” the doctor said mildly. “If you’d be quiet while I tried to listen to your lungs.”
“Oh. Right. Sorry,” Remi said. She felt compelled to further apologize but then decided the doctor would probably rather she shut her mouth.
So she sat still and breathed as she was told while Dr. Ferrin moved the stethoscope around her back.
“Okay,” the doctor said, sitting down on the rolling stool. “I think you got the albuterol in time to beat a more serious attack. But since I have you here, I’m going to want to run a test or two. Now, let’s talk.”
Talk.This was when Remi would have batted her eyelashes at the former island doctor and told him a funny story, and he’d let her off without a lecture.
Assessing brown eyes unwilling to be charmed studied her. “How is your condition management?”
“I manage it fine…usually,” Remi added.
“You were in here just days ago with your friend who was injured while messing around on the ice bridge. You’ve got a broken arm, and this is your second serious asthma attack in what? A month?”
“Yes, but—”
“That doesn’t sound like management,” Dr. Ferrin observed.
“There were extenuating circumstances.”
“Seems like a lot of extenuating circumstances to me. I’m not saying that you’re purposely making terrible decisions. I’m saying trouble is attracted to certain people, and you are most definitely one of them. However, you did rescue Mr. Kleckner, and I am awfully fond of him and his wife. So that weighs heavily in your favor.”
“Did you see him? Is he okay?” Remi asked.
“Mr. Kleckner will be fine. Thanks to you and our fine emergency services. Let’s talk about what you do when you’re not in the midst of extenuating circumstances. Tell me about your prescriptions, your exercise, your diet.”
“Don’t you have other patients to see?” Remi asked weakly.
Dr. Ferrin’s smile was sharp. “It’s your lucky day. There isn’t a ton of doctoring going on in February on an island of five hundred. Now, prescriptions, exercise, diet. Talk. And if there’s enough time left over, maybe we can figure out when your cast can come off.”
* * *
Forty minutes later,Remi stepped into the waiting room with three fresh prescriptions and a host of medical advice about how she was living her life all wrong.
Worse yet, Brick was still there. Standing hip-shot, arms crossed, staring at her as if he’d been willing her to appear.
“Well?” he asked.
“Everything is fine,” she said.
“Good. Come on.”
“I don’t need a babysitter, Brick.”
“I’m not babysitting you. I’m feeding you lunch because you earned it and then taking you home.”
“I earned it?”
He sighed and held the door open for her. “If you hadn’t gone to visit the Kleckners, it might have taken Lois a lot longer to check on Ben. He could have been out there for an hour or two before anyone realized he was missing. His tracks would have been gone.”
“So Iwasn’tincredibly irresponsible?” she asked, fishing for a compliment.
