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“That’scorrect. I am sorry.”
“She is ouronly child,” The woman quavered. “She took the car outwithout our permission and will pay for that disobedience with herlife.”
“We want herback.” The husband was holding tight to his control, which wasin fear of slipping. “It doesn't matter what she did. She isour daughter, and we want her back.”
“And we aredoing everything we can for her,” Cooper assured them. “Wewill let you know if anything-”
“We are stayingfor the night.” The husband told him firmly.
Cooper nodded. “Iwill let one of the nurses find somewhere comfortable for you tostay. I am sorry.” He left the grieving parents with thatinadequate wording and headed to his next patient.
He was tired, angry,and frustrated and had almost picked up the phone to call to find outhow she was doing. But the way he was feeling right now, he knew thatone negative word from her would have him going off. So, he did notcall her.
Pushing the doubleglass doors open, he forced a smile to his lips as he walked into theroom.
“Hey doc, howis it going?”
“Great. Itwould be even better if I did not see a pizza box peeking out fromunder the covers.” Pulling up a chair, he examined the man’svital signs and checked on the catheter.
“Ah, doc, a manmust be able to eat whatever he wants. I am eighty-five and on theway to check out. Gus brought it for me after I threatened to tellhis kids that he was smoking again.”
“Yourcholesterol level is too high, and your blood pressure is notdecreasing,” Cooper told him mildly.
“That’sbecause I am worried about my daughter. She is in a bad way.”His expression sobered. “She lives alone in that big house ofhers, and those worthless grandkids of mine don’t give a flyingfig that she needs them.”
“There isnothing you can do about that. I want you to stop stressing aboutthings you cannot fix.”
“I just need toget back home to her.”
“Then how aboutyou allow us to do our jobs?”
“You are right.No more pizzas and burgers.”
Cooper's thick browslifted as he rose. “Burgers, too?”
“That justslipped out.” The old man said with an impish smile. “Butfrom now on, I will behave.”
“See that youdo.” With a final look at his chart, he left, closing the doorsbehind him. He was about to head to one of the on-call rooms to get ashut eye when his pager went off. Cursing beneath his breath, hehurried away.
*****
“I heard aboutLisa.” Marge, a frequent visitor to the clinic, said quietly assoon as Brooke finished giving her an insulin shot.
“Yes.”
“I lived notfar from her and tried to get her to leave Marcus. She was constantlytelling me she loved him.”
“Some peoplejust cannot be saved.” Brooke made a notation in her chart andwished she would just stop talking about it. ”Your bloodpressure is under control, and your blood sugar is stable.”
The woman’seyes brightened. “I have been trying, doc. Eating better eventhough it’s not easy. That food place you referred me tosupplies many fresh fruits and vegetables. I am doing my part. I havemy grandchildren to think about.”
“That’senough motivation,” Brooke told her with a brief smile.
“You know, doc,I can never say this enough, but you are a miracle worker in theseparts. Not everyone would take on a task like this. You saved mylife; many people in this area can say that, too. We are grateful forthe things you do around here.”
Brooke, whoseemotions had been veering crazily for the entire day, felt the tearsprickling the back of her eyes. She was not one to give in to tearsand all that emotional crap, but for the last twenty-four hours,things had changed. Damn him!
Chapter 8
