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“Yes, she’s seven-years-old and has suspicious markings on her wrist,” I said over the phone. “And she seemed a little bit uncomfortable with her mother. She was just here a couple hours ago. She was suffering from a viral infection and fever.”
“Thank you so much for filing the report, Ms. Kennery. We will be investigating the case shortly.”
“Okay. Thank you.” With a heavy sigh, I ended the call just as Molly entered our break room, carrying her lunch with her and looking like she wanted nothing more than for the day to end.
“How’s it going, Molly?” I asked.
“I was about to say it’s going too busy, you look even more worn out than me. What’s wrong now, doll?”
I crossed the room and sat beside her at the table. “I just had to report a case of possible child abuse. I was just on the phone with Child Protective Services.”
“Oh no. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. This sweet little seven-year-old girl has scarring on her wrists. I just saw her this morning. I was assigned to help Dr. Sholly again, and he was examining her. She was brought in for her fever.”
“It’s always hard when you see kids getting hurt. Any idea who’s abusing her?”
“Not really, although she did seem a little uncomfortable with her mom. Her mom wasn’t even in the room with most of the time though.”
“Where was she?”
“I’m not sure. I didn’t get a chance to ask. She eventually returned and Dr. Sholly sent me out.”
“Well, rest assured you did the right thing.”
“I know. The important thing is making sure she’s going to be okay.”
“Exactly.”
“Guess I may as well take my lunch too. Be right back, Molly.” I stood up and headed to the refrigerator to get my lunch.
“So—you were assigned to Evan again today, eh?” Molly called out to me in a teasing voice.
I tried unsuccessfully to suppress a smirk as I made my way back over to the table with my lunch. “So.”
Molly laughed. “So did the two of you behave today?”
“We had no choice. The little girl was there.”
“Oh sure. Blame it on her.”
“You saw how he treated me yesterday. What else do you think contributed to his sudden ability to be cordial?”
“The fact that he regretted how he treated you yesterday.”
“How on earth do you know that?”
“I ran into him in the parking lot before I left yesterday.”
My ears perked and I paused midway before taking a bite of my turkey sandwich. “And…?”
“And he asked about you.”
“Really? What did he say?”
Molly laughed, and I had to resist the urge to slap myself for sounding like an overly excited schoolgirl. I tried to remind myself that Dr. Sholly was not my type, so I had no reason to be so concerned with what he said about me. I had already dated a handsome jerk before, so I wasn’t about to fall for another one, even if he was a successful doctor.
Upon entering the hospital that morning, I paused in the hallway and for the first time, took a good look at the various plaques of excellence for doctors among the hospital staff. Evan Sholly’s name had plenty of appearances on the wall. It was surprising I’d never noticed before, but I supposed I just hadn’t paid attention. Seeing all the good work he’d done over the years, I had actually started to regret my own behavior a bit as well, particularly since I had more or less implied he didn’t know what he was doing. But in my defense, he had started it by insulting me first. So I didn’t have to feel entirely too guilty about it…
