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The smell of garbage and burning diesel fuel was stronger. Flynn didn’t take my hand. We had to avoid public displays of affection such as hugging or hand holding.
A young Lebanese woman waited for us at the entrance. Her expression wasn’t exactly unfriendly, but it was obvious she wasn’t happy to see me. It didn’t take long for me to figure out that she might have had designs on Flynn when her gaze swung from him back to me and then to him again.
“Oh! Where’s Cindy, Flynn?”
Okay, he was Flynn and not Dr. Safadi. Red flag number one.
“Cindy is sitting this one out. Krista, this is Bella, my new assistant. She’ll assist me in the OR and accompany me to bedside visits. Bella, Krista is the nurse in charge.”
I’d learn Krista scheduled Flynn’s surgeries and ran the clinic with a skeleton crew. She took me on a tour while Flynn talked to the evening physician on staff. But it was more about her asking me questions and prying than showing me anything relevant.
“How do you know Flynn?”
We had just exited the room where Flynn was. I didn’t know how to answer, so I said we’d met at work.
“I’ll need a copy of your nursing license if you’re going to act as a registered nurse. If you’re an OR tech or a medical assistant, we don’t require any documentation. It would be unusual for Flynn to travel with a non-professional.”
Whether she meant to or not, she actually looked me up and down, sweeping her gaze from my hair to my shoes and back up again. Her lips were pursed, too, which made it worse. I felt myself flushing.
Her words set my teeth on edge. So, someone effectively risking their safety to come to Lebanon on what was for all intents and purposes a mission trip of goodwill would be considered a non-professional if they weren’t a nurse.
At about that point, I decided she had nothing to show me that I couldn’t see later with Flynn.
“I’m ready to go back to Flynn,” I said.
“Oh, I offended you. I didn’t mean it to sound so caustic. It’s just how we differentiate between licensed and non-licensed staff.”
“Gotcha. I have my license right here.”
I pulled the envelope with the folded license out of my bag. The recent date made me a little nervous, but I hoped she’d just see it as current and not brand new. She said nothing about it as I followed her to a small office where a copy machine was housed, and she made a copy of the license.
The rest of the tour was of the spaces where I’d work with Flynn over the next month. The rooms were regular operating rooms. I didn’t have enough experience to tell how outdated things were, like the table, lights, or anesthesia machine. I had expected something much more primitive.
Then Krista said, “They aren’t state of the art, but they’re clean and well equipped. Most of the equipment is donated from Jordan, so it’s not new but has a lot of years of service left.”
I heard Flynn laughing, and he appeared with two men who were talking animatedly. After the introductions were made, we said our goodbyes.
“You staying at the Delaparte Guest House?” Krista asked.
“We are. We’ll see you early tomorrow,” Flynn replied.
He seemed eager to get away from the clinic, and that sent up another red flag. We settled in the car, and he leaned forward to shut the window between us and the driver.
“I’m sorry if that was uncomfortable. I have a history with Krista. It happened a long time ago, and it’s never been a problem since I’ve been coming here. But I could tell she was in a mood tonight.” He finally looked at me. “How was the tour?”
“I quickly understood that she might have a grudge.”
“So you figured it out.”
“How involved were you?”
“She was involved,” he said, looking right at me. “We saw each other when I was in medical school.”
“Oh! So, she’s an American?”
“Yes.” He squirmed a little. “She took a trip to the hospital on her own. But there was nothing between us when that happened.”
Stunned, I sat back in the seat. “She moved to Lebanon.”
