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“Great.” That’s a relief.
“Come back in one hour. They’ll be here for you to meet and talk with.”
I extend my hand and shake hers. “Thank you.”
As soon as I’m in the car, my phone rings. “Nick Ashford,” I say when the number doesn’t look familiar.
“Nick? How are you doing? This is Kirk DeBartolo. I heard you were back.”
I groan and tap my hand against the steering wheel. DeBartolo was my boss when I did my stint with Doctors Without Borders. He was angry when my contract ended and I wouldn’t renew, but I had just married Aubrey and I wanted to get back to my practice. Plus, we wanted to start a family, and that wasn’t something I wanted to do in a remote village with questionable resources and no viable drinking water.
“Hey, how are things?”
“Good, could always be better. So, it’s true, you’re back?”
“No, not really,” I tell him. “Aubrey’s here working. I came with her to help get her settled.”
“You’re not staying?”
“Nope.” I shake my head even though he can’t see me. “Our sixteen-year-old son is still stateside. As soon as I hire a caretaker for our daughter, I’ll be heading back. I was hoping to be gone already.”
“Ah, bummer.”
“Why, what’s up?” As soon as the question is out of my mouth, I regret it. I know what’s coming and I’m not looking forward to it.
“We’re short staffed and could use someone as skilled as you.”
“I wish I could.”
“The money’s good, Nick. Better than it was the last time you were here. And with your experience, you’d have your pick of locations.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to help, Kirk. It’s that I can’t. With Aubrey staying here, someone needs to be back in the states with our oldest. He’s staying with friends right now and I don’t want him to wear out his welcome.”
“I understand. Let me know if you change your mind, though. Like I said, we need someone with your expertise, Nick. Especially with children.”
And there it is, the knife to the heart.
“Yeah, thanks for calling.” I hang up and toss my phone onto the passenger seat. DeBartolo couldn’t get me with money, because let’s be honest, no one works with the program to get rich. The program is privately funded or done so with donations. Most of the time, doctors use their salaries to buy supplies for patients because there is never enough. But the kids—that’s where he gets me, because healthcare is inadequate, and where there’s a high rate of tuberculosis and HIV where we are. With the right medicine and treatment, one is curable and the other can be maintained.
I push the conversation out of my mind. There’s no way I can do it, not for another two years, and honestly, I’m not sure I want to do it. I love my practice and my staff, and I love watching my patients grow from tiny little humans to rambunctious toddlers to moody teens. I’ve built a strong foundation in Beaumont and I’m not about to throw it away.
A quick glance at the clock tells me it’s time for me to return to the agency. I check in at the front desk and wait for Sar Newell. When she opens the door, she motions for me to follow her. We go to a room, where a young woman sits on one side of the table.
Sar conducts the interview, asking the basic questions, and then I get to ask mine. We do this three times, and then I decided on an unmarried woman in her forties, named Talisa. She doesn’t have children and has been a caretaker before. She also doesn’t have a problem staying at the house when needed and doesn’t need us to provide her a car even though it’ll be there for her if and when she does need one.
Finally.
Now I can make arrangements to go back home.
After my interviews, I stop and pick Amelie up from school. She’s not a fan because it’s nothing like her mother promised, and she hates wearing a uniform. Also, being the new girl is hard work, according to her.
“How was school?” I ask as soon as she comes out of the building.
“I hate it.”
“Want to go home?” I ask her this every day or every time she tells me she hates something here. It’s probably a shitty thing for me to do but I don’t want her here. She needs to be with her brother, back at her old school, and in her room where all of her things are.
“Yes, I’m tired.”
