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I’d rehearsed responses to the various things she might say to me when I walked in. She certainly wouldn’t apologize, but she was first and foremost a businesswoman. She might ask me to stay longer than two months while she searched for a replacement. I wouldn’t be opposed to an extension, especially for the sake of my patients.
I would miss both the staff and my patients, and also the close commute considering the clinic was only three miles from my condo with the hospital conveniently located across the street from our building. Perhaps I could transfer to another practice nearby? Last I’d heard, Dr. Johnson’s group was hiring an OB, so that was a possibility.
After pulling into the lot, I walked to the building which housed a number of medical offices. Every type of physician a patient could ever need occupied this block. Smiling at a woman in a nurse uniform as I got into the elevator, I sipped my coffee and pushed the button for the third floor.
At the employee entrance to our clinic, I swiped my badge and attempted to open the door. The locking device flashed red, and the door stayed locked. Weird. I slid the badge slower this time and waited for the distinctive beep and green light. Red again.
Oh, no. Was the card scanner down again? Last month when it had happened, my mother had hit the roof with the building manager. I didn’t need her in one of her legendary moods today, of all days.
Walking around to the patient entrance, I opened the main patient door and smiled at Addison sitting at the front desk with her headset on.
She didn’t return my smile. Instead, her eyes looked teary, and she mouthed, “Sorry.”
Sorry. Sorry for what? “What’s going on?”
She swallowed hard. “Your mother, I mean Dr. Morrison, instructed me to reschedule all your patients starting with today.” She leaned forward, her voice a whisper. “I sent you a text.”
I pulled out my phone to see an unread message from her. “There has to be a mistake.” I had twelve patients on the schedule today and three deliveries were planned this week.
“There’s no mistake. You quit. Therefore you no longer work here,” came my mother’s voice.
I looked up to see her walking toward us. Facing her, I steeled myself. Having a public showdown in the office with my mother was the last thing I’d wanted. Thankfully, there was no one in the waiting room yet. “I said I’d transition my patients.”
“No need. We’ll inform your patients you’re no longer with the practice. Your things will be packed up and sent to you.”
In other words, she’d make everyone believe I was the one behaving unprofessionally.
Fine. She could cover all the extra patients and deliveries. I’d go up two floors, talk with Dr. Johnson, and convince some of my patients to come along with me as I moved to a new practice.
“It’s your loss, Dr. Morrison,” I replied with more bravado than I was feeling. Turning on my heel, I got one step away before she landed her fatal blow.
“If you’re tempted to go see Dr. Johnson about a job, think again. I’ve already let her know about your unprofessionalism. In fact, you won’t find anyone in Orange County willing to offer you a job.”
I pivoted, having a hard time believing this was a woman who’d ever loved me. This wasn’t sour grapes, this was fucking with my career. Her expression of sheer satisfaction only confirmed she didn’t care.
“I wouldn’t want to work anywhere I’d have to see you again. I’d say have a nice life, but you’ve been miserable for so long, I doubt you know what happiness is like.”
Her eye twitched in response, giving me a kernel of satisfaction.
Since I wouldn’t put it past her to blackball me throughout the entire state of California, I made my own threat. “Just remember we have the same last name, and I was at some point part of your legacy, so it’s your reputation you’ll also tarnish with every phone call you make.”
She might dislike it, but my career and reputation were, in fact, a reflection on her.
Addison suddenly stood up, taking off her headset and grabbing her purse. “This is bullshit. I’m outta here too.”
My mother’s carefully masked face slipped. “What? No, you can’t leave. You’re the receptionist. You need to reschedule all the patients.”
Addison gave me a wink. “Nah, if you believe your daughter is the unprofessional one after you threatened her job if she didn’t show up at her cheating ex’s wedding to your other daughter—who by the way isn’t fooling anyone with her baby bump obvious to the world—then this is definitely not the place for me. Reschedule your own damn appointments, your highness.”
Then, in slow motion, she executed the sloppiest curtsy known to man, making me giggle and my mother snarl.
Addison came around her desk and looped her arm in mine. “Do you prefer IHOP or Denny’s? I hear both have a killer Monday morning breakfast.”
Ride or die. I loved my best friend.
