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“This is like being on a parade float,” Molly said gleefully. The orderly and Bridget shared a laugh over that. When they came around a corner and saw Jonas, Molly gave him a beauty-queen wave.
He waved back. “How’d it go?”
“It was easy,” Molly said in a blasé voice. “Can I go home now?”
Jonas joined Bridget by the side of the rolling bed. “The ER doctor has to look at your CAT scan first. Then your mom wants to talk to him, so she can ask any questions she might have, and then you can go home.”
“But I’m bored,” Molly said.
Audrey opened the door and helped the orderly put the bed back in the examining room. “That happens,” the nurse said. “I brought you some magazines you can read while you’re waiting.” She got Molly settled and gave her Highlights For Children and Tiger Beat.
“What-do-you-say,” Bridget murmured, on mom autopilot.
Molly remembered her manners. “Thanks, Audrey. Thanks very much.” She chose Tiger Beat and flipped eagerly through the pages, choosing an article on her favorite boy band.
“Ready for that coffee yet?” Jonas asked Bridget.
She exhaled a relieved sigh. “Sure. What else is there to do?”
“You know how it is. It may be an emergency room, but everything takes forever.”
Bridget laughed, looking over at her daughter. “Okay with you, Molly?”
“Sure,” the little girl said absently, glued to the article.
Jonas and Bridget left the room and walked the short distance to the vending machines. He pulled a handful of coins out of his pocket, indicating the push buttons for powdered creamer and sugar. “Have it your way. It’s awful no matter what you put in it, but it is hot.”
She grinned as she made her selection, feeling better about life in general and Molly in particular. The coffee trickled into the cup, joined by shots of her additions, and the machine wheezed and stopped.
“There you go.”
Bridget reached down to get the cup. “Thanks.” She took a sip and made a face. “Gah. But it’s comforting.”
They sat down on a bench in the hall as she drank, looking at him over the paper rim. He seemed so at home in this setting, but that was to be expected.
“So what kind of doctor are you, Jonas?” she said at last. “I never did ask.”
“Family practitioner. I do basic medicine. I rotated through them all—pediatrics, geriatrics, orthopedics, OB-GYN, you name it. I’m a generalist, not a specialist, if you know what I mean.”
Bridget nodded. She got the idea.
“I’ll tell you what appeals to me. An old-fashioned family practice that incorporates all of what I’ve learned. Settling in a community and making a lifelong commitment to the health of the people in it.” He gave her a rueful smile. “I guess I’m an idealist too.”
“Isn’t—” Bridget hesitated. “Isn’t that something you can do in New York?”
He nodded. “I am doing that in New York. But a big-city clinic is overwhelming. It’s a struggle for a lot of people there just to get basic health care, and we see too many problems that could have been prevented. Everything from grandmothers with uncontrolled diabetes to teenagers with at-risk babies. And the tough cases too—drug abusers, HIV/AIDS patients, victims of domestic abuse …” He shook his head. “Yeah, you get all that in a rural setting. But there’s a better quality of life up here. More breathing room. People look out for each other more. I want that, Bridget. And I think I can do some good.”
Holy cow. The work he did, his plans for the future, were the exact opposite of what she’d imagined about his life in New York.
“I’m sure you will,” she said softly.
After Bridget had conferred with the ER physician, who said that there was no evidence of a skull fracture or other underlying injury and explained what to watch out for, Molly was released. Audrey helped her into a wheelchair despite the little girl’s protests.
“I can walk,” Molly said.
“Regulations, honey, sorry,” Audrey said. “Now you take it easy when you get home, you hear? And listen to your mother.” She reached into the back pocket of the wheelchair and pulled out the Tiger Beat Molly had been reading. “You can keep this. I know you weren’t finished with that article.”
Molly sighed. “Thanks. I wish I didn’t have to wear these tom-up clothes.”
