Practicing Partners (Maiden’s Bay #2)

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15

NO MATTER HOW annoying bangs could be when blowing in the breeze, Aubrie Turnbridge welcomed the disarray. Driving her five-year-old Hyundai Accent, windows down, she crested the final hill leading to Maiden’s Bay.

The three-day drive from Dallas had gotten her as far as Portland last night. There was really no point in trying to make it all the way to the Washington coast when Dr. Jackson wasn’t expecting her for another day. Plus, she hated driving in the dark, especially when she was exhausted.

But today—today was different. As the gray sedan tipped downward toward the earth, making its descent to town, the sea breeze clung to Aubrie’s Texas-tanned skin. It was a cool damp, not the wet furnace of Galveston’s beaches she had visited annually growing up.

Her cell phone jolted her out of the sea air euphoria. She rolled up the windows and hit the green talk button.

“I’m not even there yet, Mom.”

“Just checking in. I knew you were supposed to arrive today.”

Aubrie switched the dashboard screen back to the map. It was difficult enough to deal with Mom’s worrying, let alone adding navigation in a new town on top of it.

“I promise you, I’ll call when I can. It’s not like I have any new information for you since I left.” She gazed briefly at the sun-speckled water, the town forming a crescent around it. “I can tell you from what I’ve seen so far, it’s beautiful out here.”

Her mom’s response took a little too long for comfort. “I hope this helps you find what you need. That you’re not running away from—”

Aubrie held back a sigh. “We talked about this. I’m not running.”

“If you say so.”

“I needed something different, that’s all. Dallas General was—”

“We both know this isn’t about the hospital.”

Aubrie wanted to close her eyes were it not for driving, anticipating one of her mother’s psychological assessments. Not that Linda Turnbridge had psychology expertise. She’d say being a mom gave her enough knowledge.

“Mom, don’t—”

“You were—are—so great with the kids. Any parent was lucky to have you looking out for their child. Why, if I had a child with cancer, and you were an option, I’d jump at the chance.”

It was both a compliment and an attempt to stab Aubrie with guilt. The thing was, Aubrie was already so filled with guilt there was no room left for more.

“I’d better go.” It was all she could muster without snowballing the discussion into a full-blown fight. Mom meant well but also had her way of overstepping. Frequently.

“Okay, then.” Mom sighed, defeated. “Promise you’ll call me later?”

“I promise.”

Aubrie crept along H Street, taking in the backward C of the town in front of her. Houses adorned the cliffside like a stack of dominoes that would topple into the sea if pushed at the top of the hill. She turned right onto Pearl Avenue and started the arc through town. The GPS said her destination was half a mile away, at the southern end of downtown Maiden’s Bay.

She parked in a spot along the street, letters painted on the window in front of her. Family Practice of Dr. Bernard Jackson, MD.

Family practice. Something Aubrie hadn’t seen herself in at any point in her education.

Yet here she was. Grateful for the change.

Before walking inside, she ran her hand over her tight ponytail and ruffled her bangs back into shape. She tugged on the thin sweater over a tank top—not too cool for the September air and not too warm in case she got flustered. Meeting new people could do that to her. Somehow new patients didn’t trigger the response. Mainly superiors who assumed she didn’t know enough in the medical field, and strangers everywhere else who assumed she knew every facet of science.

The door set off a chime, and the receptionist at the front desk looked up from her reading. A woman waited with a teenager scrolling on a phone in chairs along the wall, next to a plant.

“Hello, there. Can I help you?” The receptionist, somewhere around sixty years old, tipped her head down to see over her eyeglasses.

“You must be Edith? I’m Aubrie Turnbridge.” She offered up a hand over the desk.

“Oh, yes!” Edith stood and shook Aubrie’s hand with both of hers. “So nice to meet you.”

“You as well.”

A yelp emanated from behind the wall that closed off the waiting room to what Aubrie assumed were examining rooms. Or maybe one room. The sign into town had said just under two thousand residents, and the building was small. Maybe they only needed one room.

“Should I come back at another time to meet Doctor Jackson?”

“No, no. Now is fine. I’ll take you back.”

“Are you sure?”

Edith nodded and led the way from her desk, holding the door open for Aubrie. Straight ahead was an open doorway to a room with windows in the back. Judging by the desk and stacks of books, it was Dr. Jackson’s office. The women turned right, down a short hallway of white walls and generic hospital tile. Two wooden doors were closed, red and black exam room flags hanging near the top corner of each. Edith knocked on the one with the black flag turned out.

“Doc Bernie? Doctor Turnbridge has arrived.”

“Please, Aubrie.”

“Okay, then.” Edith nodded with a smile and turned back to the door. “Would you like her to wait up front?”

The door opened forcefully, and a balding man who had to be in his seventies, if not eighties, stuck his head out. “Doctor Turnbridge?” He eyed her with a soft smile. There was a handsome man beneath the wrinkles and thinning hair. Aubrie guessed he must’ve been a heartbreaker as a young man.

“Hi, you can call me Aubrie.” She reached out a hand, and he opened the door wide. A patient sat on the examining table hunched over, clutching his abdomen.

“Come on in.”

Aubrie met eyes with Edith, who shrugged.

“I’m not sure if that’s—”

“The patient agreed. Right, Hal?” Dr. Jackson turned to the patient, who nodded amidst his wincing. “See. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

Aubrie took a breath and stepped inside the examining room. She set down her purse on a chair situated by a small desk with a computer.

“Aubrie, this is Hal. Hal, Aubrie.”

Aubrie smiled with a nod. Although she had driven for three and a half days to start this very job in this very office, it didn’t seem right to start the job like this. Surely there was more paperwork to sign, or training for office procedures. She turned to the sink and quickly washed her hands, the bare minimum of something to feel a little better about the intrusion.

“I have his chart right here.” Dr. Jackson handed her a clipboard with a half-filled-out form.

Aubrie scanned it quickly. “Forty-eight, considered pre-diabetic. Blood pressure looks a bit high today.” She lowered the chart.

Hal moaned, his eyes closed with the pain.

“How long have you been having pain, Hal?” She approached him. “May I?”

He nodded, and she lifted his shirt. She felt his abdomen on the left side to be sure, then lightly pushed on the swollen right.

He let out a howl of pain.

“He needs to go to the ER.”

Dr. Jackson gave one nod. “Diagnosis already?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious. No offense.” Who knew how often Dr. Jackson saw this condition, but with a family practice for decades, he should’ve seen it at least a few times. “He has appendicitis. At this point, most likely acute appendicitis. He needs to get to a hospital.”

Dr. Jackson stepped forward. “You hear that, Hal? That makes two of us telling you the same thing.”

“I came here so I wouldn’t have to go to the hospital.”

Dr. Jackson patted Hal’s knee. “I know, I know.”

Aubrie wanted to scream. Hal’s condition was nothing to take lightly, or slowly. They had to get this man emergency care, or he could die right here on the table.

Dr. Jackson turned to her, a slight grin on his face. “Don’t worry, Aubrie. I called an ambulance before your arrival.”

The sirens sounded, and a commotion ensued on the other side of the hallway wall. Edith appeared through the doorway with two EMTs rolling a stretcher. “Back here.”

“I promise they’ll take good care of you, and I’ll come visit you in White Bend after the surgery.”

Hal looked to want to argue, but as if on cue, he scrunched again in pain, letting out a wail.

The EMTs transferred him to the gurney and headed out.

Dr. Jackson took Hal’s chart back. “How about you head on over to my office, and I’ll meet you there in a second?”

Aubrie washed her hands again before leaving the examining room and headed into the office. Although Dr. Jackson had two metal bookshelves, they were mostly filled with cardboard file boxes. His books, as she had seen first walking by, lay in stacks on his desk, on the floor, and on both chairs situated in front of his desk. She lifted a pile off one chair and haphazardly placed it atop the other chair’s pile before taking a seat.

The longer she waited, the more she worried about Hal’s condition. She searched on her phone how close White Bend Hospital was to here—a twenty-seven minute drive in current traffic. But the ambulance may cut that down to twenty minutes or so. Depended on the number of traffic lights and intersections, and as she learned in driving here—winding roads along hills and valleys.

“Well, that was quite an introduction.” Dr. Jackson dried his hands, discarding the paper towel in a trash bin behind his desk.

“To Hal, or to you?”

He chuckled. “I guess both when you think about it.” He situated himself in his desk chair, scooting it closer to reach over the desk. This time, they shook hands. “Bernard Jackson. But people call me Doc Bernie.” Their hands parted. “Sorry to put you on the spot like that. It was more about having a distraction for Hal while waiting for the ambulance than a test for you. Although you did splendidly. And no offense taken. It was, how did you put it? Pretty obvious it was appendicitis.”

“I hope he makes it to the hospital.”

“I think he’ll be fine. It wouldn’t be the first time two EMTs had to cut open a patient.” He must’ve seen Aubrie’s jaw drop for a split second. “I know you’re coming from a big city. Houston?”

“Dallas.”

He nodded. “One of the first things to know about this position, about taking over the role of primary care physician in Maiden’s Bay, is that resources are limited. That can mean supplies, talent, helping hands. It’s the main reason why I’ve required a grace period with this job.”

“A grace period?” What did that mean? She could be let go if she didn’t pass his testing? “I thought I was hired to work with you?”

Doc Bernie let out a cough. “Do you know what tonight is?”

Aubrie was getting whiplash with every sentence coming out of the man’s mouth. She shook her head. “I don’t think it’s any kind of holiday, is it?”

“It’s my birthday, and you’re—well, I’d say obligated, but that’s not very friendly, is it? I’d love it if you would come to my party. It’s there that I am announcing to everyone my retirement.”

“You’re retiring now?” What the heck was going on? It was as if she had stepped out of reality into a situational comedy. An unfunny, poorly-written one that affected her life. “You hired me and are leaving at the same time?”

He wagged a finger. “See, that’s the grace period. I promise not to leave until whoever is taking over the practice is fully trained and prepared to do so.”

Switching from pediatric oncology to PCP was a big enough change. Moving to Maiden’s Bay—enormous change. But running a practice? “I’m sorry, I was under the impression that I was hired to work as another doctor in the practice. There wasn’t anything about taking it over in the job announcement.”

He leaned over his desk on his elbows, and his face turned serious. “The town could use someone like you. With your expertise. You’re young and eager to change your lifestyle. At least, that’s what you indicated in your application.”

“A change, yes.”

“Good. Now, I know you didn’t come here thinking about running this place, so I’m giving you time to not only learn the ropes but think hard about this being something long term for you. I won’t force you to do anything, okay?”

This was crazy. She hadn’t even been in Maiden’s Bay for a day. Or an afternoon. This was not what she came for. But she had given up her apartment. Sold her furniture. What little belongings she had were in her car. What was she to do? Drive back and ask for her job back? The one she couldn’t manage a day without a panic attack?

Going back simply wasn’t an option. She’d have to roll with whatever the heck this situation was, for better or worse.

“Okay.” She couldn’t believe the word came out. She took a breath, composing herself to think straight. Well, straighter. “I apologize if I seemed shocked, but I have to admit I’m a bit surprised.”

“I completely understand. The thing is, Maiden’s Bay, and this practice, is not exactly the dream scenario for the best talent out there. So, when your application rolled in, I didn’t want to take the chance of scaring you off before you had a chance to see the place. To understand the situation. You will forgive me, perhaps in time?”

Despite her surprise, she sympathized with this man. He probably wasn’t wrong. “As long as you’re honest with me from here on out.”

Doc Bernie clapped his hands. “Good. Now, with that, there’s one last thing, and then Edith will get you sorted with your lodgings.”

Lodgings sounded good. A hot shower. Perhaps a catnap before this birthday party thrown upon her.

“At the party tonight, you’ll meet my grandson. He’ll also be working with you during this transition phase.”

“Oh. Is he a nurse, or—?”

“Trauma surgeon. From Seattle University Hospital.”

“Oh.” Aubrie thought it over. “In what capacity will he be working with me, then?”

Doc Bernie checked his watch and leapt out of his seat. He took the jacket off the back of his chair and slipped it on. “He’s also a possibility for taking over the practice.”

Aubrie began to nod until the words sunk in. “Wait, what?”

Doc Bernie remained standing but leaned on the desk. “Look. While I would love to pass the practice down through my family, I can’t say that I have one hundred percent confidence in him.” He stood straight. “Don’t get me wrong, brilliant surgeon. But when it comes to managing a practice in this town? Heck, managing just about anything in his life?” He sighed, shaking his head. “That’s why I hired you. Not only because of your qualifications. But my grandson needs to see that I’m serious about leaving this to the best person. The right person. And if you find you truly want this, I believe you’re going to be the right person.”

It was a lot to take in. First, Doc Bernie leaving out clarifications about his retirement and the position. On top of that, she wasn’t guaranteed the position. At any moment, his grandson could take over. This job could be over before it started. Well, before it started after Appendicitis Hal.

“Edith will give you the keys to the apartment upstairs, and the address for tonight’s party. See you there.” Doc Bernie left the office with a smile.

Aubrie sat in disbelief over the last half hour’s happenings. Her phone buzzed, and she checked the ID.

Mom.

If there was anything worse than the situation she found herself in, it would be telling it all to her mother.