Guilt clawed at my throat, and I dropped my hand to resume my seat on the stool. Melissa dragged her wavy locks over her shoulder, revealing her slender shoulders. Now that she wasn't wearing a jacket, it was obvious how delicate her frame was.
"I mean— I'm not irresponsible about my asthma, so telling me to be more cautious is kinda redundant. I'm already careful."
"Have you done a sleep study?"
She shook her head.
I hummed softly as I clasped my hands between my knees. "I'll write you a referral for one, and when we get the results back, we'll see what to do about a CPAP. Sound good?"
"How long will it take?" Eagerness tilted Mel's voice.
I inhaled deeply through flared nostrils. "Once you do the tests, I'll have the results back a few days after. It's a bit of an adventure, but it should help determine the severity of your attacks. Then, it's just a matter of trying to tame your allergies. Have you been to an allergist since the onset of your symptoms?"
I had the feeling Melissa was tired of doctors when she nodded again, and I arched a brow quizzically. Licking her thin lips, her delicate, birdlike face tinged with annoyance. If she weren't my patient, I'd try to make good on that lie about our date tonight.
I mean, it wasn't like I could pass her off to my partner because I didn't have one right now. Transferring here by request meant being the only pulmonologist for this rich town's only hospital. True to small-town nature, there weren't many on-call specialists, and some patients actually had to be referred out to bigger, more equipped hospitals.
Eva was a pediatric ears, nose, and throat doctor who took one look at me and decided to make my life Hell with her 'affection'. The irony there was the fact that this was an old, rich town without many kids. She had told me that she liked this town because it was easy, but I couldn't help thinking she was just negligent. Who becomes a doctor for an 'easy' job?
Shaking my head at the distraction, I reached to grab Melissa's folder again to flip through it. Above the thick edge of the manila, she frowned as she got lost in her own thoughts.
Saint Benedict's Hospital had a hard enough time poaching me after my residency, so the chances of me getting a partner soon were slim. When Melissa showed me her card, it hadn't even said my name because I was so new. I shared the office with an allergist, but he wasn't even here today— a fact I'd forgotten when I bumped into Melissa downstairs.
"So... is that all we're going to do today?"
The question caught me off guard, and I glanced up as Melissa's eyes widened a little.
"Not that I wanted to go on the date tonight, even though I do... I mean— I'm... here, for my appointment...?"
Trailing off, her porcelain skin turned beet red, hiding her thick smattering of freckles. Melissa was invested, though, keeping eye contact even as mortification flickered in her green orbs. Smiling slightly, I couldn't even remember the last time I felt flattered by a woman, and I closed her file to clear my throat pointedly. Warmth suffused my chest when she perked up, but as cute as she was, I'd spent countless hours being pounded in the head with ethics.
"Unfortunately, you're my patient, Melissa, so I'd rather not complicate things. Going on a date with a patient is an ethics violation under my contract. Lying about it earlier wasn't a problem because I wasn't your doctor, but now..."
She actually looked a little disappointed, and my cheek twitched as I pursed my lips thinly. Damn. The moment I opened Melissa's chart, before I even put two and two together, I'd realized my mistake.
"But, yes. That's all we're going to do for today. I won't need you to come back in until after you do your sleep study to discuss it and get you a machine, if needed."
"Oh, okay. Should I make an appointment now?" Even though Mel was a new patient, our appointment had been very straightforward. She knew what didn't work, what she wanted to try, and had a pretty clear understanding of her body.
Standing up, I shook my head a little before she picked her purse off her lap to shoulder the braided, black strap.
"You can call the office after you've done the test. I'll send the referral to the hospital by the end of the day tomorrow, so all you have to do is call to schedule it." Tucking her folder under my arm, I walked the short distance to the door as she nodded in agreement. Waiting for her to hop off the exam table, I cocked my head when she reached a thin hand to sweep back her hair from her face.
"This is a small town, you know."
Instantly, a sourness coated my tongue, and that gentle warmth hugging my sternum flared violently. Melissa's eyes met mine, but she simply cleared her throat lightly and pulled her hair over her shoulder.
"Yeah. It is. And there's not many bars. Especially not by the waterside over near Docklands Street."
Crap. Why'd I have to go open my mouth? Sluggishly opening the door, I gestured Melissa out first, and my quiet office hallways closed in on me. Unlike Eva, Mel didn't need to do anything at all to sway her plump, tight ass, and I clenched my jaw hard.
When Mel turned right to head to the reception area, I wordlessly turned left into my office. Tossing her file on my desk, I raked both my hands through my hair roughly and blew out a hard breath. When I closed my eyes and flopped my head back, I could see the bold outline in my contract. Illicit fraternization with patients will lead to termination without warning or exception.
"Shit."
Chapter 3
Melissa
Sucking on my inhaler, I leaned on the back of the chair and clutched my chest with my free hand. My eyes watered a seemingly endless stream of tears down my cheeks, and dizziness swirled behind my shuttered lids. This was my penance for being stupid with Carl at my appointment earlier, I knew.
Clenching and releasing my jaw, my teeth ached as I wheezed vicious, shallow breaths. Why'd I have to do something so stupid as tempt Carl when he'd already made a very valid point? His reasoning was beyond sound, and I shouldn't have been so suggestive about going to a bar to 'accidentally' bump into him.
This was my punishment— a pretty bad asthma attack and sinuses the size of friggin shelled walnuts.
"Ugh..." Panting shortly, my tight chest threatened to concave on itself as I sank against the table. My hands shook as I struggled to open my purse, and goosebumps blanketed my entire body. The gentle, warm breeze of early April rustled my hair, and the salt of the ocean helped ease the pressure on my nose a bit.
"Are you okay, Mel?"
My dad's question earned him a fierce glare, and I huffed a ragged breath. He'd insisted we go out to dinner tonight, in an open air, patio-based restaurant on the pier, and refused to listen to me about why that was a terrible idea. His balding head tinted pink in embarrassment, and he tugged his shirt a little in discomfort.
"Sorry. Stupid question."
"The stupid thing was making me come here, Dad. You know my asthma's really bad right now because of my allergies. Not to mention... everything you do, you find a reason or a way to make it cost money. You know, sometimes it'd be nice to just make dinner and eat together at my place." I could tell by the look in his eye that my dad was going to ignore the money part of my complaining.