Read Never Too Late for Free Online

from the nightstand, she settled back against the pillows and let herself be carried away.

Chapter Three

    “Dr. Hammond, what do you want me to do about the new patient? She insists on seeing you.” Her receptionist’s long brown hair framed a face that looked frazzled. The phone rang and then went to voice mail because another call was on hold. “There just aren’t any openings.”
    “We’ll work it out.” Jamie had two excellent associate doctors in the practice, but having new patients insist on being treated by her was all too common. Handing the patient file across the front counter to her receptionist, Jamie said to her patient, “Remember to do your exercises. We have to get some strength in your lower back or this will keep happening.” She’d have a lot fewer problems if she lost thirty pounds and did her exercises, but Jamie had learned that people had to make their own decisions. She did her best to encourage them.
    “Is she acute?” Jamie walked behind the counter and looked at the appointment book. The schedule was even busier than usual because of the holiday weekend. Nothing about her practice was easy these days.
    “Says she can barely walk.”
    “She’s not exaggerating.”
    Jamie looked up. Renee Rapp was standing at the counter, all five foot two of her. “We had dinner last night. You need to see her today, Jamie.”
    “Far be it from me to argue with you,” Jamie said. When Renee’s eyes held hers she knew there was more.
    “Fund-raiser next month for the Women Mentoring Women Foundation. Second Saturday. I want you there.”
    “Renee—”
    “No argument. I’ll give you a reprieve for a while considering what you’re dealing with, but then I’m pairing you up with someone.” Renee held up her hand when Jamie started to protest. “You’re a smart businesswoman, Jamie.”
    Not so smart, but Renee wasn’t one to argue with. “Can I see her during my lunch?” Jamie asked her receptionist.
    “No,” Betty piped in, popping her head out of her office. “You have an interview.” Short gray hair framed a grandmotherly face and the unusually stern gaze brooked no argument. Betty had been her father’s patient and filled in over the years if Jamie needed office help. She’d gamely agreed to act as office manager until Jamie found a replacement.
    “How optimistic are you about this one?”
    “I don’t know,” Betty said, shaking her head. “We’re getting plenty of applications, but doesn’t anyone have a brain any more? Or common sense? Or phone sense?”
    “Schedule the new patient for the second half of my lunch break,” Jamie said to her receptionist. “It sounds like it’ll be a short interview.”
    “I’m sorry, Jamie, but I can’t do this forever.” Betty took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Frank packed the motor home over the weekend. He’s getting cranky about delaying our trip. And you know I don’t have the right skills. Every time I touch this darn computer I’m terrified it’ll explode because I hit the wrong key. You need a real office manager.”
    “I’m scared of the same thing,” Jamie said to Betty. Buffering her staff from her business problems was getting harder the longer this mess went on. But none of this was their fault, and Jamie wasn’t going to pass any of the stress on to them.
    “You’ll get through this,” Renee said, as they walked down the hallway to a treatment room.
    Renee was one of the few patients who knew what was going on. They talked as Jamie adjusted her, and then she hustled on to her next patient. Getting behind schedule this early in the day would be a disaster.
    “You got my shoulder working good again, Doc,” the elderly man with stubble on his cheeks said as he hoisted his arm over his head.
    “Now don’t go letting your new puppy pull on it,” Jamie said after adjusting him. Half of her patients could prevent their problems with a little common sense, but as her father always