* * *
His response made my heart hurt just a little bit less. At least there was one person in town that wasn't angry at me. My dad still loved me.
It made me remember when I was in high school. I was sure that I looked ridiculous. I was chunky and my hair was awful. Throw in some bad skin, braces, and being too smart for my own good, I wasn't very popular. But, every morning, my dad told me I looked pretty. He'd always pick something, like the clips in my hair or my shirt, and give me one good compliment to take through the day.
Some days, it was the only nice thing anyone said to me all day.
Today's compliment was that he loved me. It made me feel as good as it did then.
I dressed the next morning and made sure to take the time to do my hair and makeup nicely. If I was going to be crucified by the town, I could at least look nice while they did it. It gave me a sort or armor to know that if nothing else, I looked good.
The parking lot was empty of cars other than Donna's truck. I had brought the muffins with me as a peace offer. Donna liked muffins and these were some of my best. I wasn't expecting her to forgive me, but I hoped it would at least make the day a little bit smoother.
I took a deep breath and went inside.
Donna sat at her desk with a scowl. She looked up as I entered and her eyes glowed red. I swallowed hard. I'd never seen her this angry.
“I brought muffins,” I said with a smile, setting them up on the desk. “Chocolate chip.”
Donna slowly reached for the muffins and then dumped them in the trash next to her. She then resumed typing something on the computer.
I blinked back tears.
“Okay. I'll be in my office,” I said quietly. She didn't even acknowledge that I'd said anything. She just kept typing away.
I left the door to my office open as I started up the computer and went about making sure the exam rooms were stocked and ready for the day. It helped to be moving. I hoped that we would have one of our usual busy Mondays. If we were busy, I wouldn't have time to sit and reflect on the mess I was currently in.
I was walking by the desk when Dr. Matthews walked in and greeted Donna. She didn't bother to even look up and acknowledge his presence. He frowned slightly.
“Donna, are you okay?” he asked, coming up to the desk.
He had dark circles under his eyes and wore pale green surgical scrubs with the hospital logo on the chest pocket. It looked like he had spent the entire night at the hospital before coming straight to the clinic. He carried an extra large thermos of coffee.
“Fine.” She replied, still looking at her compu
ter.
“Okay, then,” Dr. Matthews shrugged. “This is gonna be a fun day.”
He came around the desk and smiled at me, his face loosing some of the exhaustion.
“Good morning,” I greeted him. I wanted to give him a kiss, but that would be inappropriate. I could see Donna watching us for any impropriety from the corner of her eye. “How was your night?”
“Hellish,” he said, taking a swig of coffee. “But, he's stable. They found the bleed and he's in the ICU, but he's going to be okay.”
“Oh, that's good.” I felt a little relief. It would have been a really bad day otherwise.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “I got a few hours of sleep in the on-call room. And a spiffy new pair of scrubs.”
He pointed to his new clothing.
“Looks very nice,” I told him. Donna made a coughing noise.
“I'm going to go check my email,” Jacob said, rolling his eyes at Donna. He gave me another smile before taking his coffee to his office.
I finished my chores and checked my watch. It was well after nine in the morning, and I hadn't heard the door to the clinic chime other than Dr. Matthews coming in. I went out to find an empty waiting room. I checked my watch again just to make sure it wasn't broken. Usually, by nine we had three or four patients.
I stood there, staring out at the empty room and frowning.