Right Next Door

Chapter 12

Maggie

She had just clocked in at the doctor's office and began pulling the patient files for the morning.

"It's going to be a busy day today, Maggie." Judith, the office manager, was a sweet elderly woman who often mothered all of the girls on staff. "Think you could stay an extra hour to help cover our lunches?"

Maggie could never say 'no' to Judith. "Sure thing. I need to pick up Aaron by two o'clock but I don't have anything else to do today."

"Great, thanks honey. We'll probably just need you to stay until 12:30 or one o'clock. OK, let's take care of some patients shall we?" Judith patted Maggie on the shoulder and resumed her position at the front desk.

"Alright, what do we have this morning, Amy?" The young nurse practitioner was checking her email and listening to voicemails while Maggie thumbed through the files.

"It's all over the place today. Colds, sports physical, Mr. Menken is coming back complaining of abdominal pain..." She trailed off as Maggie groaned in displeasure.

"Let me guess, he's dying again." The other woman rolled her eyes and Maggie hung her head.

"You get him this time, my friend. Last week he held me up for 45 minutes and insisted I give him a shot in his butt. I think he's just an exhibitionist," Amy laughed.

The first few appointments were pretty easy and Maggie was grateful for the busy appointment schedule they were keeping today.

Judith placed an extra file in the rotation around 10:30 and told Maggie and the other nurses there was a last minute add-in, for 11 o'clock. Knowing that the other ladies would need to take their lunch, Maggie said she would attend the appointment. As she waited for the patient to arrive, she cleaned two of the exam rooms and placed the completed files up front for Judith to put away. Fifteen minutes later she was informed that the patient had arrived so Maggie gathered the file and made her way to the front of the office to call the patient back.

As she was opening the door she took a moment to look at the patient's name and nearly passed out from shock.

Carlson, Jessica

The last name on the chart gave her pause. Surely this person wasn't related to Brandon.

"Jessica?" There were only three people waiting in the room and as soon as she spotted Jessica Carlson she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was Brandon's mother.

Jessica placed her tablet inside her Coach handbag and gracefully made her way over to Maggie. Dressed in a cream cashmere sweater and white cropped pants with her shoulder-length salt and pepper hair brushed straight, she smiled politely at Maggie and walked through the door to the exam room hallway.

After the initial questioning about her health and the reason for her visit, Maggie took her blood pressure and checked her temperature.

"OK Mrs. Carlson, the doctor will be in shortly." Maggie scooted out the door quickly and dropped the chart in the basket hanging next to the door. She had to busy herself while the doctor consulted with Jessica but not long after he went into the room, he came out and approached Maggie at her desk.

"Maggie, we need to do some blood work on Mrs. Carlson. She had breakfast about four hours ago so I'm noting that on her chart. She is complaining of constant fatigue so I want to rule out what I can to give her peace of mind." Dr. Phillips scribbled notes on Jessica's chart and when he was done, handed it over to her and briskly walked to another exam room to see another patient.

Taking a deep breath before entering the exam room, Maggie knocked quietly and waited for the 'OK' to enter.

"Alright, Mrs. Carlson, I'm just going to take a little blood from you this morning. Will that be OK?"