The Good Doctor by Karen Rose Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

deserted lobby, he nodded to an older woman sitting at the information desk.
    â€œGood evening, Myra.”
    â€œGood evening yourself, Dr. Clark. Spiffy getup. I’m glad to see you’ve been somewhere other than this hospital. He works too many hours,” she confided to Violet as if she’d known her all her life.
    â€œI hear doctors have that problem,” Violet responded with a straight face.
    â€œSee you later, Myra,” Peter said with a wave as he cupped Violet’s elbow and guided her toward the elevators.
    His touch sent electricity up her arm, and she wondered what he looked like under that tuxedo. When her cheeks grew hot, she banished the thought. She didn’t know what had gotten into her since she’d met Peter Clark, but she didn’t like it. Since she was a teenager, her head had ruled her life, not hormones, not her heart, not any other part of her. That wasn’t going to change now.
    When the elevator doors swished open, they stepped inside. Peter pressed the button for the third floor. Seconds later, they were there, exiting the elevator, turning left toward the sign that directed them to the pediatrics wing.
    As they walked down the white-and-tan tiled floor, Violethad to ask herself what she was doing here with Peter. What had made her say yes to his invitation without even knowing whom they were going to see?
    Instead of heading down the hall toward the general pediatrics unit, he took another turn and was suddenly in Peds ICU. Bright fluorescent lights glowed above the nurses’ station, though the hall lights were a bit dimmer. The ICU rooms, directly across from the nurses’ desk, were fronted with glass.
    Peter’s hand grazed the small of Violet’s back. “I want to check a chart. I’ll be just a minute.”
    While she was still trying to compose herself from the brush of his hand, he stepped behind the counter, greeted the nurse on duty, took a chart from the rack and examined it.
    A few minutes later he was by her side again. “We’re going to see Celeste Bowlan. She’s six and doesn’t have anybody to care about her except a social worker…and me. She was in an accident with her foster father who was driving drunk. Needless to say, she won’t be going back to that couple. When the ambulance brought her in, she had a collapsed lung and a fractured back as well as abdominal bruising. I couldn’t do surgery immediately. I’ve got it planned for Monday morning. She’s stable now, but I have her sedated.
    â€œWhen she looks at me with her big brown eyes, she about breaks my heart. She needs somebody to care about her, maybe visit her. Until after her surgery, it’s only fifteen minutes on the hour, but it’ll be something. I thought maybe since you have time on your hands—”
    Violet felt herself going cold all over. She stood stock-still when Peter moved to one of the cubicles.
    He glanced over his shoulder. “What’s the matter?”
    â€œI’m…I’m not sure you should have brought me here.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œBecause maybe I don’t want to get involved.”
    Quizzically he studied her. “Because of the patient you lost,” he guessed perceptively.
    â€œThat’s part of it. Since then I’ve…pulled back.”
    â€œYou mean you’ve detached yourself from your patients,” he guessed.
    â€œI haven’t seen that many patients since it happened.”
    â€œCeleste is six years old and she’s all alone,” he said simply. “Reading a story to her now and then, just talking to her could do her a world of good.”
    â€œThe mind-body connection?” Violet asked, knowing some doctors believed in it and some didn’t.
    â€œAbsolutely.”
    Peter was obviously a doctor who did.
    He was studying her with far too much intensity. She felt turned inside out and didn’t like it, but she