Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 36691 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36691 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“I wish I could.”
“The money’s good, Nick. Better than it was the last time you were here. And with your experience, you’d have your pick of locations.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to help, Kirk. It’s that I can’t. With Aubrey staying here, someone needs to be back in the states with our oldest. He’s staying with friends right now and I don’t want him to wear out his welcome.”
“I understand. Let me know if you change your mind, though. Like I said, we need someone with your expertise, Nick. Especially with children.”
And there it is, the knife to the heart.
“Yeah, thanks for calling.” I hang up and toss my phone onto the passenger seat. DeBartolo couldn’t get me with money, because let’s be honest, no one works with the program to get rich. The program is privately funded or done so with donations. Most of the time, doctors use their salaries to buy supplies for patients because there is never enough. But the kids—that’s where he gets me, because healthcare is inadequate, and where there’s a high rate of tuberculosis and HIV where we are. With the right medicine and treatment, one is curable and the other can be maintained.
I push the conversation out of my mind. There’s no way I can do it, not for another two years, and honestly, I’m not sure I want to do it. I love my practice and my staff, and I love watching my patients grow from tiny little humans to rambunctious toddlers to moody teens. I’ve built a strong foundation in Beaumont and I’m not about to throw it away.
A quick glance at the clock tells me it’s time for me to return to the agency. I check in at the front desk and wait for Sar Newell. When she opens the door, she motions for me to follow her. We go to a room, where a young woman sits on one side of the table.
Sar conducts the interview, asking the basic questions, and then I get to ask mine. We do this three times, and then I decided on an unmarried woman in her forties, named Talisa. She doesn’t have children and has been a caretaker before. She also doesn’t have a problem staying at the house when needed and doesn’t need us to provide her a car even though it’ll be there for her if and when she does need one.
Finally.
Now I can make arrangements to go back home.
After my interviews, I stop and pick Amelie up from school. She’s not a fan because it’s nothing like her mother promised, and she hates wearing a uniform. Also, being the new girl is hard work, according to her.
“How was school?” I ask as soon as she comes out of the building.
“I hate it.”
“Want to go home?” I ask her this every day or every time she tells me she hates something here. It’s probably a shitty thing for me to do but I don’t want her here. She needs to be with her brother, back at her old school, and in her room where all of her things are.
“Yes, I’m tired.”
Wrong kind of home. I don’t correct her as I hold the back door open for her. She crawls in and tosses her backpack on the seat.
“Why can’t I sit in the front?”
“Same rules apply regardless of where we are.”
“Dumb.”
So is living here, but I don’t say that to her.
“I hired a caretaker,” I tell her as soon as I’m behind the steering wheel. “I think you’re going to like her.”
“Why can’t you stay with me?”
Because you want to stay with your mother.
“I can, in Beaumont, Amelie. That’s where my job is.”
“Tashia’s dad is a doctor, and he works here.”
“I’m sure lots of your classmates have parents in the medical field.”
“Her mom is in the government. I think she’s a spy.”
I fight hard not to roll my eyes. Amelie sees one show about an American spy working for the government and now everyone is. Including the President and First Lady.
“You probably shouldn’t say that out loud to anyone,” I tell her as we turn to head home. “Some people take that word very seriously and it could cause them a lot of trouble. You remember in the movie what happened, right?”
“Yeah, they kidnapped her family.”
“Right, you wouldn’t want Tashia kidnapped, would you?”
“No, that would be scary, and I’d be sad.”
“Let’s try and keep our government conspiracies to the house, okay?”
“Okay.”
We pull into the driveway just as Aubrey’s being dropped off after being gone for two days. She looks haggard and doesn’t wait for Amelie or me to get out of the car. I try not to let that bother me, but it does. I get not waiting for me, but to not wait for her daughter? I don’t care how exhausted she is, Amelie should come first.