leaned forward and patted Meera’s shoulder in a fatherly gesture. “You should have walked Derek home and then talked to his father. Marty was a football star—he’s put a lot of pressure on Derek, but he’s not heartless. If you’d gone over there to explain things, he’d understand why Derek has to sit out a game or two.”
“Walk Derek home?” That was unheard of. If Meera did that with every patient, she would have no time left. She knew she was used to a different pace than Dr. Harper’s practice. She’d seen only three patients yesterday, when back in her father’s London practice, she would have evaluated five or six patients an hour.
“Meera, Dr. Thurm called me before you arrived.”
At the mention of her supervisor, Meera stiffened. Dr. Thurm had added this month-long rotation as a condition of approving the final dissertation for her research degree. It was an unexpected blemish on her otherwise stellar academic performance. None of the other students in the class were required to do this rotation. He had personally set it up with Dr. Harper after he disapproved the one her father set up in New York.
“He told me you’re the brightest student he has ever worked with. Your medical knowledge is outstanding.”
Meera smiled and blushed. Dr. Thurm was very hard on her, as he was on all his students. Coming from him, the statement was high praise indeed.
“However...he said that while you know medical science, you need to learn the art and practice of medicine.”
“I’m sorry... I don’t understand what you mean.”
Dr. Harper opened a drawer and pulled out a stapled document. He handed it to Meera.
She glanced at it, the title familiar. “This is the publication from my research study—I won an award for this work.”
“But your brilliant research will never benefit patients.”
She stared at him. “I don’t understand.”
“The chemical compound you found is incredible, but it counteracts with sodium. If, as you suggest in the article, you develop it into a medication to treat heart disease, how would you deal with the sodium issue?”
Meera didn’t know where he was going with this. He had obviously read the article, and it was clearly explained in there.
“The patient would have to cut salt from their diet.”
“And you do think someone could effectively do that?”
“If their health is important to them, they should. As I suggest, they can easily reduce salt intake by not adding any table salt to the foods they eat.”
“I ask you again—who would eat saltless, tasteless food day in and day out?”
“It’s for their health.”
“If someone asked you to eat red meat every day for your health, would you do it?”
“I’m a vegetarian.”
“Exactly. You couldn’t make such a drastic lifestyle change, and yet you’re suggesting that it’s perfectly plausible that patients will.”
“If there was a health reason to eat meat, then I would consider it.” Dr. Thurm had brought up a similar point, so she had calculated the typical sodium intake of an adult and factored in things that couldn’t always be controlled, like salt in natural and processed foods in a typical diet. She had figured out the probability of patients “cheating” on the diet. She had accounted for patient behaviors.
She sighed. “So you’re saying Derek won’t stick to the treatment.”
“I’m saying his treatment is not just medical. He has to face an entire football team calling him a sissy boy for not playing. He has to face everyone in town who’s placed significant bets on the game. Without Derek, Hell’s Bells is certain to lose.”
“I can understand that, but if you agree he can’t play, what can I possibly do to make the situation better?”
“He needs you to be the bad guy. He needs you to go tell everyone in town that playing could kill him, that even though he’s walking around like nothing’s wrong, his injury is serious. You need to go talk to Marty, Derek’s coach and his teammates.”
Meera groaned. I miss London. Patients came into the clinic, received a diagnosis and left with a treatment plan. That explained why Marty had kicked her out of his inn, and why the town was so hard on her.
Dr. Harper stood. “I think you’ll find that medicine is far more satisfying when you can actually treat the whole person rather than just the ailment that bothers them.”
Meera left his office and went to the little corner desk in the waiting room that had been set up as her workstation. She put down her purse, fully aware of Rose glowering at her. She would not dignify the older woman’s petulance with a response.
“When is my first patient?” she asked calmly.
Rose snorted. “You’re not going to be getting any patients.”
Meera stepped toward her. “Listen, Rose, I’m only here for a month. Surely, we can find a way to work together.”
“Only a month! Ha! And how do I know you don’t have your sights on Dr. Harper’s practice? We all know the old coot’ll be retiring soon.”
“Stop talking about me like I’m not here, Rose,” Dr. Harper mumbled as he went into an examination room.
The front door chimed and a woman walked in. She was wearing short shorts and a red halter top. Her auburn hair was perfectly styled in waves. An image of Jessica Rabbit popped into Meera’s head.
“Gloria!” Rose walked around the reception desk to give the new arrival a hug.
Gloria eyed Meera. “Is she the one who...”
Rose nodded. “Can you believe it? Three days before the big game. I don’t know why Dr. Harper hasn’t told her to go home.”
Meera seethed.
Stop talking about me like I’m not here! “Do you think it has anything to do with Jake?” Gloria asked.
Jake? What does Jake have to do with this?
“I wouldn’t put it past her. Who wouldn’t want the town’s number-one bachelor.”
I should set them straight. Meera would never date an American because she didn’t plan to stay in America. Her parents, her research, her entire life was in England, and she couldn’t leave them. Besides, she was most definitely not interested in Jake.
“If she goes after him...”
“I have a fiancé in London,” Meera blurted. “My entire family is in London, and my father has a very successful medical center that I’ll be taking over. I do not plan to live in a town like this. After my rotation, I’m going home.” She looked pointedly at Gloria. “And I don’t fancy Jake—he’s not my type.” She didn’t need to know what her type was. With Raj in the picture since childhood, she’d always had everything she needed in a life partner.
Rose grunted. Gloria’s pout disappeared, and she raised an eyebrow, appraising Meera anew.
“Like I said, I’m only here for a month. What do you say we find a way to work together?” Meera held out her hand to Rose.
Rose wrinkled her nose. “The people who live in a ‘town like this’ don’t want to see a doctor like you.”
Dr. Harper came out of the examination room just as Rose huffed past her. Meera looked at him helplessly.
He shrugged. “You did say you enjoyed a challenging work environment.”