Page 47 of Until Daddy

“She’s just finishing with her last group,” Margaret said, glancing back at him over her shoulder. Her eyes seemed to evaluate him pretty quickly, sweeping up from his feet to the top of his head.

She led him down a smaller hallway where only a few more doors lined their path. The rooms were bigger, and small windows in the doors let him peek in as he passed. They looked like empty classrooms and meeting rooms of sorts.

At the end of the hall she stopped and pointed to the last door on the right. Just past it was a short set of stairs that led to two large doors. Just as Jamison was going to thank her, the doors burst open and a woman walked through carrying a small child. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and her clothes were clean, but there was something about her, something in her eyes when she glanced at him, that spoke volumes of her past. The wary look she gave him as she carried the sleeping toddler toward them twisted his chest. This woman wasn’t just holding her child, she was protecting her from him.

“Margaret? I’m sorry to bother you, but Joyce has a fever. I think it’s another ear infection.” The woman’s voice was so soft, so silken compared to her rough appearance.

“Oh, poor girl.” Margaret went to her and ran her hand over the soft curls of the little girl. “The clinic’s closed today, but Carissa is here. She can take a look, I’m sure.” Margaret looked over at Jamison. “Do you mind waiting a little longer?”

He wasn’t about to prevent that little girl from getting what appeared to be much-needed care.

“Of course.” He nodded. They’d be late. His father would be irritated, but that didn’t register an actual concern. This little girl needed his Carissa, and they wouldn’t leave until she was finished.

The doors to the room swung open and a handful of women poured out, each giving Margaret a smile and greeting, and most giving him a concerned glance. Did men never enter these sacred halls? Or had they been beaten down enough that every man became a worry?

Carissa was the last out of the room, and she smiled the moment her eyes landed on his. She’d straightened her hair, giving her a sharper look than usual. And make-up, she’d put on more than usual. It wasn’t needed, none of it. The beauty she had didn’t improve with make-up, but regardless, the woman standing before him, grinning up at him, simply took his breath away.

“Hi.” He couldn’t help the wide grin that tugged his lips up, and he wouldn’t have stopped it if he could. She just made him happy. “I think your services are needed.” He held out a hand to gesture toward the woman and her little girl.

Carissa’s smile dropped and she immediately went into work mode.

“Joyce isn’t feeling well?” She placed a hand on the little girl’s back and another on her forehead. “She’s hot.”

The mother nodded. “I think it’s her ear again.”

“Well, let’s get down to the clinic, and I’ll take a look.”

“Of course,” Jamison said when she looked to him before moving. “Don’t worry about the time, let’s just get this little girl feeling better.”

Her smile softened, and her eyes warmed. “Right this way.” She gestured for the mother to follow and they all walked behind her down a corridor then another hallway before they arrived at what she called the clinic.

It was one room. A simple exam room with an exam table and a cabinet with supplies.

Jamison stayed outside, giving the mother and her daughter some privacy as Carissa did her examination. But they hadn’t pulled the blinds down and he was able to see through the window on the door as Carissa took the child’s temperature.

“Yep, definitely a fever.” His girl sat and patted the toddler’s back. “We’ll take care of it, no problem.” She grabbed the otoscope from the holder on the wall and went back to the little girl. The sick child stirred in her mother’s arms and Carissa made quick work of tugging on the little ear and looking inside with her instrument.

“Wow. Red and fluid. We have ourselves another ear infection.” She patted Joyce’s head and smiled at the worried mother. “I’ll get the amoxicillin for you, but she really should see an ENT. This is the fourth infection in three months.”

“They’re going to want to put those tubes in, and you know I can’t afford something like that. Not right now.” Tears built up in the mother’s eyes and guilt plagued Jamison for watching the scene.

Where Jamison would want to feel sorry for the situation, Carissa rose to the occasion, seeing this woman and her child not as a charity case, but as someone who just needed a little boost.

“I’ll get the name of an ENT who is not only awesome but who also takes Medicaid. Have you filled out that paperwork yet?”

“I have it but it’s not finished.” The mother wiped her eyes and started to run her hand in circles over the toddler’s back as she drifted back to sleep.

“Do you need help with it? Someone to watch Joyce while you do it? Get it in. Margaret has a friend down there who might be able to expedite the papers, and once you get the insurance, you take Joyce to the doctor I’m going to give you the name of. How’s the job search going?”

Carissa leaned against the cabinet and folded her arms over her chest. Not an ounce of pity was displayed in her expression, only care, concern and determination to help this woman succeed.

“I put in another application down at a Walgreens and a CVS, but I haven’t heard anything.”

Carissa opened a drawer of the cabinet and shuffled the contents around a bit before coming out with a card in her hand. “Here. I can’t promise anything, but I know for a fact that this doctor’s office is looking for a receptionist. I remember you telling me you worked for a dentist for a bit?”

The young mom took the card, almost awestruck. “Yeah. But that was before Joyce, two years ago.”

“Experience is experience. And as far as I can tell, we haven’t changed how we answer telephones in the last two years. I’ve seen you using the computer in the job center, so I know you can do that, too.” Carissa gave her a brilliant smile.

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