Page 57 of Trial Run

“Oh, they are. You can’t be sad around flowers. And I saw on social media that you’d sent flowers to some of your other patients, too.”

“That’s right. We sent out quite a few.”

Her brow furrowed. “Did you send them to everyone, then? That must have been expensive.”

Ben froze, then forced his shoulders to relax. Clearly, she wanted an explanation. “Yes, we sent them to everyone. We wanted to show how much we appreciate all our patients.”

“You know, I was talking to my friend Beverly. She’s a patient of yours, too? She was worried she hadn’t seen you in person for a while. She said she’d called and asked for an appointment, but the only ones available were video calls. But I told her I’d seen you twice in two weeks, so there was nothing to worry about.”

Penny leaned forward, as if sharing a secret. “Anyway, Beverly heard some people were leaving the clinic. I told her not to pay attention to gossip. Who’d want to leave this place? You all are the best.”

“Thank you. That means a lot. And we’ll be here for a long time to come.”

“I’m glad. And I got the email about your referral program. I’ll definitely tell my friends. In case you need more patients, which I’m sure you don’t.”

“We’d appreciate it.”

He waved goodbye to her and shut the door, then sank down into his desk chair, rubbing a hand over his forehead.

If Penny had made the connection that other people hadn’t seen him in person, how many other patients had, too? He had to be here, to be reliable and available. Maybe if Nell was in his life long-term, he could take on working at the clinic full-time again.

He opened his office door and went to Cameron’s desk in the waiting room. His assistant stabbed at his salad with a forkwhile he squinted through his glasses at a spreadsheet on his computer screen. He had earbuds in his ears, and didn’t notice Ben approaching.

“Cameron.”

The younger man jumped and pulled out his earbud. “Sorry. Yes. Did you need something?”

“When people have been calling to make appointments, and you give them the option of an in-person appointment, what have their responses been?”

“Oh, um. Mostly good.” He shifted around in his chair, looking uncomfortable. His suspenders of the day had a galaxy of stars, along with tiny starships.

“Some people were surprised, but they were happy to have the choice. Others still want to keep their video calls.”

“And they didn’t say anything negative? No one was impatient with you?”

“Well. One woman said, ‘About damn time.’ And another one said she’d been thinking of switching doctors. But it’s mostly been positive.”

“That’s good. Will you let me know if anyone gives you trouble about it?”

“Of course.”

Ben frowned. “And Cameron. You can eat lunch away from your desk. Maybe take a walk on your break?”

“I know I can.” The younger man shrugged. “I get more done this way. Grad school is kicking my ass.”

“I remember that well.”

Cameron bobbed his head, put his earbud back in, and returned to studying his screen.

Ben kept frowning as he went back into his office and shut the door behind him. Was no one in this entire clinic practicing what they preached? The Well Space was dedicated to helping people find good mental health, in theory.

In practice, they had employees working through their lunch breaks, arriving before 7:00 a.m. Suffering from anxiety and panic attacks, in his own case. And in Vanessa’s case, chronic relationship problems, even though she was an expert on love. She’d broken up with a dozen men since he’d known her.

He sank into his desk chair again. He’d had a giant blind spot when it came to his own clinic, his baby, and that was unacceptable. Everyone deserved to experience the kind of happiness he’d only started to discover the last two weeks.

He spent the afternoon in his office, making it his first full day outside his house. Vanessa’s patient intake reports for the week were reassuring. The referral program had brought in a few new people. He’d been able to stay at the clinic for longer periods of time, and he didn’t feel as tired as he had during his first week back.

Everything was better, including the inside of him. He hadn’t had a panic attack in over a week. Maybe he’d defeated the anxiety again, pushed it back into the dark where it belonged. He could have his life back, and put this whole terrible last year behind him.

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