Page 9 of The Doctor's No-Strings Deal

The girl’s mother answered on her behalf. “She was handling a neighborhood cat. I told her not to handle cats she doesn’t know. Flea-bitten — that’s what they are. But she never listens to her mother, do you, Sarah?”

Sarah tucked her hands under her chin and sighed. “It was a nice cat. It just got scared.”

Her mother rolled her eyes. “You only see what you want to see, just like your father.”

“That’s not true,” Sarah muttered. She was a sweet-looking sixteen-year-old, someone who would take in strays for her entire life, Megan thought. She reminded Megan of herself at that age.

“I’m sure the cat was just scared,” Megan said, affirming Sarah. Right now, she was the injured patient, and her mother was making her feel like it was all her fault. “Animals can be hard to predict sometimes, but I bet they feel the same way about us. Don’t you think?”

From her place on the table Sarah nodded. “Right? Think about how many people might have picked up that poor little thing to abuse it. We don’t know what it’s been through. Maybe people treated it bad in the past, and it’s afraid that might happen again. I don’t think the cat meant any harm.”

Her mother chimed in. “Well, it certainly did a boatload of harm, whether or not it meant to.”

“It’s okay,” Megan assured them. “We’ll have it cleaned up and bandaged in no time.”

She got to work washing the wound, warning Sarah when she might feel a sting, and applying ointment. “This has some pain reliever in it, too, so it should help with that.”

“Thank you,” Sarah said.

Her mother scoffed. “That will be added to the bill, I suppose?”

Megan bit her tongue. She didn’t know how to keep responding to this woman, and she was beginning to become more than a little uncomfortable with the way the woman treated her daughter. Megan had such a wonderful relationship with her own mom that she couldn’t stand to see anything less for other young girls. To Megan, a mother was supposed to be your number-one advocate. This mother seemed to have nothing but criticism for her daughter.

And that was when Charlie said his piece. “The oral antibiotics will also be added to the bill,” he said. “Don’t forget those, Bright.”

Megan shot him a look. “Right, but your insurance should cover it.”

“After the deductible, of course,” Charlie added.

Sarah’s mother frowned. “Do we really need antibiotics? It doesn’t look that bad.”

“Doesn’t matter how bad it looks, Mrs. Greenwood. All cats have a lot of bacteria in their mouths. It’s best to nip it in the bud. Oh, by the way, is your daughter up to date on her tetanus boosters?”

“Her what?”

“Tetanus,” Charlie said with a shrug. “You may want to get one soon if she’s not, in light of this situation.”

“Great,” Sarah’s mother said with a groan.

“It’s not a bad bite,” Megan said in an attempt to diffuse the situation. “At least you won’t have to get treatment for rabies.”

Sarah’s mother gasped. “Rabies!”

Finally, Dr. Ralter stepped in to smooth over the situation. “We’re not worried about rabies, Mrs. Greenwood. It sounds like it was a familiar neighborhood cat without symptoms that was caught and handled, so the bite wasn’t unprovoked. Let’s just keep an eye on the wound and make sure your daughter takes her full course of antibiotics.”

Mrs. Greenwood sighed and seemed to accept the inevitable. “Thank you, doctor,” she said.

“Well, thank our wonderful residents,” Dr. Ralter said, shaking the woman’s hand. “They gave your daughter excellent care today.”

After they’d left the room, Dr. Ralter pulled Megan aside to talk to her. Then he invited everyone else to join in. “Gather round, kids,” he said with a soft laugh. “This will be a good lesson for all of you. So… you’ll learn over time that certain words are a trigger for most patients.Canceris one I’m sure you’re already aware of.Rabiesis another. Obviously, we deal with these conditions all the time, but when we’re dealing with them in front of patients, especially those who have yet to be diagnosed, we like to use alternative language. For example, we’ll usemassinstead oftumoruntil we’re certain what we’re dealing with.”

Kayla, who had been quietly observing everything from the background, finally had something to say. “Will we be given a list of these words?”

Dr. Ralter shook his head. “It’s not protocol. You generally learn them on the job, and they’ll be different for each patient. But there are some that are universal. I suppose I can write a few down for you this evening. Just know the list won’t be exhaustive.”

“Oh, can I have a copy, too, Dr. Ralter?” Megan asked.

Their attending nodded. “Not a problem.” Then he turned to Charlie. “Would you like a copy as well?”

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