Page 82 of A Doctor for Daisy

“I’ll see what is going on,” he said, walking into the lounge, pulling out his laptop and taking a seat. He wouldn’t get so lucky as to not have to operate. Not by the sounds of it. They wouldn’t even call him in if they didn’t think it was going to be needed.

The fact that there was an exposed bone in the forearm alone was one surgery and that was what he’d been told on the call.

He pulled up the results of the two patients from the accident. So stupid when he was reading the notes.

The driver got into an accident speeding and lost control of his car when he was bringing his daughter to the ER after she fell down the stairs and they thought she broke her ankle.

Good lord. They should have called an ambulance and now the daughter didn’t just have a busted ankle by the looks of it, but a concussion and bruised ribs from the seatbelt.

The father the same on the seatbelt along with a neck injury. His right arm was broken in multiple locations. The notes stated that when he lost control of the car he put his hand out to try to brace his daughter.

Commendable but still stupid to have been in that situation in the first place.

The father would have to be first since the bone was exposed. The daughter next. With any luck there weren’t any tears in tendons, but he’d know when he got in.

He picked his phone up and sent Daisy a text that it’d be a long night and he’d see her later. To have a good time at the party.

He went to see the patients and talk to them first.

“Hi,” he said to the father. He looked over and noticed the teen in a bed next to him. “Mitch and Brittany Owens? I’m Dr. Theo James. How are you both feeling?”

“Like I got into an accident,” Mitch said. “I shouldn’t have been rushing. It wasn’t life threatening.”

“No,” he said. “It wasn’t, but you can’t go back and change what happened. You’re both going to need surgery. I’m going to bring you in first since your injury is more severe. Once I’ve completed yours, I’ll take care of Brittany’s ankle. Hopefully, it’s just putting a rod in her ankle and there aren’t any torn tendons. They are going to send her for an MRI also while I’m in surgery, which will tell me more. Is there anyone else that can be here? Both of you will be staying the night, I’ll make sure of it. But you’ll need to be released to a third party when being discharged.”

“My ex-wife,” Mitch said. “Brittany was with me this weekend and my ex is out with friends. She’s on her way and should be here within the hour. She was out of town.”

Theo nodded. He knew both of them were in pain. Both were prepped for surgery too.

“I’m going to explain your procedure and your daughter’s now. But I’ll do it with her mother again before I take Brittany into the OR. I need your consent for your surgery and then parental consent for Brittany’s.”

Mitch grabbed the pen and signed as best as he could with his left hand when Theo was done. He did the same with Brittany’s and then Theo left to get ready for surgery.

It was going to be a long night and for once he was wishing he was with his girlfriend and not here at his job and wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

29

A Big Change

“No Theo?” Poppy asked Daisy a few hours later where they were waiting in the bar area for everyone to arrive.

She knew Heather and Luke were in the back dining room already and they were going to surprise him with a birthday party that Heather threw together.

“He got called into work a few hours ago,” she said. “He’s bummed. He texted when he got there that he’d be a while. Guess he had more than one surgery. He said he’d text before he went into the next one to give me an idea of when he might be home.”

“It’d be nice to see him again,” Reese said. “It’s been years. Man, he was just a kid I think.”

“What was he like?” she asked Reese. Though she’d gotten some out of Theo’s sisters, she’d love to know more.

“Just quiet,” Reese said. “It’s not like I saw him that much. He was a few years younger than me and I know he was smart.”

“Whiz kid,” Daisy said. “He’s been called that a lot.”

“I don’t think he cared for it much,” Reese said. “His mother used to brag about it. Or at least from what I could remember. My mother would say things. His father would say a few words and then move on. I think his father didn’t make a big deal about it. I’m not sure. I was too busy trying to get out of being at the country club to begin with.”

“Oh please,” Poppy said. “You were there trying to pick up chicks or win money in poker games.”

Reese laughed. “My parents didn’t know. I wasn’t supposed to be playing in those games.”

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