The Doctor She Always Dreamed Of. Wendy S. Marcus

my elderly father to take care of her because you won’t authorize an aide.”

      Kira came dangerously close to losing it. “It is not the responsibility of Medicare or WCHC, as your mother’s Medicare HMO, to provide round the clock, in home care. Family takes care of family, Dr. Limone.” It’s why Kira needed the large salary this job paid her and why she rarely had a free moment to herself. Family takes care of family. Kira had grown up watching her mother live those words. So of course when Mom needed care, Kira had stepped up, happily. Being the sole dependable caregiver to a totally dependent family member was not easy, Kira knew that firsthand. And she had little tolerance for family members unwilling to pitch in and help. “If you and your brothers are as concerned for your mother and father as you say you are, then maybe you all should spend less time threatening and complaining and trying to find someone else to do it, and actually go home and help.”

      Kira was out of line, she knew it. But she’d reached her limit.

      Apparently so had Dr. Limone, because without further comment, he slammed the phone down in her ear. Maybe it was childish, but Kira slammed down her phone right back.

      The door to her office opened slightly and Connie stuck her head in. “You okay?”

      No. Kira was not okay. She didn’t let clients rattle her. But this guy...and his brother and father...the absolute nerve! “I’m fine.”

      “Mr. Jeffries wants to see you in his office,” Connie said quietly.

      Mr. Jeffries. The CEO. Uh oh. “Did he say why?” Kira’s chest tightened.

      Connie shook her head, looking grim. They both knew Mr. Jeffries never asked Kira to his office for anything good.

      Kira strained to inhale, expanding her lungs to full capacity to make sure they were working as she glanced at the clock. Still not even noon and she was ready to call it a day. “When?”

      “As soon as you’re off the phone.”

      Kira stood.

      “I spoke with Myra,” Connie said. “She told me they don’t have a Daisy Limone as a patient.”

      That didn’t make any sense. “One more thing I’ll have to look into.” Kira made a note on her ever-growing To Do list.

      “She said another certified home health care agency has been approved in her area. Wants to know why all of our patients are suddenly going to them?”

      A very good question that Kira would find the answer to as soon as she could find a free minute.

      “Do me another favor?” she asked Connie.

      “Name it.”

      “Tonight, at the bar, please don’t let me drink too much.” The way she felt right now, it was a definite possibility.

      Connie gave her a “yeah, right” look. “You know, maybe if you let loose once in a while you wouldn’t be wound so tight and grabbing for your chest every time Mr. Jeffries’s name is mentioned.”

      Kira looked down at her hand resting on her sternum.

      “What if tonight, you get rip-roaring drunk?” Connie said. “And I make sure you get home to my apartment safely?”

      Kira shook her head. “I can’t. I start administrative call at eight on Saturday morning.” If her week was any indication, this weekend would likely be a nightmare. “I can’t be hungover.” She eyed Connie. “Sheila’s the case manager on call.”

      “Well that sucks.”

      Exactly.

      Sheila, who had been working at WCHC twice as long as Kira. Sheila, who had been considered for the position of Director of Case Management at the same as Kira. Sheila, who had not taken Kira’s promotion well and spent a good deal of time searching out evidence of why she believed Kira should not be the Director of Case Management, which she happily shared with Mr. Jeffries. Sheila, who just happened to be Daisy Limone’s case manager.

       CHAPTER TWO

      THIS HAD TO be the stupidest thing Dr. Derrick Limone had ever done. Considering all the crazy stuff he’d gotten himself into as a teenager that was saying something. An uncle in law enforcement had kept him out of jail. Pure dumb luck had kept him alive and in one piece.

      But he’d moved past all that had gotten his life together. He was a respectable physician now, living a respectable, law-abiding life.

      At least until tonight, when he’d followed Ms. Kira Peniglatt from her office to the very bar where he now sat...staring into a half empty mug of beer, contemplating the best way to snatch her away from her friend and calculating the possible consequences of doing so.

      Desperation led people to do stupid things.

      In the past, his stupidity could be blamed on a desperate need for excitement to alleviate the mundane boredom of small-town life.

      Tonight...tonight was payback, not that he could ever fully repay his parents for all they’d done for him. But today he’d planned to travel down to the New York City office of We Care Health Care to get a start on trying.

      Only a walk-in patient complaining of chest pain had made him miss his train. And an insane amount of late Friday afternoon traffic had made him too late to catch her during business hours. So when he’d seen her leaving her office building, he’d followed her. Like a deranged stalker.

      She laughed, a loud, confident, bold sound that caught his attention every single time, as if there weren’t dozens of other people in the crowded bar. He glanced her way to see her tossing back a third shot of Southern Comfort with lime. Apparently she hadn’t stopped by for a quick drink before heading home, as he’d hoped.

      The professional portrait of Ms. Kira Peniglatt, MSN, MBA, CCM, RN, Director of Case Management, on the insurance company website, where she wore conservative business attire, trendy glasses, and had her dark hair pulled back off of her face, had made it easy for Derrick to identify her leaving work. It hadn’t prepared him for the smiling, laughing beauty out of her stuffy suit jacket, with her long, wavy hair hanging loose around her shoulders and a silky white sleeveless blouse leaving her firm arms bare while hugging her appealing curves. Or that skirt, clinging to her narrow hips. Or her long, slender legs. Or those fashionable four-inch black, shiny heels.

      Derrick looked away, shaking his head as he did, wondering if maybe she had a twin who worked with her and he’d followed the wrong Ms. Peniglatt. Because the very appealing woman seated two tables away did not in any way resemble the uncompromising, coldhearted female he’d spoken with on the phone that morning. The same woman who’d told him to get her a signed HIPPA form, and then, after he’d inconvenienced his uncle to drive out to his parents’ house to get one signed and then fax it back to him, had not taken any of his afternoon phone calls.

      “Coming down to the city was an asinine idea,” Derrick mumbled to himself. Then he picked up his mug and gulped down the rest of his beer. Even if he could separate Ms. Peniglatt from her friend, after three shots of Southern Comfort and two glasses of white wine in under two hours, she’d be in no condition to talk business.

      He glanced at his watch. Almost seven. If he left now he could grab a couple of slices of pizza and make it up to Mom and Dad’s house before midnight. Ms. Peniglatt had been right. Family takes care of family. The least Derrick could do, in addition to getting the home care straightened out to make sure his mother received the maximum benefit allowed, was to head home for the weekend when his dad needed him. That had meant helping his overworked receptionist/medical biller to reschedule and refer his weekend patients so he could close his office on Saturday. And finding someone to cover on call for the whole weekend, which hadn’t been easy.

      Thinking of everything he’d done today and everything he still had to do if he wanted his new practice to be a success, exhausted him. So he stopped thinking about