Brenda spoke again into the phone. “Yes, I’m still here. Next month? No, I’m afraid that won’t do. It’s an emergency. I think one of my breast implant may have ruptured. I’m experiencing extreme pain from my left breast.”
I looked down at my B-cup chest and sighed. My breasts weren’t exactly large enough to look like I’ve had any type of enhancement done to them. I guess if worse came to worst, I could always claim both boobs were leaking.
“What? Great, yes. Thank you. Ten minutes is perfect.”
My wide eyes shot to Brenda. There was no way I could make it across Dallas traffic in ten minutes but before I could grab her attention she disconnected the call and started fist pumping into the air.
“You’re in baby. You have ten minutes to get to his office.”
“Are you out of your mind?” I hissed, already grabbing for my purse. “There is no way I’m going to make it across town in ten minutes. Shit. I don’t even have any of my questions ready. Holy crap, I’m going in blind!”
“What do you meant you don’t have your questions ready? What the hell have you been doing all this time?” Brenda asked, grinning.
I wanted to smack the expression off her face.
I turned, threw my cell phone into my purse, and ran for the elevator door, almost plowing into Stuart who stepped directly into my path.
“Hey, gorgeous, where are you running off to?” he asked, trying to reach for me.
I dogged his hands and skirted around his lean body.
“I’ve have ten minutes to get to Dr. Bennett’s office so I can interview him,” I responded without slowing a step.
“An interview already. I’m impressed. You need me to go with you?”
Shaking my head, I rapidly slammed a finger on the button for the first floor several times in succession trying to get the elevator doors to close quicker. A bout of nervousness threatened to overturn my lunch from earlier, but I was able to snuff it down.
There was no time to be sick. It was bad enough I only had a matter of minutes to figure out how to slyly conduct an interview with a man who didn’t give interviews.
A man who was going to hate me the minute he discovered I’d lied.
Chapter Seven
Ciaran
An ugly twenty-five minutes later, I ungracefully approached the older woman stationed behind the receptionist desk inside Dr. Bennett’s office. She looked up from her computer screen and gave me a beady eyed look over a pair of black framed reading glasses balanced on the end of her nose.
“Hi. I’m Ciaran Thompson. I have an appointment to see Dr. Bennett.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Thompson, but your appointment time has passed. Dr. Bennett is already with another patient.” Her bright smile completely contradicted the bad news she delivered.
I wet my lips with the tip of my tongue. “Are you Gloria?” I asked.
Adjusting her glasses, she puffed out her chest with importance and grunted once. I sized up her rigid posture. It was going to take some serious schmoozing in order to get past this sentry at the gate.
“Hi, Gloria. It’s a pleasure to finally meet the lovely lady behind that sweet voice. I apologize for being late but my office is located across town and afternoon traffic is a nightmare. I wouldn’t have agreed to the appointment but it’s urgent I see Dr. Bennett today. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
Gloria’s twisted mouth let on she was not the least bit impressed by my drama. Her lack of reaction shoved me onto a course I hated to take, but I was more than desperate. “On my way to the car, Mel— I mean, my loving, sweet mother called. Her health is rapidly deteriorating and as I’m sure you can understand, I worry about her. I had to take her call to make sure she was alright.”
Teetering somewhere on the edge of my conscience, a singing cricket pitched himself over the ledge of honesty and plunged to his death. I was going to hell for lying to this sweet woman but, as already stated, I was more than desperate.
Gloria’s face softened as she gingerly patted the hand I had resting on the marble counter. “Of course, I understand dear. You are a wonderful child to look after your mom. My daughter could learn a thing or two from you.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Please, it’s the least I can do considering everything mothers like you have sacrificed for their children. So, do you think there is any chance I can get in to see Dr. Bennett? I’m willing to wait however long it takes.”
Handing me a clipboard with blank patient forms attached and a pen, she batted her heavily made up eyes. “Let me see what I can do. Have a seat and fill out the forms. You can turn them in when we call you back.”
“Thank you, Gloria. I greatly appreciate it.” I granted her one of my sincere smiles and then made my way to one of the oversized upholstered chairs stationed around the waiting room.
Now that I knew for sure I was going to get to see Dr. Bennett, the nervousness I felt earlier resurfaced. I chewed on my bottom lip and tried to distract myself with the environment.
The waiting room décor was everything I expected in a plastic surgeon’s office. The walls were painted a soft cream color and had huge black and white photos of the Dallas skyline hanging in the center of each. They gave the room a very posh touch.
I scanned over the handful of women waiting in the room. Their features were unique but all were impeccably and expensively dressed, which stood to reason since I knew plastic surgery didn’t come cheap. Turning back to the clipboard, I filled out the forms. Hopefully my health insurance covered the appointment since it was an “emergency” because I was sure there was no way I could afford it.
The door leading to the exam rooms opened and Monique, the curvy blonde Dr. Bennett had been eating lunch with a couple of days back, emerged.
“Ms. Thompson, we are ready for you,” she called out.
I stood and walked towards her, feeling the eyes in the room follow me. Mentally brushing them off, I handed the clipboard to Gloria and turned back towards Monique.
“Ms. Thompson, I’m Monique,” she stated, closing the door to the waiting area. “I’ll be assisting Dr. Bennett with your exam.”
With an haughty look, she turned and briskly walked down the hallway. Staying quiet, I followed her into an empty exam room.
“You can have a seat on the table. Dr. Bennett is extremely busy and only has time for a brief examination. If it proves to be urgent, he will more than likely direct you to the emergency room.”
“Thank you,” I replied with a stiff smile. I was getting a weird vibe off the woman and it smelled a lot like insincerity.
Done with the initial welcome, Monique left the room and shut the door behind her giving me a chance to investigate.
With the exception of posters on the walls advertising lip injections, varicose vein treatments, and breast augmentations, the area closely resembled a normal doctor’s examination room. Stopping on a poster with a model who flaunted a rack the size of cantaloupes, my hands automatically moved over my smaller breasts. My girls were nowhere near the size of those puppies. The office was going to give me a complex.
I dropped my hands and hopped off the table. Strolling to the cabinet area along one wall, I pulled open the drawers. Cotton balls. Box of swabs. Rubber gloves. Nothing interesting at all.
Reaching above my head, I opened one of the doors and revealed a stack of pamphlets next to a box of tongue depressors. There wasn’t anything in this room that was going to help me write my story.
“Is there something I can help you find, Ms. Thompson?”
With more force than necessary, I slammed the cabinet door shut and spun around to come face-to-face with an irritated looking Dr. Kean Bennett.