“I'll see what I can do, Mrs. Bain. Bear with me a moment.”
Mrs. Bain, who was around eighty and bent double, looked at Gretta. “She's a good receptionist, our Tonya. Without her this practice would collapse,” she said.
Gretta was just eighteen, the daughter of the town's mayor. She'd decided to spend the summer getting some work experience by assisting Tonya at reception.
“All right, Mrs. Bain, Dr. Aldroyd will see you. He can squeeze you in before morning surgery.”
“Oh, but he's such a bore. Isn't there anybody else?” Mrs. Bain complained.
“I'm afraid it's either Dr. Aldroyd or a trip back here tomorrow,” Tonya answered. “Hurry up, though. The waiting room will be filling up soon.” Mrs. Bain shuffled from the reception area and sat down in the waiting room next door.
“Sorry I'm late, Gretta. Was she horrible to you?”
“No. She was fine.”
“We have a lot of patients and a few of them can be very awkward. But you'll get used to dealing with different kinds of people soon enough.”
Tonya sat down behind the reception desk, which was made of wood and metal and painted a gaudy shade of green. It was seven minutes past seven in the morning. Surgery began at seven thirty, and Tonya looked to see which doctors were on duty that day: Dr. Aldroyd, Dr. Day, and Dr. Crosby. Five minutes later a steady stream of patients began to come into reception. She took their names and referred them to the waiting room.
At ten Tonya's cell phone rang. On the display, she could see that it was her mother. She answered nervously.
“Hi, honey,” her mom said. “I'm afraid it's not good news. It's cancer again.”
Tonya felt herself welling up. Cancer was a word that drove into her heart like a rod of hot steel. “Oh, Mom. How can that be? Are they sure?”
“I'm afraid so.”
Tonya felt sick. Her mother had been in and out of the hospital for a couple of years with various complaints, but breast cancer was the most serious of them. She'd had a small operation to remove a lump six months ago, and now it appeared to have returned.
“I don't know what to say, Mom. We'll just have to fight it again.”
Tonya's mom wasn't old. She was only forty-five; Tonya was twenty-two. “Listen, I'll try and come home early, okay?”
“All right, my love. See you later.”
Tonya put her phone down and stood up. “Gretta, can you take over for a while? I need some fresh air.”
Outside, she found a corner in the yard, crouched down, and let the tears flow. After a while, she felt in her skirt pocket for a tissue and was dismayed to find she didn't have one. As she walked back to the office door, Dr. Crosby came out, presumably on his way to see bed-bound patients.
At just thirty-three, Dr. Crosby owned several medical facilities, many pieces of real estate, and a sixty-foot yacht. He was at a point in his life when he didn't have to work, but he enjoyed contact with patients and continued to work as a doctor at his facility. He also happened to be the best-looking doctor the ladies of Sandpoint had ever seen. He was tall and dark with tanned skin and a perfect body. He was always pleasant to Tonya, but she was wary of him. He liked his own way. Tonya didn't know, but he had the hots for her. She was exactly his type: leggy, slim and blond with large breasts.
“Tonya, are you okay? You look dreadful,” he said when he saw her smeared mascara and blotchy skin. She tried to put on a brave face, but another wave of emotion enveloped her and she burst into tears again. He put his arm around her. He smelled lovely, and on any other occasion it would have turned her on. “Tell me, what's the matter?”
“It's my mom. She's got cancer again.”
“Has the breast cancer come back?”
“Yes.”
“Well don't despair. Dr. Andersen is a good doctor. Your mom's in the best hands. She's been having regular checks, so I assume they've caught this in time.”
“I suppose. But it's not only that,” she said. She looked across the parking lot and saw Jonnie. A fat lot of good his prediction had been. “It's money. She's already got medical expenses of sixty thousand dollars. She can't work, and all my money goes to household expenses. We can't afford it.”
“Come and talk to me tomorrow,” he said. “We'll see what we can do.”
Tonya wondered what he meant. Perhaps he was going to offer her a raise, but it would have to be significant to pay off the mounting debt.
*****
Tonya found her mom in the backyard. They lived together on a quiet residential street just outside the center of town. Her mom enjoyed gardening, and they had the best-maintained borders in the street. The house was comfortable without being luxurious, but they still had a mortgage, and it was draining Tonya's finances. The last thing she wanted to do was sell the house she'd been born in.
“Mom, you shouldn't be lifting such heavy things,” she said when she saw her carrying a large bag of compost.
“It's okay. I'm fine.”