Simon's Choice by Charlotte Castle

Author:Charlotte Castle [Castle, Charlotte]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Night Publishing
Published: 2010-07-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Simon’s senior partner, Howard, rose as Simon entered his office.

“Simon! How are you? Come in. Come in. Terrible time for you. Terrible. Did Wendy get you a cup of tea? No? Sit down. Do.”

Howard gestured towards the small chair by the side of his desk, normally taken by patients, and seated himself in his enormous leather wing chair. Simon sat on a molded plastic chair by the antique walnut desk. It was uncomfortable and low, and left Simon feeling a little like a child who was about to be disciplined.

“Let me just start by telling you how sorry we all are. If there….”

Here we go, thought Simon. The anything-we-can-do spiel.

“If there is anything we can do, you know where we are.”

I wonder what would actually happen if I called in all these favors, Simon pondered. If I rang Howard tomorrow morning and said, could you just wash the car because I’ve been up all night holding a bowl for Sarah to vomit into and frankly I’m too shattered to do it myself.

“I can’t imagine what you’re currently going through and I know I speak for all the staff …”

Or I could ring him up and say yes, actually, I would like your wife, whom I’ve only met twice, to come round and clean the bathroom. That would be enormously helpful.

“Simon. Simon?”

Oh shit. “Sorry, Howard. Bit stressed. You know. Concentration not my strong point at the moment.”

Howard cleared his throat. “Aha. Well. As I said, if there is anything we can do. So, you’re thinking of coming back, I hear. Is that wise? Given your self confessed level of concentration? Not that I want to dissuade you, you understand …”

“No, no. Of course not. I think work-wise I’m fine, Howard. I’d like to get back at it. I feel bad about being absent from the surgery for so long. No, really, I do. I understand the difficulty with budgets and locums, and I think it would be good for me to deal with patients again and keep busy. After all, I’m going to have to carry on after … ah, after, you know.”

“Yes, yes. Of course.” Howard looked flustered, Simon noticed.

Perversely, Simon was beginning to enjoy this. It was not often one had the upper hand with Howard. “I thought perhaps I might be able to work slightly shorter hours. Well, half my hours, actually. I need to go and be with Sarah a lot and then I have to be careful of stress. I wouldn’t want to be breaking down at work. Patients don’t need a GP in tears, do they?” Simon treated Howard to a winning smile. He knew full well the idea of a GP in tears would send Howard, the old fashioned, stiff upper lipped bastion of the establishment into paroxysms of terror.

“No, Christ, no. Er, whatever you feel is best for you, Simon. As I said, anything we can do to help. When were you thinking of coming back?”

“Sarah is starting at the hospice during the daytime.

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