Chapter 2
two
LACHLAN
Lachlan stared down at the email on her phone, squinting at the screen as she tried to read it better. Giving up, she switched to the computer in her office and finally read the email for the fourth time. She sighed heavily. She was so tired of these types of emails and calls coming in. They’d increased exponentially in the last year, and they didn’t seem to be calming down any.
Yet, Nathalie’s behavior wasn’t getting worse either.
So maybe people were just more sensitive?
Who knew? Lachlan sighed again and ran her fingers through her hair. The stress from this entire situation was threatening to make her want to pull her hair out. At the very least, maybe she could lose a few pounds over it from stress? Who the hell was she kidding? She’d never be so lucky as that.
Snagging up the receiver on her office phone, Lachlan made the call that she was dreading.
She hated that Ivy had left the practice. She hated even more that Ivy was forced out. It wasn’t her own choice, and she despised the fact that they now had to work with Abagail Kerr. Who was brilliant, yes, Lachlan understood that, but she was a brute. And while Nathalie and Abagail could go toe to toe over whatever they wanted, Lachlan preferred a more delicate touch.
Which was why she missed working with Ivy.
Frowning, Lachlan dialed the number that she now had memorized, and she waited for Abagail to answer. If only they could still work with Ivy. But since Ivy wasn’t the business owner and it was seen as a conflict of interest, Abagail had taken over their problems.
“Kerr HR, how may I direct your call?” The secretary’s voice was always warm, which was a welcome distraction from the cold reaction Lachlan knew she was going to get as soon as Abagail picked up.
“Hi, this is Lachlan Norris. I need to speak with Ms. Kerr.”
“Hi, Lachlan!” She was so damn sweet. Lachlan hated calling, but at least this was a bright spot for her day. Maybe that was why Abagail had hired her in the first place. “Ms. Kerr is out of the office this week. But I can patch you through to Ms. Villegas, her second-in-command.”
Lachlan wrinkled her nose. Word must not have gotten around about just how close Lachlan and Ivy were, or any of them. That was probably for the best. “Sure, that sounds great, thanks.”
Lachlan waited while the hold music played. She clicked through a few more emails that wouldn’t take much brain power to look at and answer, skimming some test results for her patients, and then smiling when Ivy’s voice came over the line.
“Kerr HR, this is Ivy Villegas.”
“Hey, there.” Lachlan’s voice dropped.
“What the hell did she do now?” Ivy smarted back.
Lachlan snorted in response. Leave it to Ivy to cut straight to the point but also make Lachlan laugh at the same time. “How could you guess?”
“Because it’s the only reason you call the office line instead of my cell phone.”
“Well, if you’d come back to the practice, then I wouldn’t have to call the office, now would I?” Lachlan was still desperately missing one of her best friends. They still saw each other most days, except when Penny had the kids and there was no reason for them to meet up for kid adventures, but it wasn’t the same as being secluded in the office together.
“You know I’d love to,” Ivy said, her tone taking on a sad timbre. “But I can’t. It’s better for all of us this way if I stay out of it.”
Lachlan frowned. “I know. I still don’t like that Penny bullied you into giving up your part of the practice.”
Ivy chuckled. “My part? I might have owned a very small chunk of it, mind you, but it’s not like I’m a doctor.”
“No, but your expertise was—and is—still very welcome. Besides, then I wouldn’t have to waste my time making these phone calls when I could just walk down the hall to the office that’s still empty and talk to you in person.”
“I know, I know.”
Lachlan hated to put any type of guilt onto Ivy, but she also wanted Ivy to understand that she did still feel this way, and that she did still miss her. “But to the point of the call, I received another complaint on Nathalie.”
“Is she ever going to give up that bitchy persona?”
Snorting again, Lachlan shook her head even though Ivy couldn’t see her. “No, she’s not. I think she likes that she’s been branded that way. This complaint is exactly that, about her poor bedside manner, and apparently her saying something inappropriate about a woman’s genitals.”
“What?” The cringe in Ivy’s voice could be heard a mile away. “Did she really say something like that?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t talked to her yet. She’s in conferences all day, so she hasn’t been in the office. I’ll catch her when we get home though, and I pick up the twins.”
“Ask her exactly what was said. Then text me and let me know. She really needs to watch her tongue, especially with all of these complaints coming in lately.”
“I know, they’ve been bad.” Lachlan skimmed over the list that Abagail had sent her to keep track. There were a few against Lachlan herself, but the vast majority were against Nathalie, and then a few more against Baylor—the other doctor in the practice and also her ex-husband. Still, Nathalie’s complaints far outweighed either Lachlan’s or Baylor’s.
“I noticed that.”
Lachlan bit her lip. “You don’t think Penny would?—”
“Fabricate them? No, I don’t think she’d be that idiotic.” Ivy scoffed. “Though I wouldn’t put it past her to try and find some complaints where there were none. So with that thought in mind, you really need to get Nathalie to stop. Put your thumb on her, yell and scream at her, I don’t care, but she does need to figure out how to go one damn week without something being filed against her. Otherwise there’s going to be a lawsuit bigger than either you or we can handle.”
“Right.” Lachlan had thought about that as well. Malpractice insurance only went so far, and if there was a complaint against Nathalie’s ethics? It was going to get ugly and expensive real quick. “I’ll try my best. You might want to work on that from your end too. Not just the one in the office, but the one at home.”
“I’ll try,” Ivy responded. “Forward over the complaint to me. Cc Abagail on it, and we’ll get started on it at the end of the week or when she gets back from her trip.”
“Where did she go?”
“Out west again to visit her friend. They’re trying to reconcile or something, I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but she never comes back very happy from those trips, so you’ll probably want to watch yourself when she calls you.”
“Hopefully she’ll call me first and Nathalie second.”
“I’ll suggest that to her.”
Lachlan glanced up as Baylor knocked on the door to her office and then opened it. “Baylor’s here.”
“Oh that needy man.”
“Shut up, Ivy.” Lachlan bit out the words. She was never a fan of when Ivy would try to pit her and Baylor against each other. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“I don’t have the kids, remember?”
“Oh. Right.” Lachlan frowned again. “Well, come over anyway. I’m sure we could all use a drink.”
“Sure thing.” Ivy hung up without saying goodbye.
Lachlan drew in a breath and straightened her shoulders. She closed down her emails, really not wanting Baylor to see what was on her screen, and finally looked up at him. “What can I do for you?”
“It’s about the nanny.”
Lachlan glared.
Baylor held his hands up, grinned with a laugh, and shook his head. “A joke! A joke! I do like Greer so far, though I’d like to get to know her better since she spends so much time with the kids, but she’s always at your house.”
“We agreed that it would be easier on the kids and the circumstances if that’s how we arranged it.”
“I know.” He sat down heavily in the chair across from her desk. Crossing his ankle over his knee, he relaxed. “But what if on the days it’s just the girls and she doesn’t have Shepherd, that she comes here for a few hours. We still have the kid room.” He moved his thumb over his shoulder. “Then I could get to know her and the girls could be here so we could see them, too.”
Lachlan pinched her face as she thought. Then she finally nodded. “I’ll talk to Greer and see what her opinion is on it. I’ll also have to include Nathalie and Ivy in on that one, since it’s a shared contract and all.”
“I understand.” His lips were in that ever-present bow shape that always made it look like he was smiling.
Lachlan used to have that look on her face too, when she was far easier going and not dealing with one crisis after another. But since Ivy started her divorce from Penny, she hadn’t been able to pull her head out of her ass and go back to her happy normal self. She missed her old self.
“I wanted to talk to you about becoming a partner.”
“What?” Lachlan’s eyes widened. “Why would you want that? You’ve never?—”
He put his hand up to stop her from talking. “Just listen to my argument and my thoughts before you come up with your counter argument. Please?”
“All right. Fine.” Lachlan leaned heavily back in her chair, gnawing on the inside of her cheek while she waited for him to start.
Baylor never made a quick move in his life. And if he was bringing this up to her, then he had been contemplating it for quite some time already. Probably since Ivy had given up her shares and left the practice altogether.
“I’m the most logical choice.”
“If we were wanting to sell it off,” Lachlan countered.
He pointed at her with one finger. “You promised to listen.”
“Fine.” She pouted and crossed her arms, but she had made that promise to him. “Go on.”
“I’m the most logical choice for another partner. I’m a doctor, no one else in this practice is. I’ve been here just as long as you.”
“Not quite as long.” He had joined the practice once she and Nathalie had gotten it going. And then they’d brought him on when their patient load had become too much. “But I see your point,” she added so he wouldn’t get fussy again since she’d cut him off.
“And I passionately believe in the work that we’re doing. Come on, Lachlan. I want to be partner.”
“Nathalie and I aren’t looking to sell off Ivy’s shares. We agreed to split them between us, so it’s still a partnership between the original owners. It was never an option to take on a third partner to this practice.” Lachlan raised an eyebrow at him. She’d already explained this to him when she’d told him what was happening last year. But somehow, he must have forgotten that, or completely ignored it. “I do appreciate you coming to me though.”
Baylor rolled his eyes at her. “Are you planning on selling it to someone else? Some big-shot name?”
“No.” Lachlan said the word slowly, as if she was talking to one of the twins when they really just weren’t understanding what she was saying. “No, we’re not. I’ve already told you that.”
“But it makes sense! You and Nathalie are drowning?—”
“Baylor, I don’t really want to discuss this.” Lachlan shifted her posture, hardening herself. She always hated arguing with him, even when it was about work things and not personal things. “It’s not a decision that I can make on my own, and as of right now, Nathalie and I have agreed that the shares will remain with us. We have no intention on bringing anyone else in.”
“What happens when she leaves?” Baylor said.
Lachlan shook her head. “Nathalie is my best friend. She’s not leaving.”
“And if her license gets suspended?”
“It won’t.” That’s why they’d spent the big bucks to hire Kerr HR in the first place. Lachlan wasn’t going to let him push his weight around on this one. Not again. She needed to keep things as status quo as possible. This wasn’t the time to start mucking this up.
“I still think you should sell them to me.”
“I don’t want to.” It was one thing to get divorced from him and work with him, but right now, she still had at least a little bit of power over him. He couldn’t completely bulldoze her. And she wanted to keep it that way. “Is that all you wanted to talk about?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Baylor stood up. “I get it when you’re done.”
“Good.” She waited until he reached the door. “And shut that on your way out, will you? I’ve got some charting to do, and I don’t want to be disturbed.”
He frowned at her but did as she asked. Once she was ensconced in the silence of the room, Lachlan closed her eyes and tried to ease the tension out of her neck and upper back. Really, if she could lose a few pounds from all this stress, then maybe at least it would be worth it.
But she’d never be that lucky.
Things like that were never in the cards for her.