Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Hannah watched as Ben left. There was a part of her that admired his long-legged stride, the confident way he moved, and yeah, a bit of arrogance.
And despite herself, she found herself drawn to it.
He was definitely a masculine man, and it almost was painful to see him out of his element, unable to deal with his teenage son, especially since it was so obvious that he loved him with all of his heart and soul.
"Hey, Mason. I was just about ready to go into an exam room and put some stitches in. You're a bit of an expert at this. I'll have to get permission, but if I do, would you like to join me?"
Mason turned and his eyebrows went way up.
He probably had expected her to chain him to a desk somewhere, which honestly was her first thought.
But there was something about the way he had been interested in taking his own stitches out last night that made her think that perhaps he had a natural bent toward medicine.
"Really? I could go in with you?"
"And help."
His eyes brightened. Just as she thought. He really was interested.
"Yeah. I'd do that."
"All right. Give me a second to check. I'm going to call you my assistant, and I'm going to say you're shadowing me because you're interested in a career in medicine. Would that be a lie?" she asked, not wanting to tell her patients untruths.
"No. I definitely am interested. I don't know if I'm smart enough to be a doctor though."
"It's not necessarily a matter of being smart enough. It's honestly just a matter of how hard you are willing to work and how much you're willing to sacrifice." She lifted her shoulder. "I'm not any smarter than your average bear."
That made him laugh, and she turned around and walked into the waiting room where Karen Hutchison sat with her son, Buster, who had wrecked his bike and needed stitches just above his eye.
"Mrs. Hutchison, I have an assistant who has joined the practice, and he's shadowing me because of an interest in a career in medicine. Do you mind if he comes in and observes and possibly helps by handing me tools and equipment?"
"No. That's fine," she said, looking up from where she had been trying to distract her son by using her phone.
Poor little Buster, at only eight years old, was scared and looked up with frightened eyes.
She smiled at him reassuringly.
"All right. We'll be right in then."
She nodded and then pointed to something on the screen as Hannah turned and walked back through the heavy door.
She closed it behind her, waiting until it clicked before she said, "That's fine with her. When we walk in, you need to wash your hands, and I'll give you a pair of gloves." She glanced at his hands. "I think you're going to need extra large." He grinned, and she lifted her brows. "Any questions?"
"I don't know what to do."
"That's fine. Just do what I tell you to do. The most important thing is to cause no harm. So we want to keep our hands washed, gloves on, and not do anything that's going to make it worse by introducing germs or causing an infection."
"Got it."
"It's also for our protection. You've got that healing cut on your hand, and if you get any of Buster's blood on you and it turns out he has some kind of blood-borne illness, like hepatitis or AIDS, you could come down with it. So your gloves are to protect you both."
"I understand."
He reminded her so much of Ben, the way he walked, the way he talked. It was obvious they were father and son, and Hannah hid her smile. Mason probably would not appreciate being told that he was the spitting image of his dad. Not right now anyway.
Mason did exactly as he was told, going to the sink behind her and using soap to wash his hands after she was finished.
She dug out a pair of extra-large gloves for him, and he put them on as she had instructed.
He seemed interested the entire time as they administered the Novocain, made a little small talk while they waited for it to take effect, and then began to stitch Buster's eye.
She explained that she was stitching some of the inner membranes together first using a suture that would dissolve without having to be taken out.
That made Mason grin, and they shared a smile, remembering how he had said he wanted to take his own stitches out.
She explained what she was doing as she was doing it, and to her surprise, Mason seemed interested in the entire thing.
After they were done, she explained that medicine was not just about healing but also about having a conversation with the patient, passing the time, getting information by asking casual questions, and paying attention to the cues that they gave off.
That was something she hadn't expected in medicine. She'd thought she'd just be doing the straight-up administering, using her skills to save lives, but it was so much more than that, because humans weren't just bodies. They were souls and spirits too.
Mason followed her as she went to two other exam rooms, one containing a little girl who had strep throat.
She was able to use the tongue depressor and show the telltale white spots to Mason.
The next was for a toddler who had an ear infection. Mason seemed fascinated as she held the scope and allowed him to view the red and inflamed eardrum.
She put it in the other ear and showed him the healthy one, with the mother's permission, of course.
After that, her phone buzzed with a text.
I got called out to an accident on the interstate. Is Mason okay? Or do I need to figure out how to take him off your hands?
She glanced at Mason.
"It's your dad. He's being called out to an accident. Are you okay?"
"I'm more than okay. I don't ever want to leave here."
She grinned. "Maybe I can arrange that. Perhaps not the ever part, but if you're serious, I might be able to figure something out."
"Figure something out?"
She gave him a grin and then sent a text to Ben.
Mason is fine. Would you be okay if I called the school to see if he could do an apprenticeship here?
The answer came back immediately.
Are you serious?
I am. He's a natural, and he loves it.
Heck yeah. I can call.
You'll probably have to too. But you do the accident now, and I'll get the ball rolling at the school. You can pick it up when you have time.
Thanks.
His reply was short, but she had no doubt it was heartfelt.
"I have a couple of phone calls to make, so I'm going to see if Dr. Terry is okay with you shadowing her while I do that, okay?" She lifted her brows at Mason, who had been quiet through her text exchange.
"Sure." He shrugged his shoulder, like it didn't matter who he was with, as long as he was in the thick of the whole medical stuff.
As she suspected, Dr. Terry was perfectly fine having Mason tag along.
Hannah was thankful that Tuesdays were their busy mornings where they took appointments and walk-ins, and she had been on duty today. If she hadn't been, she wondered what in the world Ben would've done.