Read Online The Dog Year by Ann Wertz Garvin - Free Book Online Page A

the very place Lucy wanted to avoid: the hospital she stole from.
    With her head down, avoiding eye contact, she scuttled through the parking structure, veering away from the broad front doors and over to a side entrance.
    In the hallway, trying to look inconspicuous, she heard someone calling her name.
    â€œDr. Peterman?” Lucy turned to see the approaching Mrs. Hallorman, the last patient she’d seen before being discovered as a thief. “Your staff called. Said I have to have another doctor. That you aren’t my doctor anymore.” Becky Hallorman’s normally luminous skin was now tinged with worry and fear.
    â€œI’m on leave for a time, but I’ll be back.”
    â€œHow long? Will you be back for my surgery?”
    â€œI don’t know. I—”
    â€œI don’t want anyone else. I feel like you understand what I’m going through.”
    â€œI do. I do understand.”
    Becky Hallorman touched Lucy’s hand. “Did you know you were leaving? Why didn’t you tell me?”
    There were many things Lucy hadn’t considered when she repeatedly slipped a syringe or a hemostat into her pocket and walked out the front door of Med One Hospital and Clinics. She hadn’t considered the word
theft
, for one thing. Nor did she really consider medical paraphernalia separate from herself or her position at the hospital. The hospital, her job, seemingly owned her. If she had to work hours well past a traditional workweek, giving most of her time to the hallways and patients who walked them, she never asked for extra dispensation. So, honestly, when she took a roll of tape without thinking, it seemed petty for the hospital to call it stealing. It had also never occurred to Lucy to consider the existence of security cameras, or the cost of replacing missing supplies. And it had
really
never occurred to her to consider the impact on her patients of being discovered a crook.
    â€œI’m so afraid,” Becky said with desperate eyes.
    Lucy stopped. She gripped Mrs. Hallorman’s arm. “Don’t let that fear take root, Becky. Pry it loose. Cancer and fear feed off each other. Here.” Lucy rummaged in her purse and found her business card. With a Sharpie, she penned her home phone number. “Call me any time, day or night.”
    Then, using her master key, she slipped inside the side door and started up the stairs to the tenth floor. On the fifth-floor landing she stopped. Breathing heavily, she unbuttoned her gray wool jacket just as the door to the pediatric floor swung wide. She jumped back, narrowly missing a collision with Charise Schaefer, Junior Leaguer, hospital volunteer, and self-appointed mascot.
    â€œLook who it is!” Charise crowed. “What a surprise. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of you since the Halloween party. Shame on you for missing my after-party and keeping my doctor friend waiting.” She wagged her naughty finger at Lucy and gave her the look of a superior mommy.
    â€œI went home pretty early. I ate something that didn’t agree with me.”
    â€œDrank something, I heard. But no matter, I forgive you. Are you on your way up or down? I always take the stairs. That way, I can eat whatever I want and keep my girlish figure.” Charise spoke with a definite nasal twang, a holdover from her rural Minnesota roots, which she tried to hide by wearing clothes from DKNY and BCBG and keeping her tanning packages up to date.
    â€œYou go ahead. I’m catching my breath.”
    â€œGotta keep moving if you’re going to increase your fitness,” Charise said, at which point she linked arms with Lucy. “So when can we get you to meet my guy? He’s divorced. Married a real witch, if you know what I mean. No kids, which is ideal, don’t you think?”
    Lucy pulled her arm free. “Charise, I’m not dating yet. I only just lost my husband a few months ago.”
    â€œOh, I know,