Come Back To Me

"I'm going to write a research paper" Hollis announced a few days later as she walked into the office where two of the doctors in her practice were chatting with Veronica.

They looked at her and acknowledged what she had said, but none of them seemed to know exactly how Hollis expected them to respond.

"Well, aren't you going to ask what its on?" She asked in a frightfully cheery voice, surprising them all. She hadn't been in the best of dispositions around the office since her run in with Zacky and fight with her mother.

"What is it on?" Dr. Emily Brown asked, curious as to what could lift her boss' spirits.

"I'm going to research the healing effect of physical therapy as compared to the healing effect of psychotherapy. I'm going to observe a physical therapist working with a patient and then observe the process of recovery in my patients."

"Wow. That sounds like it will be an amazing paper if you can find any significant correlation." Emily said and Hollis smiled, knowing that at least one person was looking forward to her work. She walked into her office and began to prepare for her first patient.

She was glad that she had come up with the idea for the paper, but she knew that she was only writing this paper to keep her mind off of the wedding and seeing Zacky again. But whatever it took she was willing to do. She rearranged the stacks of papers on her desk, placing on top of the pile "her" physical therapists business card. She had talked briefly to her but she knew that she would have to call her after her first patient and discuss the terms of her research more in depth. She sighed, knowing how much work it was going to take to even get her paper started, but she hadn’t published a paper since her last year of medical school and she knew it was about time. She put her head down on her desk for a moment but her potential power nap was stilted when Veronica’s voice came through the intercom.

“Dr. Thompson”

“Okay, send them in” She semi-mumbled and sat up and got herself ready for her patient.

As a doctor she would be ashamed to admit that she didn’t give her patient the attention she deserved during her session, but her attention was split and she was distracted. As soon as the session was over, she knew that she should have cancelled the appointment rather than let her patient leave feeling at all ignored. But she knew there was nothing to be done about that when the appointment was over. Instead she simply walked over to her desk and picked up the business card that was sitting in the middle of her otherwise clean desk.

She turned it over in her hands before picking up her office phone and dialing the number. It only rang a few times before a cheerful voice answered.

“Dr. Wood’s office”

“Hi, I’m calling to speak to Dr. Wood about a research paper I am writing. My name is Dr. Hollis Thompson.”

“All right, she did tell me to expect your call. She’s just finishing up with a patient right now, so she will be with you in about five minutes but until then I’ll place you on hold, all right?”

“That’s fine. Thank you.”

She heard the click of the phone being placed on hold and the obnoxious easy listening music flowed through the receiver. She put the phone down and put it on speakerphone while she waited for Dr. Wood to pick up.

“Hi, Dr. Thompson?” A perky voice answered the phone and Hollis picked up the phone and put it to her ear.

“Hi, you can just call me Hollis” She responded pleasantly, pulling a pad of paper and pen closer to her.

“Well then feel free to call me Norelle.” She said, “So you want to publish a paper on physical therapy and psychotherapy?”

“Yup, at it’s base that’s what it’s about. I just want to observe you working with a patient and compared the progress both physically and mentally to the progress a patient of mine makes through sessions.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea. And I know just the patient of mine that would be really good for you to observe. I’ll just have to run it by him, although I am sure that it will be fine with him.”

“He must be rather easy going then” Hollis said with a little laugh.

“Well, he’s my boyfriend. And I hope you don’t think that it’s too unorthodox for me to be dating a patient.”

“Oh not at all. I’m sure you don’t let it get in the way of your work.”

She laughed, “Not at all. Just last week he tried to call out of a session and he got an earful that night at dinner.”

“Well, you do have to keep them in line” She said with a laugh, “And missing sessions isn’t good for his progress.”

“That’s exactly what I told him!” She semi-exclaimed, “At least you understand that” She said with a laugh, “I think we’re going to get along really well Hollis. How about you swing by tomorrow at eleven for his session to get to know me as a doctor a little better.”

“One second, let me just check my calendar, I know I don’t have a patient but I don’t know about anything else.” She flipped through her planner and saw that there was nothing there. “Eleven will work for me. “

“Perfect, you know how to get to my office, right?”

“Yup, It’s on Northern Ave, right?”

“You got it. I’ll see you tomorrow Hollis.”

“Thanks again for letting me do this.”

“It’s no problem. Bye.”

Hollis hung the phone up and leaned back in her chair. She had an hour until her next patient and decided that a power nap was in order. As soon as her eyes were about to close, her phone began to ring. She answered it and put it to her ear.

“Yes mom?”

“Now that sounds rude Hollis. I was just calling to see if we could do lunch later today and plan the wedding out a little more.”

“Um…sure. I have a client in an hour for an hour and after that I’m done for the day. Thursdays are my easier days.”

“Okay, how about we meet at Panera after you’re done with your client and we’ll get lunch and fill in more of that crazy planner you have.”

Hollis laughed, “Mom, just because I have a need to be organized doesn’t mean my planner is crazy. I just think better when everything is in order.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it Dr. Daughter. I’ll see you soon. Love you!”

Hollis sighed, “Love you too mom.” She hung the phone up and threw it on her desk and then leaned back and closed her eyes to begin her power nap.