Back to You(3)

If he can pull that off, Lauren thought, it will be an impressive feat.
She exited the car and walked into the office, giving the receptionist her name and her insurance card. In turn, she was given a packet of about twenty pages that she needed to fill out with her personal information.
When Lauren was just about done, one of the technicians came out to get her and led her back to the room where they’d be taking her x-rays.
“I’m going to need you to stand here, feet shoulder-width apart, arms out at your sides,” the girl said monotonously, her face expressionless. Lauren did as she was told, thinking that if Dr. Wells was anything like this girl, she was going to hightail it out of there.
“Are you pregnant?” the girl asked suddenly.
Lauren’s arms dropped back to her sides. “Excuse me?”
“Are you pregnant? We can’t do this if you are.” The girl cracked her gum, waiting for an answer.
“No, I’m not pregnant.”
The girl nodded, giving her the once-over and said, “I’m going to ask one more time. It’s important that you’re honest. Are you pregnant?”
“And I’m going to give you the same answer I just gave you. I’m. Not. Pregnant,” she said slowly, enunciating each word.
The girl snapped her gum. “Arms out,” she said before she pressed a button on the machine and left the room.
After the x-rays, she came back in and brusquely informed Lauren that Dr. Wells would be with her in a minute and instructed her to go back to the waiting room.
And Lauren went back to the waiting room, grabbed her things, and headed toward the exit.
“Lauren Monroe?”
She had her hand on the doorknob, and she closed her eyes. So close, she thought before she righted her expression and turned to see a man standing there in dark blue scrubs. If he hadn’t been wearing them, she would never have assumed he was the doctor. He looked more like a university soccer player with his tousled blond hair and beguiling grin.
“Yes,” she said somewhat sheepishly.
“Dr. Wells,” he said. “Were you about to stand me up?”
“No, no, I was just…” She stopped as his grin grew wider, and she dropped her shoulders in defeat. “I was about to stand you up.”
He laughed my master’s degree.”
Lauren tried not to smile. “It sounds like you’ve been stood up a lot.”
“Who, me? No, that’s just what I’ve heard happens.”
Lauren laughed, and he stepped to the side, sweeping his hand toward the door behind him. “Nothing scary yet. We’re just going to talk, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay,” she said, taking a tentative step toward him.
He allowed her to go first, and when they entered the office, he pulled the chair out for her before he walked around his desk and sat down.
As he began flipping through the papers on the clipboard, reading her information, Lauren glanced around the office, looking at his medical certificates and awards.
“How long have you been a doctor?”
He looked up at her from under his lashes before he smiled. “There better not be a Doogie Howser comment coming.” Lauren felt her cheeks turn red as he added, “I’m thirty, by the way.”
“I didn’t mean that to be insulting—”
“It’s okay,” he smiled before he turned his attention back to her packet. “I know I look young. It makes some people nervous, but I promise you, you’re in good hands.”
Lauren waited quietly for another minute before he closed the packet and looked up. “So, talk to me a little bit about your pain.”
Lauren explained her issues, stemming back to her days as a gymnast, and he nodded and jotted notes down on her chart, sometimes asking for further clarification or stopping to explain a technical term to her. After a few minutes, he slid her packet into a file folder and pushed back from the desk.
“I’m pretty sure I know what your problem is, although I’d like to take a peek at your x-rays before we decide on a plan of action. Do you mind if we move to the exam table? I’m not going to adjust you; I just want to check your mobility.”
Lauren was surprised to find she wasn’t at all nervous to move to the table. Her friend had been right; something about him was very soothing, very reassuring.
Lauren laid on the table, and he moved her legs and arms into various positions, describing all the while what he was doing and why. In the midst of him testing her flexibility, the x-ray tech from earlier brought her film into his office with a grunt and promptly left.
Dr. Wells glanced down at Lauren. “She’s here to scare off the scam artists who want to fake an injury to get out of work.”