One Sure Thing (Mamma Lou Matchmaker Series) by Celeste Norfleet Page B

regulations. I bet he doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in his body.”
    “Spontaneity and talent are two very different things dear.” She watched Scott as he walked by completely oblivious to their conversation. “Some women might consider him a hottie.”
    “Scott, a hottie?” Hope whispered in disbelief.
    “Why not? Particularly if he has skills…”
    “That’s enough.” Hope raised her hand to end the conversation. “I don’t want that image in my head. What are you trying to do, erase everything I learned in med school? Exactly who starts all of these rumors anyway?”
    “I do, of course,” she said with a straight face.
    Hope looked at Maxine not believing a word she’d said. Maxine had a reputation. She’d once had an affair with a well-known former governor and a New York senator. Married several times, her first marriage was at the age of fifteen. She collected alimony checks like others collected stamps.
    “When do you have to get out of your sublet?” Maxine asked as she motioned toward the apartment rental section of the newspaper sitting on the counter.
    “I have another few months.”
    “Find anything you like?” she asked as she opened the folder and made a medical notation.
    “No, not yet.”
    “You know, I’ll be happy to make room for you at Stonehenge,” Maxine said, referring to several apartment buildings she owned between First and Second Avenues. Once rundown tenements, she had managed to turn them into middle-class housing for several area families.
    Hope smiled at the offer. “Thank you Maxine, but I think it’s time I find a more permanent place. I can’t keep subletting forever.”
    Maxine nodded then looked up at the entrance. “Hubby’s here,” she said as she watched a large muscular man dressed in dirty garage clothes push through the security doors. He stood in the middle of the waiting area and looked around. Then he began searching for his wife looking into all the open examination rooms.
    “Crap, already?”
    “Yep, and I’m sure he wants to know when his wife will be ready to leave.” She scanned the appropriate page then slid it in front of Hope.
    “I seriously have to go bowling.”
    “You and me both girl. You and me both.”
    With a slight smile Hope sat back realizing that her recent battle with Raymond Gates was minor compared to some of the other issues in the ER. Aggravated, she blew her limp curls from her brows and dropped her head into her hands. She looked at her watch. It was nearly six in the morning. “Send him home. I’m keeping her the rest of the day and overnight for observation.”
    “Can’t do that,” Maxine said.
    Hope turned to face her. Her expression was quizzically. “Why not?”
    Maxine reached over and flipped several pages forward in the medical chart. She tapped her pen several times at a particular form. “Her insurance doesn’t cover hospitalization.”
    “She’s stayed overnight before.”
    “That’s before hubby dropped her from his policy. She belongs to the state now.”
    Hope laughed aloud out of sheer frustration. She shook her head. “You’ve got to be kidding.” He beats her then takes her off his medical policy?”
    “Yep, that’s right.”
    “Is there any way to get around it?”
    “Nope. The state won’t pay for it without medical cause.”
    “I have medical cause. Her husband beats her. She stays.”
    “Scott will have a fit.”
    “What else is new?”
    “He’ll tell Hugh.”
    “What else is new?” She repeated.
    Maxine sighed heavily. “Well, if she’d actually admit that her hubbie beat her we could suggest a lovely bed in a woman’s shelter for the next few days. But, we both know she’d never file charges.”
    “True.”
    Maxine gathered the folder and stood. “Well?”
    Hope took a deep breath and sighed miserably. “Get the discharge papers ready.” Maxine silently nodded and walked away. Hope followed her with her eyes until she noticed the same two nurses standing by