Free Forever: A Lobster Kind Of Love by Jody Pardo, Jennifer Tocheny

day.
    I’d managed to make it through yesterday without a cigarette, and I’d left my Xanax at home today. I took a few more deep breaths to keep my anxiety at bay. I had been fine on the way here, but now in the parking lot, shit had just gotten real.
    As I walked into the office, I paused for a moment to catch my breath one last time, and then approached the reception desk.
    “Hi I’m Lydia Dacanay. I am here to meet Adrienne Smith. I have a ten o’clock appointment.”
    The receptionist, Sandy, looked up from her Sudoku and smiled brightly. “Yes, Lydia, so nice to meet you. Have a seat. Adrienne will be right with you. She is just finishing up a call. Can I get you anything?”
    “No, I’m good, thanks.” I took a seat and gazed around the reception area. They had a board with endless pictures of nurses with their clients and I glanced over it while I waited.
    The intercom chimed, and the receptionist popped her head up. “Adrienne is ready for you now. Go on ahead, it’s the second door on the right,” as she pointed down the corridor.
    The door was open as I approached it and Adrienne walked from behind her paper-filled desk to meet me halfway and shook my hand. “Lydia, it’s so nice to finally meet you. How was your drive?”
    “Nice to meet you, too. I got in a couple of days ago.”
    She led me over to her desk and motioned to the chair in front of it. “Good! So are you settling in okay? Have you had a chance to look around yet?”
    “I came up yesterday for some shopping and my landlady is giving me the grand tour of Eastport tomorrow.”
    “That’s great! Eastport is wonderful. I’m sure you will love it there. Okay, first let’s go over all the fun paperwork.” She said with a hint of a smile. “Your office in Pennsylvania spoke very highly of you and they were very upset to see one of their best nurses go.”
    “Yeah, well…” I started and Adrienne waved her hands in front of her stopping me. “Lydia, there is no need to explain. I’m just grateful you are on our team. So welcome!”
    “Thank you for having me. I had no idea Home Angel Alliance had so many offices, but I’ve never really worked or lived outside of Nazareth before.”
    She continued to shuffle papers and pulled out form after form as she talked to me. “Oh yeah, we are nationwide, the fourth largest visiting nursing agency in the country. Okay, so you have a lot of pediatric nursing experience. As of right now, we have no pediatric cases available close to you or even within two hours drive of Eastport, but we have a new young adult case that needs service starting Monday right in Eastport.”
    “Well, that would be great, right in town? The less driving the better, less opportunity for me to get lost!”
    She looked up and smiled. “You, too?” she said with a smile.
    “I will take it. What info do you have for me?”
    “Okay, I will tell you what I know. It’s a brand new case. Have you ever done intakes before?”
    “Yes, I have done a few. My last couple of clients I’d had almost five years. It’s been a while, but I have done them.”
    “Eh, it’s just paperwork. Like I said, it’s a new case, and he just has to sign the intake forms when you meet him on Monday. The rehab center that is discharging him sent over his patient profile. This office covers all of Maine, so we just don’t have the manpower to have an intake nurse, so our nurses do the intake assessments as well.”
    She handed me a small packet of papers.
    “Here, look these over. I’m going to go grab a coffee. Would you like one?”
    I nodded.
    “Okay, great. I’ll also get your name badge laminated and I’ll be back in a few minutes. We can always call the rehab center if we need more information, but when I reviewed it, it seemed pretty straightforward.” Adrienne grabbed what she’d printed off and disappeared down the hall leaving me with the patient file.
    Opening it, I crossed my legs and began reading.

    Patient: Ryan