Maddy's Floor Read Free Page A

bottom line, she'd rather accept more patients than spend hours working on another floor. The latter would divide her energy and compromise the project – hence today's meeting. Tossing a grin as she passed Gerona, one of her senior nurses who marshaled the front nurses' station, Maddy strode to the elevators. Impatiently she pushed the down button – no stairs now. She'd already burned through the last of her time and energy, worrying.
     
    The elevator descended, slow as a snake on a frosty day. She leaned against the back wall and tried to focus on anything other than the meeting ahead. Glancing down at her navy suit, she checked to make sure her outfit looked as appropriately somber as when she'd put it on this morning. Normally, she loved color. Today was all about conforming, at least on the surface. A grin slid out. A prize piece of her Victoria's Secret collection comprised the under layer. Maddy wiggled. No one knew. Except Visa!
     
    Though Maddy was tall that didn't stop males from being interested in her, yet it did slim the numbers down some. Maddy considered that a blessing. If someone drop-dead gorgeous, with that extra something, walked across her path and thought she'd make a great playmate – well then, he'd be in for a happy surprise when he found out about her secret passion. Maddy loved to play – only she didn't do short-term.
     
    It didn't bother her that she'd been alone for over a year now. Someone would show up eventually.
     
    The elevator dinged.
     
    Straightening, she brushed her jacket off and strode forward to face the lion's den, aka Gerard Lionel, The Haven's badass CEO.
     

***
    Gerard stretched, easing his arms upward to erase the kink in his back. A bad night and a lousy morning gave his spine a feeling of being pounded to conform to other people's wishes. He was only thirty-nine, what was life going to be like by the time he hit fifty? He and the other five board members present were once again trying to cut the budget and keep The Haven viable and operational, an almost impossible feat in today's economic crisis.
     
    "Have you considered trimming supplies? Surely, we can reduce this heavy laundry bill. Look at the expenditures on paper towel and tissues." Peggy Wilson, the most annoying, penny-pinching accountant Gerard had ever met, thumbed through the pages she held. "The budget cuts have to come from somewhere."
     
    Gerard groaned silently. Not this again. This was a long-term care facility, for Christ's sake. "We trimmed that area of the budget a year ago. The staff is struggling to maintain this figure as it is. We can't cut things that could affect the spread of infection. You know that. By rights, we should be adding fifty thousand to this figure."
     
    Peggy pouted, her stern countenance almost cracking with the movement. He knew she didn't like being thwarted. "I do understand that. What is the answer then? We can hardly cut the wages of doctors or other staffers. As lucky as they are to have jobs, we're the ones lucky to have them here."
     
    Gerard put down his pencil and sank back in his chair. "And I know that. We're going to have to raise the fees again and increase doctors' workloads instead of filling open job vacancies. There's really no other option at this point."
     
    And there wasn't. Gerard knew that. He'd been to this point before, at other facilities as well as this one. The past year had been tough on all of them. Theirs wasn't a unique problem and neither was the solution. Yet telling Maddy she'd have to spend some hours each day working on the floor below was not something he was looking forward to. She might consider the alternative worse.
     
    He knew he had to follow the dictates of the Board of Directors. He knew he was the boss below that. He knew she was bound by his decisions, and none of it mattered one bit. Dr. Maddy was…well…she was Dr. Maddy. Special and unique, with skills he'd never be able to replace. Without her, they'd lose a large