Chapter 2

The following morning Nick went back to the country club to play another round of golf. He had checked out of the motel and would head back to LA after golfing. He thought it wasn’t that often he gets to play at a course ranked in the top one hundred in the States and he wanted to take advantage of having the opportunity to do that.

In checking in at the clubhouse he was told he could join a twosome who would be teeing off in fifteen minutes. At the first tee he introduced himself to this couple who said their names were Dave and Nancy Bridgman. They seemed like a nice couple and Nick would guess they were in their middle or late fifties.

Nick had a good round of golf and posted a score of seventy six. If it wasn’t for two balls he put in a sand trap he would have posted a score that was two strokes lower. Dave’s score was ninety three and Nancy posted a one eleven. Both of them complimented Nick on how well he played.

When they were on the eighteenth green Nancy was the last one to putt out. As she did Nick who was holding the flag stick walked up to put it in the hole and Nancy bent down to pick up her golf ball. Nick noticed Nancy in doing that caused her ponytail to fall away from her neck and he saw a spot that was there.

Back at the golf carts after putting their clubs in their bags he asked her if he could look at the back of her neck. She said he could do that and she lifted her hair off her neck. He looked at this spot which to him was a growth and he didn’t like how it looked. This could be serious was the thought he had but at the same time he didn’t want to be an alarmist.

“When was the last time you were seen by a dermatologist?” asked Nick.

“I don’t know, maybe two or three years ago for a wart I had on my hand,” said Nancy.

“What is going on and what do you see?” asked Dave.

“I just don’t like this spot that I see here. I would suggest you see a dermatologist who I think would want to do a biopsy on this and see what it is. I know if it was me that is what I would do.”

They said they would do it and insisted on buying Nick lunch.

At lunch Nick explained that besides being a dermatologist he was here looking at the area and was checking out the small town living comparing it to his big city living. He had to admit he said that he liked what he had seen so far. This club and its golf course are a big plus for sure he said. Nick did mention that he was interested specifically in the Lake Lancer area.

Dave said he was a builder and owned a fairly large construction company. He was now semi-retired because his daughter Dana, who was an architect had more or less taken over managing the business. Dave said they were going to announce early next week that they were going to be building a six story condo building by Lake Lancer that would give a nice view of the lake.

Laughing Nick said to save one unit for him and Dave laughingly said he would. Shaking hands they said their goodbyes with Nick having extracted from Nancy a promise that she would see a dermatologist.

Nick had a lot to think about on the drive back to LA. He definitely was interested in the area and this new practice that was going to be established there. He decided he needed to know more about it. Taking Steve’s card from his pocket he placed a call to Troy Kane who Steve had told him was a Director of the Wilkinsing Foundation and was responsible for setting up this dermatology practice.

Troy spoke with Dan and said he hadn’t yet started looking to staff this office since the builder said it would be three months before this addition was completed. Troy said if Nick was interested he would like to talk to him and gave him an eleven o’clock appointment at Troy’s office for this Monday.

Over the weekend this dermatologist position in Lake Lancer was all Nick thought about. He didn’t know of anyone he could discuss his concerns with and realized that in the end he would be the one making the ultimate decision on what to do.

The meeting Nick had with Troy went well. Troy explained what Nick already knew about why he was setting up this practice there. He said he was going to pattern it after what he had done when he established a dental practice there. Troy said a study he had commissioned for this type of medical practice located in a town the size of Lake Lancer indicated it could be viable economically to establish a practice there. The study indicated the staffing necessary for this practice was that besides the doctor, there should be an office manager, one or two nurses and a receptionist. Troy said they would fund the office and its supplies for four months but after that time it would be up to the doctor to manage the practice and make the necessary adjustments to staffing and salaries if any were necessary.

“The next time John’s mother says she doesn’t like doing a forty five minute drive I should tell John it would be cheaper if we just supplied his mother with a limo and a driver,” said a chuckling Troy. “Please keep what I just said to yourself.”

Nick thought in listening to what Troy said that the salary for the dermatologist would be was close to what Nick’s present salary which was like a raise since the cost of living was lower at Lake Lancer. Nick thought it was time to shit or get of the pot and he told Troy he wanted to apply for the position.

Troy didn’t hesitate and he extended his hand to Nick saying he was hired subject of course to Nick passing a background check.

As to filling the other staffing positions Troy said he would ask Valerie Brandle who was head of a large segment of the Wilkinsing Foundation located there to do that. He said that Valerie would probably give that assignment to her new executive assistant Patricia Evans to do.

At work Nick thought that he wouldn’t blindside Paul Gages by just giving him just a two week notice. He had coffee with Paul and told him he would be quitting working here in probably two to three months. Nick explained the reason he would be quitting was because he was going to be moving to Lake Lancer. He said he was telling Paul now of his plans because he knew Paul was going to need to make some adjustments to his future plans.

Paul did not like to hear this news but said he appreciated Nick giving him the heads up. They both agreed there was no reason to advertise that Nick was leaving.

Later Nick phoned Sally Dodge and told her he was planning to move to Lake Lancer and asked her to keep her eyes open for a nice condo that would come on the market for him to purchase. She said he may want to hold off on doing that since it was just announced a new condo building was going to be built which would be overlooking the lake. She said she would keep her eyes open and would stay in touch.

It was a little over a week and a half later that Nick received an e-mail from Dave Bridgman who told him about Nancy. Dave said Nancy did go to a dermatologist who did a biopsy which showed that the spot Nick noticed was melanoma. That spot was completely excised and the lymph nodes were check which showed the cancer had not spread. They were doing some radiation now just to play safe but all the indications were that this cancer was caught in time. Dave thanked Nick for seeing that spot and said he didn’t know what he would do if he was to lose Nancy.