I stood there, watching as the doors closed between us.
One of theperks of being a first-year surgical resident was that no one gave a damn about me. Sure, I had to be in certain places at certain times and there was always work to be done, but I could spend eight hours of my day in an OR and do nothing other than hold a retractor. Questions might get lobbed my way. The team could involve me in their chatter. Or I could stand there, staring into someone’s abdominal cavity while replaying conversations in my head until words lost all meaning.
That was how my day went.Retract. Replay. Retract. Replay.
When it was over, all I knew was that I’d succeeded in breaking something. I wasn’t quite clear on what or how, aside from the parts about her not wanting to be the newest challengeI’d set my sights on and some sensitivity about me telling her not to be too serious.
Maybe that was enough? I wasn’t sure, and there weren’t a lot of people for me to ask. Mason was not a resource on intimate relationships at the moment. I loved my cohort—even if they were currently avoidant pains in my ass—but Whit would go off like a bundle of illegal fireworks if she knew I’d shared our issues with them.
It seemed like I had to figure this out on my own.
With that sobering realization in mind, I decided it was time to get my hands around the one problem I could solve and went in search of my cohort. I plucked Tori out of post-op, grabbed Cami outside the surgical ICU, and found Reza hunched over a computer in the residents’ work room.
“Family meeting,” I announced, towing them into a small conference room.
“I need to get back to post-op,” Tori said, her arms crossed over her chest.
“And I should be in the SICU,” Cami said, mirroring Tori’s pose as she stared down at the floor.
Reza didn’t say anything.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but we’re getting to the bottom of it now. We’ve been through too much together to throw it away on silent treatments and cold shoulders. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what was going on sooner, but Whit and I were trying to do the right thing.” A breath stuttered out of me as it hit me that we’d survived all that stress and struggle, and where we were now? Goddamn, I needed to fix this. To fix everything. “It wasn’t about keeping secrets or shutting anyone out, but?—”
“Sorry to cut you off, Hazlette,” Tori said, “but what the fuck are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the three of you blowing me off since that night at Acevedo’s house,” I cried.
“We don’t care what you’re doing with Dr. Aldritch,” Cami said, her gaze still on the floor.
Reza shook his head. “We do not.”
“I think we all understand the, uh, logistical issues at hand,” Tori said. “If any of us were in that position, I’m positive we would’ve handled it the same way you did.”
“I mean, maybe not making out on the street after a party with colleagues,” Cami said. “If there was one thing any of us would’ve done differently, it might’ve been that.”
I swept a gaze around the group, confused as hell. “If you haven’t been icing me out because of my relationship with Whitney, then why does it seem like you’re avoiding me?”
Tori clasped her hands behind her back. “Someone is going to have to tell him.”
“Tell me what?” I asked.
“We swore we’d never speak of it again,” Cami said, her tone lethal. “Donotbreak that vow.”
“Tell me what?” I repeated, louder this time.
“There was an incident at Dr. Acevedo’s home,” Reza said.
I waited, expecting him to elaborate, but it seemed like I had to be the one to beat answers out of everyone these days. “What kind of incident?”
“Reza broke a rock,” Cami yelled, pointing at him.
“You peed your pants,” Tori shouted, pointing at Cami.
“No, I didn’t,” Cami whisper-shrieked. “Your small intestine was making really loud cartoon noises.”
“Have you returned the hand towels youborrowedfrom Dr. Acevedo’s powder room?” Reza asked, tipping his head toward Cami.
I leaned back against the door, even more confused than I was about how I’d hurt Whit’s feelings. “What—and I cannot stress this enough—the actual fuck is going on here?”
