“You’ve determined that after one week? Didn’t you like seeing that new kidney pink up today? That usually sells it.”
“The kidney was fucking incredible, but I plan on staying as far away from your service as I can once this rotation is over. Assuming that’s still the condition for me taking you out,” he added.
“Oh.Oh.” I closed my free hand around the armrest to steady myself. It was either hold on tight or fling myself at him, and I’d already established that I wouldn’t be doing one of those things anymore. “I don’t know if?—”
“Fifty-one days, remember?”
“Right.” I nodded. “Listen, I should?—”
“Why’d you go to med school?” he asked. “What’s your story, Whit?”
I hooked a glance over my shoulder to locate Tori and Cami. They were seated on the ground, dogs climbing into their laps and licking their faces. It looked like we had a few minutes, which was fantastic since I wasn’t ready to leave. “My grandmother lived in northern New Mexico and, most of the time, we stayed with her. There were a few years when we were in Colorado, but mostly in Rio Arriba County with my grandmother. She was great but there was hardly any healthcare to speak of in that area back then. If you were sick or injured or having a baby, you had a drive ahead of you. Forget aboutmanaging chronic illnesses. Even as a kid, it annoyed the hell out of me.”
He belted out a deep laugh. “Of course it did.”
“To answer your question, I went to med school because I grew up watching people struggle and suffer as a result of not having reliable access to healthcare. But I realized pretty soon that community medicine wasn’t the direction for me. I…am not a generalist. I’m better at surgery and I’m much better when I can specialize. I wouldn’t have lasted long in family practice.”
“That’s a damn good reason,” he said. “Probably better than mine.”
My sister and her jug of coffee flashed through my mind. “There was a time when I would’ve agreed with you, but I’m not so sure about that anymore. It only matters if the reason is good enough to keep you going.”
Nodding, Henry leaned closer to me. His knee pressed into my thigh as his thumb stroked my wrist. We stared at each other like we were the only people in the world. Pressure banded around my chest and I sucked in a ragged breath.
“Fifty-one days,” he said.
It sounded like he was offering me a deal, one I’d be crazy to turn down so long as I could ignore all the warnings about the whole thing blowing up in my face.
After a while, though, warnings like that lost their teeth.
“Hello, hello.” An arm wrapped around my shoulder and yanked me back in my seat, effectively cutting me off from all points of contact with Henry. I shifted as much as I could with Meri balanced on the armrest and digging her fingers into my upper arm. She glared at me withwhat the fuckeyes for a second before holding out her hand to Henry. “Hi. We haven’t officially met. I’m Meri Mercer. Associate chief of fetal-neonatal surgery.”
“Henry Hazlette,” he replied. “First-year resident.”
“I bet you’re pumping Dr. Aldritch for pro tips on how to make the most of your residency and findingappropriatementors,” she said, saccharine dripping from her words. “But I’m gonna have to steal her away now. We’re going to miss our reservation if we don’t skedaddle.” She hooked her elbow with mine and pulled me to my feet, grabbing my phone and shoving my bag under my arm. “Do you need to pick up the tab for these kids or are we good to go?”
“Yeah, I should?—”
“No. It’s covered.” Henry stood, sliding his hands into his pockets. “Thank you again for your insight, Dr. Aldritch. We appreciate you joining us tonight.”
Meri led me away from the table, saying, “Yep! Have a good night now!”
I glanced back at Henry. He held up a hand, and though I couldn’t hear him and I was terrible at reading lips, I was certain he said, “Fifty-one days.”
We reached the sidewalk and Meri yelled, “What the fuck was that, Whitney?” She shoved her hands through her auburn hair and stomped for an entire block. When I caught up to her, she continued. “What the literal fuck?”
“That’s why I asked you to come with me,” I cried.
“I expected to find you sharing awkward glances,” she said. “Not eye-fucking each other hard enough to make me wonder if you have an exhibitionist side I didn’t know about.” She stopped and looked around. “Where are we going?”
“You’re the one who said we had reservations.”
“Because of the eye-fucking visible from twenty feet away!” She rubbed her temples and blew out a breath. “What’s going on, Whit? What is this all about?”
I leaned against a storefront window, my hands propped on my knees. I stared at my shoes for a minute or two. I didn’t know what to tell her because I didn’t know what was happening. Ididn’t have the language to explain this. Even if I did, I wasn’t sure I could make myself say the words.
“It’s nothing,” I said eventually. Because that was the only answer available to me. It didn’t matter how bitter it tasted on my tongue. It was the truth. It had to be. “It’s just been a weird, stressful week. I haven’t recovered from the shock of it all. I still can’t believe the guy from that wedding is here and he’s my resident. On top of that, Brie is?—”
“One of these days, you should let me talk to her. She’ll find some sense when I’m done with her.”
