Zack stretched out and nodded. He seemed far too nonchalant—like he was deliberately trying to play it cool and chill.
“Brock was a dick that morning.”
Well, geez, just say it out loud, why don’t you? Why don’t we announce that night on the PA system so that everyone can know what happened?
“But you know, not all of us are that bad. You don’t have to hate all of us.”
I laughed, intending to try and sound dismissive. Why was I even having this conversation? I was supposed to be meditating in preparation for my next surgery, not having a conversation about an ugly day in my life.
“I don’t hate you all,” I said. “I think Brock is an asshole. I don’t think most of you are that different.”
“Most?”
I see what he’s doing here.
“The point is,” I said, ignoring him, “hate is a strong word. I reserve hate for people that try and sabotage my work and my life on purpose. I don’t think Brock meant to be that way. But he’s still an asshole.”
Zack shrugged. Again, the ease and comfort he displayed were not fair.
“Tara seems happy with him.”
Yeah, that. That was something I still did not understand. But I had told her once that I thought her pursuing anything with a biker was a bad idea, and since now, a full year later, she wasstillgoing out with him, that advice clearly hadn’t landed.
I was, obviously, a genius at getting people to take my advice and practice it in their lives.
“I’m not worried about what Tara does,” I said. “I’m worried about making sure I’m good.”
“So with most of us,” Zack responded, “but not all of us.”
Damnit.
“Not all of you,” I said.
“Dr. Elks, please report to Room 3225. Dr. Elks, please report to Room 3225.”
Oh, thank God.
“I need to go,” I said. “But you need to stop…”
“Stop what?”
I hated that I’d trailed off.
“I will take care of Cole; you have my assurance of that,” I said. “But it’s going to take some time. The best thing he can do right now is get some rest. For all your desires and talk about wanting him out early, I have to say that’s a really stupid suggestion. So you all should go home and get some rest. We can inform you when he wakes up.”
Zack gave a half-hearted nod. He followed me out of the break room, holding the door for me—it only now occurring to me that I had not kicked him out since he wasn’t employed by the hospital—and wished me well. Just like with Tara, I had a feeling that Zack was not about to do as I said.
No, he wasn’t going to go home and get some rest. No, he wasn’t going to leave me alone. And no, he wasn’t going to stop flirting with me.
What did my gut say?
Strangely enough, the same thing that it felt when I gave it space with Tara, Elizabeth, and Katie.
Not quite as crazy as you think.
