But here I am, barely an incision deep, and I want to strangle the guy across my table holding the retractor. It’s not even necessarily because of Skylar. The guy is a douche.
“Wow. Those are a lot of broken ribs,” Josh notes like the rocket scientist he is. “What kind of parents allow their child to climb a tree in winter? They should be brought up on charges.”
“The kid was having a sleepover, and they snuck out of their house, and one friend dared the other to climb to the highest branch,” I tell him. “Kids do stupid shit, especially when they’re with friends and especially when they’re dared.”
“It’s still criminal.”
“Clearly you’re not a parent or were ever a child who didstupid shit,” I deadpan. “And maybe a little less judgment and a little more retraction.”
“I never did stupid shit like this kid did. Why are we even in here? The overnight trauma team didn’t feel the kid was surgical.”
Yeah. I want to strangle him.
“I disagree with their assessment.”
Thankfully, he does as I ask, even as he calls my judgment into question.
“Ah. There it is. See that?” I use my probe to point to the cracked rib stabbing straight into his diaphragm, causing it to bleed into the pleural space. “That’s why we’re doing surgery. Because a first-run CT doesn’t always show small leaks, and sometimes you have to follow your instincts. That’s what trauma is. Instinct and guts. If we had done nothing, it would have only been a matter of time before the loss of blood caught up to him and he went into shock. Or developed a wicked pneumonia because his lungs were filled with blood and fluid.”
Dr. Wesley isn’t amused that I just proved him wrong when he was blatantly trying to be a disrespectful prick to me. It’s not something I’ll forget. I get to work on the diaphragm and cracked ribs surrounding it while not allowing him to assist. Fucker can watch and mope about it.
“So, you’re Micha’s best friend, huh?” he muses as if he’s simply making polite conversation to fill the silence. The fact that he’s using Micha’s name and not saying Skylar’s brother’s best friend tells me he wants me to know he’s familiar with Skylar. He knows her, and he knows her family situation.
“Since birth,” I reply evenly without removing my eyes from the field.
“Then you must know Skylar pretty well.”
There has already been gossip going around about me and Skylar. It’s amazing what you can hear in a hospital when you simply stand still and listen. Skylar was right that someonedid deem her off-limits, but it wasn’t me. I’m guessing, since he’s bringing her up now, it was the asshole on the other side of the table from me, and that message was for me and no one else.
There’s also some buzz that she and I are a thing after I requested her to show me around the floor yesterday. I’m not one for gossip, and I typically don’t give a shit what people say about me. But I’m guessing Skylar cares.
Actually, I know she does.
Still, that doesn’t stop the part of me that wants to drive the proverbial scalpel into him just a bit.
“Yes.” That’s all I say because I know it’ll rile him up like nothing else, and it’s vague enough that there’s not much others can read into it.
“How well can that be, though? You’ve been living in LA, and she’s a lot younger than you.”
I peer up at him and cock an eyebrow. “Something you’re intimating at, Dr. Wesley? Cauterize that bleeder, please?” I ask the scrub nurse on my left.
“You seemed a bit territorial over her yesterday morning when you had her show you around the floor.”
I’ve never been in an OR and had another surgeon directly ask me about a coworker. Especially not in this way. I feel like I’m in one of the medical soap operas or something.
“I don’t know about that,” I reply, keeping my tone even. “I was on a time crunch, and as you said, Skylar is my best friend’s little sister.”
“I just didn’t know if she had told you or if you were already aware that Skylar and I were together for over a year and a half.”
There are a few things that I picked up on in that.
One, a year and a fucking half? No. I didn’t knowthat. Because I kissed Skylar two years ago, and maybe it was my single dad status or the fact that I was recently divorced at thetime or that I was finishing up my fellowship, but I haven’t dated anyone.
Two, he used the past tense when speaking about their relationship, which means the chocolates likely weren’t from him, and she wasn’t out with him last night before she came home looking too pretty for words. So that’s something right there. They’re not reconciling. Or at least she’s not actively getting back together with him. Something I shouldn’t care about or feel relief from, but I’m not going to analyze that right now when I’m busy analyzing him.
Three, and this is likely the most important, he’s still very interested in Skylar and wants me to know it. Wants me to know she’s his and therefore can’t be mine.
“She didn’t mention you to me, but we don’t exactly spend a lot of time talking about our exes.”
