And yet she’s still asleep, so maybe it wasn’t so bad. I quickly grab my phone and answer the call, hoping the sound won’t wake her either.
“Carlton,” I whisper.
“Hey, man.” I recognize the voice of one of the ER docs. “You sick or something?”
“No,” I reply, as I pad out of the bedroom and shut the door behind me. “My girlfriend’s asleep.”
“Must be nice,” he says wryly, and I remember he recently split from his wife.
“It was nicer before you called me,” I joke. “But yeah. It is.” And despite the fact that it’s six A.M. and this call means I’m probably going to have to go in again, I feel lighter than I have in weeks. Certainly better than I’ve feltsince the incident with Ethan, who’s spent the past three days alternately begging and threatening me.
But last night’s case clarified a number of things for me, and there’s no longer any question about what I have to do about Ethan.
As the ER doc tells me about a patient with a suspected bowel obstruction, I walk to the kitchen and help myself to some of Melissa’s Cheerios. It sounds like I’ll have to operate, but not immediately. I can let Melissa sleep for another half hour before I wake her up to lock the door behind me.
I’ll have to remind her to get me a key, so I won’t have to wake her the next time I have to leave early.
But five minutes later, Melissa appears, looking delightfully sleepy and rumpled. “Can I make you breakfast?” I tease, gesturing at the Cheerios.
“No, thanks,” she says, looking at me with concern. “You okay? You seemed pretty exhausted last night.”
“Yeah, I’m good,” I say quickly. “Sorry again about waking you up so late.”
“Luke, it’s fine,” she says quickly. “I’m glad you did. But we have to talk about?—”
The ring of my phone cuts her off. “Sorry,” I tell her, as I swipe to answer it. It’s the ICU attending; my splenectomy patient’s wound is oozing a little, and she wants me to take a look.
“I should go,” I tell Melissa apologetically. “But if I’m lucky I’ll get out by dinner. Maybe we could order something?”
“Sure,” she says. “Okay.”
I scoop up the last bite of Cheerios and put the bowl in the sink, then drop a kiss on Melissa’s forehead as I walk to the door. She looks as tired as I feel, and I’m hit by a rush of guilt. I woke her up in the middle of the night andagain at six A.M., and unfortunately, it wasn’t to fuck her senseless.
I really hope work is quiet today, so I can take care of her properly tonight.
“What’s going on with Ethan?” Melissa asks as I pull on my jacket. “Do you really think he’ll report us? The relationship, I mean?”
I push out a sigh. “I don’t know what Ethan’s going to do, but I’ve decided to tell Drew myself. Drew’s a reasonable guy, and it’ll look better if he hears it from me than from Ethan.”
She chews her lip. “But Luke, if Ethan goes to the Medical Board . . .”
“Then I’ll deal with it,” I say matter-of-factly. “Try not to worry about it, Milly. I’ll text you later about dinner.” I kiss her goodbye and she locks the door behind me.
For once, I get the quiet day at work that I was hoping for. The splenectomy patient’s wound looks fine to me, and I reassure both the ICU doctor and the patient’s anxious husband. I operate on the patient with the bowel obstruction, but I don’t get any consults after that. Even the ward rounds go smoothly, and I finish by early afternoon.
I change out of my scrubs and pull out my phone. Much as I’d like to head straight back to Melissa’s, Drew’s coming back from his conference today, and I want to get this meeting over with. I send him a message and he replies a few minutes later, saying he’s on his way home from the Toronto airport. He’ll text me when he’s back at his condo.
Since I’ve got at least an hour to kill, I drive to the mall to run an errand that’s been on my mind all week. As I’m walking back out to my car, Drew texts to say he’s home, so I drive out to the Esplanade.
On my way into the building, I text Melissa.
Me: Done work, just have to meet Drew. Should be at your place in an hour.
Melissa: You’re meeting Drew today?
Me: Yeah, at his condo now. Shouldn’t take long.
I’ve been to Drew’s place a few times, but I’m still struck by the beauty of his view. His unit faces south, toward Lake Ontario, and the entire far wall of his living room is made up of windows. It’s a windy day so the water’s rough, and we’re close enough to see the whitecaps on the waves.
