FIFTEEN
ALLY
I stare at Drew, who just told Dr. Kaminsky I’ll be staying with him until my apartment’s sorted out. He gives me a shrug in reply, as though it was a perfectly natural thing to say.
And to be fair, maybe it was. If we were really in a relationship, it would be logical for me to crash at his place if there was a problem with my apartment. Drew’s just trying to keep up the act.
“Great,” Dr. Kaminsky says with a bright smile. She’s an attractive redhead, probably only a few years older than me. I bet Drew will end up with someone like her eventually. Someone smart and accomplished, who can talk medicine at the dinner table every night.
“I’ll just do a quick exam, okay?” she asks me.
After I nod, she shines a light in my eyes, then asks me to follow her finger. Drew watches carefully as she puts me through the neuro tests. But when she asks me to lift my shirt so she can listen to my heart, Drew studies the ceiling tiles.
It feels surreal, having Drew next to me as though we’re actually a couple. Even though I’m not really his girlfriend, he left his clinic to track me down.
And I can’t deny I’m happy he did, because this was shaping up to be a very bad day. When I got up this morning, I found water dripping down my living room wall and a large muddy puddle on the floor. After I texted a photo to my landlord, who pooh-poohed it as alittle leak, I spent almost an hour cleaning it up. By the time I left for work I was too late for the bus, so I took my bike.
And wiped out for the first time in years.
Drew’s appearance in the ER has been the one bright spot in this day from hell.
“Everything seems okay,” Dr. Kaminsky says when she’s done listening to my chest. “And your ECG looked fine. I think you’re right, you probably fainted from the pain in your arm.”
“Nearly fainted,” I correct.
“Right,” she says with a grin. “Let’s have a look at your arm.” She unwraps the gauze and exposes a jagged cut on my forearm just below my elbow.
“It doesn’t look too deep, but I think it’ll heal better with stitches,” she says, glancing from me to Drew. “You okay if I do it? I can call plastics if you want.”
“Go ahead,” I tell her. Dr. Kaminsky seems very capable, and I doubt she’d usually call a plastic surgeon for a cut like this. She only offered because of Drew, and I’m already feeling guilty about the preferential treatment.
“Great,” she says, pulling over a small cart with suture equipment on top. “Drew, I’ll have you stand on Ally’s other side.”
“Sure,” he says, walking around the stretcher.
“Okay, Ally, I’m going to wash it out with saline,” Dr. Kaminsky says. “Try to focus on Drew instead of what I’m doing. Imagine you’re on a a beach or something. Maybe at a really crappy resort, which is why Drew doesn’t have a chair.”
I obediently turn my head and stare at Drew. I’ve only known him for a month, but there’s already a comforting familiarity to his face.
“I wouldn’t take Ally to a crappy resort, Sophie,” he says.
“Well, I’ve never heard of you taking a vacation at all,” she returns. “Which is why this situation is imaginary. Okay, Ally, this is the freezing, it’s the worst part. A sting and a burn. You’re going to want to hold his hand.”
Drew gives me a questioning look, and after I nod, he takes my hand in his. It’s not the first time we’ve held hands, but this hasn’t reached the familiar stage yet. My whole body is aware of the contact, to the point that I barely notice when Dr. Kaminsky injects the freezing.
“Okay, the sutures will dissolve within a week,” she says a few minutes later, and I glance over to see that she’s finished. “Try to keep it dry for forty-eight hours. Do you know when you last had a tetanus shot?”
“I’m not sure,” I admit.
“No problem, we’ll give you one today. I’ll let you know when your bloodwork’s back, it’ll be at least an hour.”
“I’d like to get her out of here, Sophie,” Drew puts in. “Any chance you could call her with the lab results?”
“Sure,” she agrees. “Just don’t leave without a tetanus shot, okay? I’ll ask Kelly to do it now.”
“Thanks Sophie,” he says. “I owe you one.”
She grins. “Just tell your residents not to whine when I call them with consults, and we’ll call it even.” She turns to me. “Any problems with that cut, Drew knows where to find me.”
