“How’s your patient doing this morning?” Jared asked as they pulled away.
“Fever’s down a little. Mrs. Zhang is still there. The biggest issue right now is the language barrier. When I called to check in this morning, the nurse said one of the women from the restaurant who speaks English had been by, but she had to get back to help prepare to open. The nursing staff is making do with pantomimes and Google Translate, from what I hear.”
“Good, good.” Jared rubbed his jaw. “I know this was a hot button last night, but seriously—is this hospital bill going to break them?”
“They’ll have money, but nothing like what they need. Who does? It would break me without my insurance.”
“The hospital will negotiate with them if they can make payments.”
“It will probably be almost as hard to explain, the idea that they’ll lower the bill and it’s standard operating procedure, not a favor, insult, or something shady. It would be so fantastic if our country had a functional health care system.”
“Didn’t you know? We’re the greatest in the world.”
Hong-Wei smiled. “My parents think so.”
Jared nearly drove off the road. “No way. You’re pulling my leg.”
“Oh, no. If my mother were here, she’d blister your ears for that sarcastic remark. She’d tell you all about the opportunity she and my family gained by coming here, how much she specifically received as a Taiwanese woman.”
“Wow.” Jared shook his head. “I guess that’s something I’ve always considered my most prized privilege, to be able to rag on my own country when it’s being stupid. Which I hate to say is often. It’s not that I hate it, though. It’s that I want it to be better.”
“As a naturalized citizen—well, one raised by my parents—I understand where you’re coming from, and there are times I agree with you, but I also can’t disagree with my parents either.” He shifted his gaze so Jared couldn’t see his face, but his voice still grew thicker. “My family gave up a great deal both to bring my sister and me here and to make sure we had the education we did. There’s no way I can ever pay that debt back.”
“Well, you’ve done an amazing thing with the education they gave you. That has to count for something.”
Bitterness threatened to choke Hong-Wei. “I threw away the celebrated career I trained for. How have I done an amazing thing?”
Jared took so long to reply Hong-Wei dared a glance at him to see what was wrong, and he was surprised at the intensity on his friend’s face. Jared kept his gaze carefully out the windshield as he spoke, but the quiet passion in his voice resonated inside the confines of the vehicle. “Last night you saved the life of a man who would have died if you hadn’t been a doctor here. I can rattle off at least seven surgeries and at least that many consultations you’ve done that have changed lives. And you’ve been here how long?” He pursed his lips. “I get that it looks fancier for you to be at Baylor or Mayo or somewhere with a better reputation. But a life is a life wherever you save it. Owen and Kathryn and I came back to Copper Point because we knew better than anyone how hard it was for somewhere this small and this remote to get good doctors. Simon chose to be a nurse here despite the fact that he could get paid better with stronger union protection in neighboring states. Maybe the people here don’t always understand the gifts we’re giving them, but we do. I was under the impression you did too.”
Emotions overcoming him, Hong-Wei looked away again. “I do understand.” A but formed in his mouth, but he didn’t let it out.
He worried Jared would hear it anyway and chastise him again, but blessedly he changed the subject, his tone brightening. “It looks as if things went well with you and Simon?”
Though Hong-Wei’s knee-jerk reaction was to tell Jared it wasn’t his business, he certainly wasn’t going to try to say so after such a dressing-down. “Yes. Thank you for your help.”
“All we did was tell you where he was going to be. You kids figured the rest out yourselves.” He glanced across the seat. “How are you going to play this?”
Hong-Wei frowned at him. “What play is there? We hide it, obviously.”
“Glad you’re thinking in terms of there being an it to hide.”
Now Hong-Wei was annoyed. “Of course there’s an it. Simon’s not the kind of guy you fool around with.”
“We’re keeping you, Jack, you know that, right? I mean, Owen and I already basically had a meeting about it, but we’re really keeping you.” Jared sighed and squared his shoulders as he pulled into the hospital parking lot. “All right. I know we’ve already had the it’s a small town after all discussion, but tonight you need to come over for a sleepover, and before you get to be handsy with our resident nurse, you need to come to a fully clear understanding of what lying low in Copper Point means.”
Hong-Wei rolled his eyes. “Come on. You can’t tell me people haven’t had clandestine relationships in this town before. Don’t give me that smug look either. Absolutely there are queer people here you don’t know about.”
“Oh, those are fighting words.”
“Those are arrogant words. You were the three amigos who came out, yes? There were plenty who didn’t.”
“Yes, and I know who they are.”
“You know who some of them are. That’s the thing about secrets, Jared. By definition, they’re things no one else knows. I get you think everyone here knows everyone else’s business, but I promise you they don’t.”
Jared put the car into a parking spot and turned to face Hong-Wei, eyebrow raised. “Is this your way of telling me you have bigger secrets than the fact that you’re a board-certified intensivist?”
Hong-Wei pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s so clear to me now why Simon didn’t want to date you. The friend part is still a bit of a strain, to be honest.”
With a snort, Jared punched Hong-Wei in the arm and got out of the car. “I have three patients to see, but I suspect they’ll take me half the time you’ll end up spending with yours. Text me when you’re ready to go, okay?”
Mr. Zhang was awake when Hong-Wei arrived, bleary but able to answer a few questions. It was difficult to tell if he was slightly delirious still from his fever or if he was being effusive in his thanks to Hong-Wei because he’d nearly died. In any event, his vitals were good, Hong-Wei liked how things were progressing, and most of his job was being present with his patient and his family. Mrs. Zhang didn’t ask many questions, but she listened intently, agreeing with every instruction Hong-Wei gave her about what Mr. Zhang should and shouldn’t be allowed to do for the near future. She didn’t fight him on how long the hospital stay would end up being, which was good. He hoped she wasn’t planning on being polite to his face and slipping out quietly when he wasn’t paying attention. Of course, right now Zhang would have difficulty slipping anywhere but the floor.
The nurses were less skittish about dealing with a patient and family who didn’t speak English than they’d been the night before. Kevin, the nurse working ICU, grinned when Hong-Wei asked how communication was going.
“Mrs. Zhang actually knows a few words here and there, more than she lets on. I think she’s mostly embarrassed at how poor her English is, but once she hears us try to butcher Mandarin, she changes her tune pretty quickly.” Kevin shook his head, holding up his hands. “Man, my hat is off. I listened to the Google Translate lady say some of those words twenty times, and I still couldn’t make some of those sounds.”
“Every human baby is born with the capability for all language, but as we age, the brain shuts off things we don’t need, so when we try to come back and learn them later, it feels impossible. You should hear my grandmother try to say anything with a th.”
“Yeah, but you have almost no accent whatsoever. You’re from Houston, but you sound like a news anchor. You absolutely don’t sound Southern.”
Hong-Wei shrugged. “We worked hard to fit in, to sound like our peers.”
“Still, this is crazy, us waiting un
til we’re in high school to start learning languages in the US.” Kevin leaned on the counter. “Anyway, I’m having fun trying to figure it out, and Mrs. Zhang is patient. Also, the hostess who speaks English is sweet. I keep trying to find out if she’s single.”
Hong-Wei wasn’t getting involved in that one. “Keep me informed if anything changes.”
Jared took him home, though he wanted to take him straight to the house the three of them shared. Hong-Wei refused. “I need a quick nap before I go to this thing with Simon. He’s coming to get me at five.”
Unsurprisingly, this got Jared’s back up. “Where are you going with Simon at five?”
When he heard it was a church social function, Jared started on his rant about exposure in small towns again, but thankfully they were at Hong-Wei’s condo by then, so he simply got out of the car and walked up the steps, yawning. He set an alarm with enough time to get ready and passed out on the couch with Benjamin Britten playing in the background.
By the time Simon arrived to collect him, Hong-Wei was rested and dressed in what he hoped was suitably casual and yet not too casual for whatever this was they were going to. He had only vague memories of the church functions his family had attended during what his sister called the family Bible Beater phase, having done his best to block them out, but the one tidbit he recalled about dress code was that it seemed to involve khaki pants and a button-down shirt. Since it was chilly, he added a light blazer, and a bit of cologne because he wanted to intoxicate his date. He hoped it was an adequate presentation.
The way Simon’s eyes widened and raked Hong-Wei head to toe when he opened the door told him he’d chosen well. Maybe a little too well, since Simon ran his hand longingly down Hong-Wei’s arm after he closed the door, gaze lingering on his waist. “I wish we could bow out of this, but I really can’t. My mother would guilt-lecture me for a week straight.”
“It’s fine. I haven’t met many people outside of the hospital, so I’m hoping this will give me a chance to change that.”
“Oh, it should. There’s not a lot of options for things to do in town unless the college has something going on, which they don’t this weekend, so it’s whatever’s showing on the two movie screens and our fundraiser. You should meet a decent cross section of residents.”
Hong-Wei brushed a kiss on Simon’s cheek. “Shall we get going?”
Simon held on to Hong-Wei’s shoulders, leaned into his neck to inhale deeply, and shuddered. “God, you smell good.”
The church parking lot was indeed packed when they arrived, as was what Simon called the fellowship hall, a large public meeting and socializing area beside the main sanctuary. It was full of people mingling over punch and cookies as they placed bids on silent auction items, the sale of which would help an Indonesian village that had been devastated by flooding. A quick glance around the room told Hong-Wei his memory of what to wear to a church had been correct.
Being in a Christian church for the first time in so long, even simply for a social occasion, affected him more than he’d bargained for. He truly thought he’d buried those old memories deep enough they’d never resurface, but here he was, thirty-two years old and sweating as if he were still twelve and waiting to be found out for being gay. He did his best to talk himself out of the irrational feelings, pointing out if he avoided images of the crosses, it looked like any other meeting area, almost. There weren’t that many in the fellowship hall, which was a relief, and honestly there were so many people, he could easily focus on faces instead of religious symbols. To his surprise and delight, a few of the women wore hijabs. Did this mean Copper Point was more diverse than he’d known?
This joy turned out to be short-lived, as when he approached the group they belonged to, he learned the women were visiting artists-in-residence at the college, staying only another two weeks. They were musicians, members of a traveling chamber orchestra to be precise, guests of the director of music at Bayview University.
He was Indian-American.
“You must be the Dr. Wu we keep hearing so much about.” The man, who couldn’t be more than thirty, smiled politely as he shook Hong-Wei’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Ram Rao.”
“Please, call me Jack.” Hong-Wei nodded to the members of the chamber orchestra mingling with other community members. “Are your guests scheduled to have a concert? I’d love to attend if I’m able.”
Ram brightened. “Yes, tomorrow afternoon. I’ll get you a ticket.”
Hong-Wei almost asked for one more for Simon, then thought of Jared’s warning. “Can I get a few extra? I’m happy to pay, of course.” He hoped Owen and Jared were busy and wouldn’t be able to come along.
“Absolutely not.” Ram’s cheeks were flushed with excitement. “Think of them as my welcoming present. Also, I’ll admit, I’m hoping they can be a bribe. I’m our band director at the college, but I’m also trying to get a community quartet going.” He rubbed his cheek ruefully. “Recruitment hasn’t gone as well as I’d like. I know you’re friends with Owen and Jared, who both played in high school in the last gasps of our school orchestra. Jared was a cellist, but I already have a cellist, a violist, and one violinist, but I’m missing the other. I’m one of the violinists. Owen was a fairly decent violin player, from what I’ve been told, but I can’t get him to join.”
Ah, but sometimes victory was sweet. Hong-Wei hid a smug smile in his Styrofoam cup of terrible coffee. “No need. I’d bet my new car I’m a better violinist than Owen is.”
Hong-Wei could practically see the stars forming in Ram’s eyes. “Please tell me that’s not a joke.”
“Not in the slightest. I nearly majored in music instead of medicine, but… well, first-generation immigrant parents.”
Ram held up his hands in a say-no-more gesture. “I have to sit in the car for a good twenty minutes every time before I go to a major family gathering, getting my courage together because I know everyone’s going to make comments about how I didn’t go into law as I was supposed to, and now I’m teaching at such a small college in the middle of nowhere. I know they mean well, but still. I spent a lot of time in high school wishing I were a blond quarterback named Dakota with parents who looked the other way while I went out drinking.”
Hong-Wei could have kidnapped Ram then and there and spent the night getting to know the man. Instead, he gave him his business card from the hospital, wrote his personal cell phone number on the back, and encouraged him to get in touch about his quartet or anything else as soon as possible.
Simon came up to him as he was leaving the musicians. He smiled, but the gesture didn’t quite reach his eyes, and he looked as if he wanted to lead Hong-Wei away by the arm but knew he couldn’t. He indicated the hallway with his head, and Hong-Wei followed him, though he was taken aback when Simon took him into the sanctuary.
Hong-Wei’s heart tripped a beat, and not in a good way. “Why are we going in here?”
“Because I want to talk to you in private, and this is the one place nobody is.”
“But this is the church.” Hong-Wei truly hoped that didn’t come out like the death pit, but Simon seemed too distracted to notice.
He glanced around, then yanked Hong-Wei inside by the hand, letting the doors close behind them. “It’s no big deal. Nobody’s in here, and there’s no service or anything right now. I want to talk to you.”
It was a pretty big deal to Hong-Wei. The room was dark, except for the altar, which glowed hauntingly from the front of the room as Simon drew Hong-Wei away from the door. Hong-Wei tried to turn away from the huge backlit cross, but it somehow felt better to keep his gaze on the damn thing, lest some nightmare spring out of it. “I’m really not comfortable in here. Can we leave?”
Simon stopped looking borderline annoyed and drew away, blinking. “Are you… sweating?”
He was, damn it. Hong-Wei wiped at his brow. “I don’t want to be in here, I said.”
Still surprised, but subdued, Simon nodded, taking his ha
nd. “All right. Let’s go outside. Do you want your coat?”
No, the cool air would feel wonderful right now. “I’m fine.”
Simon led Hong-Wei out of the sanctuary, and after a trip down a hallway, he took them out a side door to stand on a cement landing beside some bushes. Hong-Wei let out a sigh of relief, and Simon turned to him.
“You were really nervous. You weren’t being polite about a church sanctuary or reverential or anything. You were scared.”
Hong-Wei hadn’t wanted to have this conversation—ever—but they were here now. He stared into the inky shadows of the church’s playground, trying to find the place to start the story. “When we first moved to Houston, my parents joined an evangelical church to better fit in. It was one with a number of other Asian members, which was the only real reason we went. I found it jarring, though, and since I was just figuring out I was gay while having recently moved to a new country, the whole experience is a kind of horror film in my memory. I don’t know what was worse, the feeling that I was being indoctrinated into a cult I didn’t believe in, a religion I’d never subscribed to in any way before at all, or having to swallow their antigay sermons. They told us how we were going to hell if we weren’t saved, that people who didn’t believe would be burned in fire. I didn’t understand how rational-thinking people willingly went to such places or why my parents had us attend. My grandparents eventually put their foot down and had us quit, because they felt we should remain Buddhist, but we went long enough I got a few mental scars. I don’t care for Christian churches much. Usually I simply avoid them, and I didn’t think it would be a big deal to come here, but the sanctuary in the dark was a little more than I could take.”
“Oh. Wow.” Simon seemed at a loss for words, which made Hong-Wei regret even more that this whole thing had come up. “I mean—I’m so sorry that happened. I can’t imagine.”
The Doctor's Secret (Copper Point Medical Book 1) Page 18