Playing Doctor: A Central West End Story

by Cahoon, Lynn

  Troy realized he still held her wrists. He dropped her hands and she pulled the robe together, backing out of the bathroom. Her face was as red as her bathrobe. “Look, I’ll wait in my room.”

  “I don’t mind sharing.” Troy called after her. Then he faced the mirror again, spreading shaving cream on his face. The morning hadn’t started out too badly after all. He started whistling.

  When he’d finished, he knocked gently on her door, “Bathroom’s free.” He kept smiling as he returned to his room. Time to get ready for the day.

  ***

  Troy sat at a table updating charts from morning rounds. Ordering more blood work for the elderly man in bed A, room 1015, he realized he didn’t even know the patient’s name. He’d been working on the floor for a week and they were all becoming just people in beds. Not the kind of relationship he wanted with his patients, but with the volume assigned to him, right now he was lucky to get the files together and tests ordered for the attending physicians.

  This is your life, Troy Saunders. He bit back a laugh. Not the storybook tale that he told on his few calls home. The folks didn’t need to know he was feeling like a cog in a big machine. As Sara had said, he was the golden child. Unfair to her but he knew his role well. No whining in the Saunders household.

  Looking around the room, he sized up the other three interns. Only one would be kept on next year so the competition between the four players was steep. He’d already seen the jockeying for prime cases. Matt had jumped in on one of Troy’s reports during rounds, telling the attending physician of a complication that had occurred during the night for patient B, room 1020. A problem Troy hadn’t been alerted to.

  “Doctor Taylor’s insight into this patient’s needs is admirable, especially since he isn’t the assigned intern.” Dr. Dixon had been talking to the entire group but his eyes never left Troy. “Part of your duties is to review the overnight charts on each of your patients before rounds so you can focus the attending’s time on the most urgent needs.”

  Troy’s face burned at the thought of the call down. And he still wanted to strangle Matt Taylor’s neck.

  “I’m done with my charts,” Valerie, another intern, announced. She had taken on the role of mother hen for the group. She was always trying to get the interns together for get-to-know-you drinks or meals. “Who wants to hit the cafeteria for a bite before our pagers blow up?”

  Troy’s stomach grumbled. Today he was going to join the group. He needed to feel out the competition so that he wouldn’t be blindsided again. It was an old trick he’d learned in high school in the geek squad. Keep your enemies close. Glancing over the pile of lab work he’d ordered, he decided he was satisfied and closed the last chart. “I’ll be down in a few. I have to drop these orders off at the nurses’ desk.”

  “I’ll walk with you, I’m heading there too.” Valerie stood, grabbing a tower of charts that almost covered her head. She couldn’t have been more than five foot two and the charts were half of that.

  “Do you want me to carry some of those?”

  “Aren’t you Prince Charming? Thanks, but I can get them. It’s not that far. Don’t want to seem like I can’t carry my weight in front of the other residents.” Valerie peeked around the charts smiling.

  “It would be our secret.”

  “Ours and the rest of the room’s.” Valerie pushed the door open with her back, holding it for Troy. “Are you coming? These charts are heavy.”

  Troy grabbed his charts and headed to the door. “Women.”

  He followed Valerie to the round counter. A nurse sat behind it, focused on a computer screen. “Hey, can you order these tests? These charts can just be filed.” He separated the two piles and waited for a response.

  “Sure, hold on a minute.” The woman didn’t look up. “Damn,” she whispered under her breath.

  “Problems?” Troy was hungry. He didn’t have time to wait for some chick who couldn’t figure out how to get out of Facebook.

  “I’m just not accustomed to this program. They didn’t have me doing this on the last floor. Now I have to schedule everything through this stupid thing…” The nurse looked up, shock registering on her face.

  “Hey, I didn’t know you worked on this floor.” Annie’s face wasn’t welcoming. Not at all. He wondered if the incident in the bathroom was the source of her anger. He might as well have told her that he was here to audit her tax returns. He leaned closer and whispered, “I didn’t use up all the hot water this morning, did I?”

  Her eyes widened and he watched her duck behind the computer monitor. He had to stop teasing her, the game was too easy.

  “Ready?” Valerie had already transferred her pile to the other nurse on the desk and stood watching.

  “Just a second. I need orders on these.” He put his hand on the top of the smaller pile. “And these just need to be put away.”

  “You don’t have to talk to me like I’m an idiot just because I’m fighting with the freaking computer.” Annie grabbed the charts. “I got it.”

  “I wasn’t…”

  “Never mind.” Annie spun away from Troy and toward the records room.

  Valerie took his arm and walked toward the elevator. She stood up on her toes and whispered in his ear. “I got the nice one, I guess.” Her laugh filled the foyer. “Come on, let’s get food before we run out of time.

  Troy shook his head and walked away. He’d never understand women. Why was Annie mad at him? It didn’t matter anyway. Wasn’t he the one that had been hoping his attractive roommate was a serial knitter?

  *

  “He’s cute,” Bess watched Troy walk to the elevator. “Nice butt for a white guy.”

  “Who?” Annie shoved the charts back into the carousel quickly, matching the chart with the room and bed number. She didn’t want Abbott to think she couldn’t even file. Soon paper files would be a memory. The floor was supposed to be upgraded to computer files this spring. Annie didn’t know if she welcomed the change or not.

  Bess came up next to her and filed the last three charts. “Now don’t you be giving me that ‘who’ crap. You know…that fine doctor.”

  Annie grunted. “He lives in my building.”

  “Well, so do fifty or so other people. Why do you know him?” Bess watched her expectantly.

  Annie dropped her gaze, heat rising to her cheeks.

  “He lives on my floor.” Annie shrugged. She might as well tell someone the whole story. “We share an apartment. Temporarily.”

  “Oh, I see.” Bess nodded, the hint of a smile curling on her lips. “You all are roommates.”

  “Don’t say it like that. We kind of got forced into the arrangement. He also runs. So I saw him at the gym and we talked.” Annie looked at Bess. “I didn’t realize he was an intern in this ward. You can’t tell Abbott. If she finds out, I’ll be out of here faster than water down a rain gutter.”

  “Your secret’s safe with me.” Bess nodded at the computer where Annie had been working. “Do you want me to show you how to work that dragon?”

  “Please.” Annie sat down at the counter.

  “We new girls have to stick together. Besides, I don’t want to get all your work shoved off on me when they find out you can’t even open your email.” Bess sat next to Annie and for the next twenty minutes, fate smiled on the pair. There wasn’t a single call light that interrupted the mini computer lesson.

  Annie was whipping through the pile of lab requests when Mr. Hendricks’s call light flashed.

  Bess stood up. “I’ll get that.”

  “I should go. You went last time.”

  “Just stay there and finish ordering the labs. You need the practice.” Bess stepped around the counter to head down the hallway.

  “What if I mess up?” Annie asked.

  “Then that fine looking intern is going to be pretty mad. Maybe having him mad is a good thing. You’ll have some pillow talk material.” Bess paused at the edge of the counter, looking around.

>   “Look, I can’t be known as the girl living with an intern, especially not if Abbott hears, I’ll be canned for sure.” Annie pleaded, her voice low.

  “I’m not going to say anything. I kind of like working with you.” Bess nodded to the charts. “Just do your job and she’ll get over whatever she has against you.”

  “You really think so?” Annie opened a chart, looking for the lab orders.

  “Either that or she’s going to run you right out of here.” Bess responded. “But my money’s on you. You seem like a scrapper.”

  Annie could hear Bess giggling all the way down the hall until she entered Mr. Hendricks’s room. Shaking her head, she opened another chart and found the list of lab orders. Troy did have good handwriting. Most charts she couldn’t read heads or tails of what tests the patient was supposed to have. Then the doctors would get all defensive when she asked. Measure twice-cut once, her dad always said. The motto worked for life decisions just as well as it had for carpentry.

  The rest of the afternoon flew by. Annie kept an eye out for Doctor All-About-Himself and managed to avoid coming within ten feet of him the rest of the shift. Just because his eyes were all dreamy and looking into them made Annie forget about work didn’t give him the right to treat her any way but professional. Doctors and nurses needed to be on the same team, not divided by perceived class differences. Besides, Abbott clearly thought Annie’s career expectations included marriage with a white picket fence, four kids, and a sheep dog.

  Annie made a note to talk to her supervisor about her plans to return to school next year. She knew the hospital wouldn’t pay tuition for a new hire into the program, but maybe there were some education benefits she could access. And if Abbott knew Annie wanted more, maybe she’d get off her back. Doubtful, but a chance.

  Annie finished giving a report to the next shift and headed to the elevator. Pam was meeting her in the lobby. Her friend was still in temporary status but now was working in the Woman’s Breast Health department and loving the assignment. Or at least she had last week. It was time to catch up and find out what Pam knew about Angry Abbott. And how Annie could get on her good side.

  The elevator doors were closing when a man’s hand shove in between the two polished doors. She reached over to hit the open door button and looked up into the face of Troy Saunders. Annie didn’t know why Abbott assumed she’d have anything to do with someone so full of himself. Even if his green eyes did crinkle when he laughed and his hair begged to be swept out of his eyes.

  “Thanks.” Troy grinned down at her. “Heading home?”

  Now he wanted to walk her home? After making her day miserable?

  “Out.” She pushed the lobby button.

  “Out where?” He asked.

  “If you must know, I’m going to dinner.” Annie smoothed her hair back, hoping the ponytail would hold for a few hours longer.

  Troy nodded, smiling like he had a secret. “Hot date, huh?”

  “Yeah, I dress like this for all my men.” Annie looked down her blue parka covering at the scrubs that had been clean that morning but now looked like she’d been working the trauma floor.

  “I think scrubs are sexy.”

  Startled, she looked up into Troy’s face. This couldn’t be happening. He was flirting? She reached for an answer. Any answer that would let him know that she wasn’t interested. Well, she didn’t want to be interested, even if he was pretty hot.

  A quiver ran through her body as she remembered how he’d looked in the bathroom that morning. His shoulders broad and tanned, the water dripping off him and the steam from the shower making her fingers want to grab a towel and help him dry off. Or at least start there. She glanced back at him now, his scrubs covering that line of hair leading down to…

  What was she doing? Even just a flirtation, if Abbott found out, would jeopardize her standing. She threw back her shoulders and focused her eyes on the elevator door. “Well, the men I date don’t.”

  “Their loss,” Troy looked up as the doors opened on the lobby. “Getting out?”

  “Aren’t you?” There was only one other floor, the basement. Annie hadn’t seen him press that button, but it was lit.

  “Patient consult in radiology. Residents don’t have banker’s hours like floor nurses.” He held the elevator doors open for her.

  “Good night.” She cringed at the sound of her voice. Good night? No wonder she never dated after the disaster with Craig. She couldn’t hold an interesting conversation with a real man for the time it took to go eight floors in an elevator. How could she get through an entire dinner?

  “Have a great evening. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning at the gym. That is if your date doesn’t keep you out all night.” The doors closed as Troy waved like they were best friends.

  Bess was right. He blew the gauge off the cute meter. She needed to get him out of her head. He would be on the floor with her every day. Despite all the reasons she shouldn’t, Annie looked forward to her run the next morning. She rationalized her sudden happiness with one thoughtlooking never hurt anyone.

  Searching the lobby, she found Pam on a bench talking with some people from the hospital Annie didn’t know. She crossed the marble floor and thought about what she’d order for dinner. Anything to get the vision of the smiling Troy standing there in the elevator out of her head. And imagining him reaching for her. Just for her.

  Chapter Four

  “So you’ve met the new intern.” Pam’s eyes glistened. Annie figured it was more about the gossip she was trying to get than the below freezing temperatures they were facing as they walked to the restaurant. “And…”

  “He’s cute. He lives in my building.” Annie added casually. She knew it. Pam had seen the exchange at the elevator, and had waited to ambush her once they were alone.

  “Oh. My. God. The fortune cookie prediction is coming true.” Pam stopped her with a leather-gloved hand on her arm. “I’m so happy for you. Three months hasn’t even gone by and you’re already happy.”

  “Seriously, stop with this fortune stuff.” Annie brushed her friend’s hand off her arm and kept walking. “So, it’s not a big deal, but we’re sharing the apartment for a while. Until a second unit comes available.”

  “Wow.” Pam stopped short in the middle of the sidewalk. “Just wow. Of all the things that you could have said, I never would have guessed you’d agree to live with a guy.”

  Annie pulled her friend forward. She never should have told her. “It’s freezing out here. Let’s just get to dinner.”

  Pam quick stepped to catch up. “How can you say that? You get an amazing fortune one night. The next thing you know you’re meeting a perfect man who you just happen to share an apartment with? What else do you want from the gods? A horse-drawn carriage?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know if I can make it three months. This morning…” Annie paused. Pam would tell her she should have stripped off her robe and pushed the guy back in the shower. “Well, let’s just say living together has been interesting and it’s only been a few days.”

  “There’s a story there.” Pam weaved through the crowd as they approached the restaurant. She grabbed Annie’s arm and whispered, “Spill.”

  “Right now I’d settle for a hot cup of tea and a good meal with a friend. Without any further discussion about Mr. Not-Really-Perfect.” Annie held the door open to the little diner. The restaurant wasn’t fancy, but served good food. Outside her mom’s kitchen, the open-faced turkey sandwich was about as good as Annie could get.

  “Sometimes I wonder about you.” Pam shook her head.

  The warmth of the diner surrounded them as soon as they walked through the door. Annie smelled the baked apples and cinnamon before she saw the sign by the door announcing the featured dessert. Apple Crumble. Her stomach growled. As the hostess escorted them to the table, Annie changed the subject. “I need your help. Abbott hates me.”

  Pam shrugged off her coat and lifted her glance from the menu
. “You just started there today. How can she hate you?”

  “Beats me, but she does. Bess, the other girl who started today, said the same thing.” Annie didn’t even look at the menu. She knew exactly what she wanted. Her plans for dinner were as set as her plans for her future. One year to gain experience, then back to school for the next degree. No time for distractions, even those as cute as Troy.

  “So what did she say that makes you think she hates you?” Pam closed the menu and gave her order to the waitress who had just brought their drinks.

  After ordering her meal, Annie thought about the morning. Reviewing what Abbott had said that seemed off. “She seems to think I’m only there to find a husband.”

  Pam snorted, spitting a little hot chocolate out on the table. Wiping her face with her napkin, she laughed. “You? Miss Focus? Where the heck did she get that idea?”

  Annie smoothed the paper napkin in front of her. “No clue. But all of a sudden I was an empty-headed Barbie looking for a Doctor Ken to pay for my dream house.”

  “Yeah, that’s you. The girl who wouldn’t even go on a date during your last year of college because you were too busy studying. Even when I set you up with that fine looking chemistry student who was on the football team. He was hot. You missed the boat on that one, girl.”

  “I didn’t have time. And I don’t have time now. So how can I convince Abbott I’m there to work?” Annie sipped her tea. “You worked for her. Has she been this way with anyone else?”

  Pam’s face clouded. “Once. I saw her go after someone when I first started. The poor girl didn’t last a week. Abbott’s like a bulldog once she’s set her teeth. She doesn’t give up. You need to fix this quick.”

  “I know. What did this other girl look like?”

  “She was a cutie. Long blonde hair, blue eyes. She kind of looked like you.”

  And with that, Annie realized one reason Abbott hated her. She looked like Barbie. Well, this was one Barbie that would prove to Abbott once and for all that she was there to do her job. Annie was determined to prove the woman wrong. She wasn’t looking for a husband. Abbott couldn’t find out that she was living with Troy. Temporary measures or not, that would be the frosting on the going away cake Abbott wouldn’t bake for her.