by Jessica Ashe
“You’ll be back tomorrow?”
I nodded. I’d never left work early before. It was so unprofessional. But after what happened… I just couldn’t be here any more. I needed to get home. I needed a shower.
Mr. Norton hadn’t been like Elliot at all.
The two of them couldn’t have been more different.
If only Elliot were still around. I could really use his help right now.
Chapter Six
Alison
“I’m afraid my hands are tied,” Doctor Oxford said, as he leaned back in his chair with a genuine look of disappointment on his face. “I can assure you, I do not want to do this.”
“Then don’t,” I pleaded, as much to the other two doctors as to Doctor Oxford. At least Doctor Oxford did appear to be on my side. Doctors Quince and Vincent looked like they couldn’t care less. My disciplinary hearing must be keeping them from a golf game.
“We have no choice,” Doctor Oxford replied. “You abandoned your patient and as a direct result he went into shock. It was only through the efforts of your colleagues that he didn’t die.”
“I left instructions for another doctor to look after him. I appreciate that I shouldn’t have left early that day, but Doctor Adams had availability and he agreed to take on responsibility. Why isn’t he sitting here instead of me?”
The question hung in the air, but everyone knew the answer. Doctor Adams was the son of a board member and he only did the absolute bare minimum amount of work. He’d refused to take care of my patient, and now I had to be punished. God forbid Doctor Adams get in any trouble.
“It’s not just the issue with your patient,” Doctor Quince chirped in. “We also received a complaint from a Mr. Timothy Norton about your behavior.”
“Mr. Norton complained about my behavior?” I asked incredulously. How dare he complain about me after what he did.
“You were unprofessional in your appointment with him.”
“Unprofessional?”
Timothy Norton was the entire reason I was in this mess.
“Yes. He’s made a complaint. You know the hospital’s policy on these matters. We can overlook one indiscretion, but two calls for suspension without pay.”
“You’re suspending me?”
I’d been feeling anxious, tense, and scared. Now I didn’t feel anything, except maybe a touch lightheaded as my mind seemed to leave my body. I looked down at myself sat there helplessly as my life crumbled apart.
I should say something. I should report Mr. Norton and tell the board what he did. But they wouldn’t believe me. I would look desperate, and I wasn’t one for begging.
I tried to rejoin my body. Patients had told me this happened with near death experiences; being suspended from my job felt like near death. My job was my life. I hated it at times, but every time I healed an injury or saved a life, I got another burst of enthusiasm to get me through the week.
How would I cope without work?
“Like I said, we have no choice. It’s the hospital’s policy.”
I refused to give these three dinosaurs the satisfaction of watching me complain. When men stuck up for themselves, they were considered determined and passionate. When a woman did it, she was accused of ‘not taking her punishment like a man.’
“How long?” I asked.
“Three months initially. Although I should warn you that some members of the board are looking for a… more permanent solution.”
You should never make important decisions in the heat of the moment. I’d lectured Nora on that enough times. Think things through. Sleep on it. How many times had I given that advice to others? I should have given that advice to myself right now.
“Let me save you the time,” I said, standing up and yanking my ID badge off the pocket of my coat. “I quit.”
I stormed out of the room to the sound of… nothing. None of them made any effort to keep me. Good to know I was appreciated.
I let the anger consume me during the entire walk home, but once I lay down on my sofa, I couldn’t keep the tears back any longer. I’d never been in trouble with any kind of authority figure before. I’d never had so much as a parking ticket to my name.
Now I’d quit my job after being suspended. What would I do now? Would I ever be able to get a job at another hospital? I couldn’t imagine Doctor Oxford giving me a good recommendation, and the suspension would be a part of my permanent record.
What the hell was I going to do?
* * *
“You quit your job?” Nora asked.
“It was either that or be suspended and then fired at a later date. I wasn’t going to wait around for them to make the decision for me.”
In the last twenty-four hours, I’d bounced back and forth between thinking I’d made the worst decision of my life, to thinking I’d made the best of a bad situation. Right now, I felt proud of myself for at least taking the decision out of the board’s hands. That would change soon, but I intended to enjoy it while it lasted.
“Why would they suspend you? You’re an amazing doctor.”
“No offense, Nora, but how would you know? I could be a terrible doctor and you wouldn’t be able to tell.”
“I know you. You went to an excellent school, and graduated top of the class. You had your pick of hospitals, and until now you’d never put a foot wrong. So what happened?”
“I made a mistake.”
“You’re really going to make this difficult, aren’t you?”
“I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“Unfortunately, you don’t have a choice,” Nora replied. “You gave me no end of grief for keeping Riker a secret from you.”
“That was different.”
“Not really. Riker is a huge part of my life, and your work is a huge part of yours. You have to share that with me. It’s part of the whole ‘being best friends’ thing.”
Nora thought I was God’s gift to medicine, and even though I tried to tell her that wasn’t the case, I couldn’t pretend not to enjoy the praise. After a long shift working with men who wanted me to fail at every hurdle, it was nice to speak to someone who thought I had talent.
I didn’t want to see the look of disappointment on Nora’s face when she found out that her faith had been misplaced.
I’d messed up. I had my reasons, but they weren’t good ones. Nothing could justify putting myself before my patients, but that’s exactly what I had done. A man could have died because I made the decision to go home early that day.
I needed to own up to my mistakes.
“I abandoned a patient,” I said softly.
“What do you mean?” Nora asked.
“I’d had a rough day at work, and needed to leave early. I arranged for another doctor to look after the patient, but there was a miscommunication and the patient nearly died.”
Nora shook her head in disbelief. “You needed to leave early? That doesn’t sound like you at all.”
“I’d had a bad day.”
“How many dinners have you canceled because you stayed late at work even after your shift has finished? You’re not the type to leave early. Something must have happened.”
Timothy Norton happened.
“Nothing that justified what I did,” I replied.
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?” Nora asked.
I shook my head. I couldn’t tell her. She’d tell Riker and then there’d be hell to pay.
“There’s nothing to tell. I made a mistake and now I’m paying the price. That’s how life works.”
“So what are you going to do now?” Nora asked. “I’ve never known you to not be working or studying. Any chance you’ll use this time to relax and take a well-deserved break?”
I tried to force a laugh, but it ended up as more of a snort. “I’m not the relaxing type. I guess I’ll search for a new job.”
I didn’t tell Nora how hard that would be. I had great qualifications, but none of that would matter now. The first questio
n at every interview would be ‘why did you quit your job?’ I couldn’t lie. I’d have to tell every potential employer than I’d neglected a patient and received an official complaint from another.
Who in their right mind would hire me after that? There were plenty of other junior doctors without potential malpractice on their records. I’d be at the bottom of every pile. That was if I even made it on to the pile in the first place.
“I need a drink,” I said to Nora.
She looked more stunned than when I told her I’d quit my job. “You want to go out for a drink?”
“Yes,” I replied. “A strong one.”
Diary of Alison Harvey
February 12, 2015 (eighteen months ago)
I spent today putting on a brave face for Nora, and now I’m exhausted. I loved Nora’s mom like, well, like a mom. She’d been an inspiration to me my entire life. I nearly went to law school just so I could follow in her footsteps.
Now she was dead. Nora would never be the same again, and neither would I.
R.I.P. Kendra Delmonico. I’ll miss you.
Chapter Seven
Elliot
“Good to see you’ve been let off the leash for the evening,” I remarked, as Riker and I clinked glasses at the back of a dark bar.
“What Nora and I do in the bedroom is no one’s business,” Riker replied with a grin.
“How’s the head?”
I asked him that question every time we met, and he always gave much the same answer.
“It’s fine. I’m still up for a rematch.”
“A rematch with me would kill you.”
According to his doctors, any more blows to the head could bring on a stroke. He had to avoid all kinds of violence, which for a man like Riker wasn’t easy.
“You’d have to land a punch on me first,” he said, as confident as ever.
“I’m not talking about me. I’m talking about Nora. She will kill you if you step into a ring again.”
“Oh yeah. Unlike you, she actually does scare me.”
“Me too,” I agreed.
Nora had eventually warmed to me, but it had taken a while. The whole ‘nearly killing her boyfriend’ thing had made things a little tricky. She liked me now. Well, she put up with me, and that was about as much as I could hope for.
Riker had no issue with me at all, and we’d even become good friends. He knew the score—what happened in the cage, stayed in the cage. I hadn’t broken any of the rules, I’d just been the better fighter that night.
Of course, it helped that Riker had been distracted. He’d never admitted as much to me, but I’d seen it in his eyes right before I’d punched him. He’d seen someone in the crowd, and once I realized Nora was at the fight, I’d put the pieces together.
I couldn’t blame the guy. Nora was a fine woman. I didn’t know many better than her, although one particular doctor did come to mind.
“When’s your next fight?” Riker asked.
“In a week,” I replied. “It’s in Vegas actually.”
“Nice. I always wanted to fight there.”
“Well, let’s just hope I’m allowed to fight.”
“Why wouldn’t you be? And don’t give me all that crap about you being so good, you’re dangerous.”
“It’s true,” I said with a grin. “But that’s not why I might not be allowed to fight. I’m worried the UFC will kick up a fuss about me not having a doctor on staff. I’ve been signed off, but they usually want a doctor on call as well.”
“What happened to Clifford?”
“I might have accidentally stuck my dick in his daughter. You know how it is.”
Riker laughed. “Yeah, rings a bell.”
“You don’t miss it?”
“Not for a second. I don’t even stare at attractive women on the street now.”
“You disgust me,” I joked.
“Just you wait ’til it happens to you.”
“Never. No offense, but I enjoy having my balls between my legs, not on some necklace around a woman’s neck.”
Riker smiled again as he took another sip of his drink.
“Just wait, man. It’ll happen to you as well, I guarantee it.”
“No, thank you. If I had a girlfriend, I wouldn’t be able to hit on hot doctors during my medical.”
“You hit on your doctor? Damn, that’s impressive.”
“Not really. She somehow managed to resist my charms. That still has me a little confused.”
“Lesbian?”
“No, definitely not. She wanted me. I could see it in her eyes. She just didn’t want to admit that she wanted me. I hate it when that happens.”
“Plenty more fish in the sea.”
“Not like this one,” I admitted. “She’s electric.”
“You just like those nurse’s uniforms.”
“Nope,” I replied with a shake of the head. “She’s a doctor. The only uniform she had on was one of those boring white coats. No, this woman is something special. Makes me want to go back and get another medical exam, except this time I want to play doctor and she can be the patient.”
“Hmm,” Riker murmured, before going back to his drink.
“What? What are you ‘hmming’ about?”
“Nothing. I’ve just never known you to talk about going back to a woman for a second meeting.”
“Oh don’t go getting your hopes up. I haven’t nailed this one yet, that’s all. Once I’ve got my end away, I will add her to the scrap heap like all the others.”
Riker didn’t believe me, which was fair enough, because I was lying through my back teeth.
I’d thought about Alison a lot since that meeting, but I hadn’t been fixated on fucking her. Sure, I’d pictured myself stripping her naked in the exam room, and getting nasty with her, but I’d also thought about talking to her like we had during the medical.
What kind of guy fantasizes about having medical exams?
I knew I was being irrational. I’d only spoken to her for a few minutes. I just wasn’t used to speaking to women as well-educated as her. That’s all it was. My women usually struggled to string sentences together, and not just because they often had their mouth full.
Riker waved towards the entrance. “Nora’s going to join us for a few minutes. Hope you don’t mind.”
“I should have known you wouldn’t be off the chain all evening.”
“Don’t worry, she’s with a friend. Wouldn’t want you to be bored.”
“I’m not really in the mood.”
There were plenty of women in the bar already, but I couldn’t be bothered with all that tonight. They were objectively sexy, but none of them set off any of the usual reactions in my pants.
I must be tired. Perhaps it was the stress of the upcoming fight. There had to be some reason why I was off my game.
“Probably for the best,” Riker said. “Alison isn’t really into guys like us. You wouldn’t get anywhere with her anyway. Although, she is a doctor, and I know you like them.”
I breathed a sigh of relief at the realization I wouldn’t need to spend the night chatting up Nora’s friend. Then my chest contracted, and my heart rate sped up.
“Her name’s Alison?” Riker nodded. “And she’s a doctor?” He nodded again.
I looked towards the bar and saw Nora standing there with her friend.
Oh shit.
* * *
Alison might not like guys like me, but Nora and Riker had sure as shit been planning on setting us up together.
They introduced me to her and then promptly disappeared to the bar to get drinks. I hated people in love—they insisted that everyone else must couple up just so that they didn’t appear so sad and pathetic.
Riker did look happy though. Really happy. And he didn’t get that from running a gym.
“How do you know Riker?” Alison asked.
She’d sat down opposite me, but had folded her arms across her chest and hadn’t looked up at me once. I had a much better
view of her figure without that long doctor’s coat on. Alison had dressed conservatively in a jumper and jeans, but they both hugged her figure, making it hard for me to maintain eye contact. I did my best regardless. She already thought I was the scum of the earth; I didn’t want to add pervert to the list of adjectives she had for me.
“You know the head injury he got a year ago?” I asked.
Alison nodded. “I treated him.”
“You’re kidding? Wow, small world. I’m the guy who knocked him out.”
“You? You’re the one who nearly killed him?”
I’d hoped our connection might lighten her up a bit, but apparently not. From the look in her eyes, she hated me more than ever now.
“I didn’t nearly kill him,” I protested.
“I’m his doctor, and I can assure you he was on death’s door. Still is, in a way. Christ, how are you two friends after all that?”
“Mutual respect,” I replied. “Look, we both went into that cage knowing that we could get hurt. Injuries like that are rare, but they happen. Could happen to me one day as well.”
“Oh, that makes it so much better,” she replied sarcastically.
“I’m glad to hear you’re concerned about my physical well being.”
“Wouldn’t be much of a doctor if I wasn’t.”
Alison suddenly looked down at her lap as if she’d misspoken.
“You’re definitely better than my last doctor,” I said. “He always had such cold hands.”
Alison smiled, and this time it was my turn to look down at my drink. I’d never had a woman smile at me like that. It was so… natural. She wasn’t trying to seduce me or be seduced. She’d just wanted to smile, and damn it, she looked stunning when she did.
“Believe it or not,” she said softly, barely audible over the noise of music and shouting in the bar, “you weren’t my worst patient that day.”