Winning the Doc's Heart

by Jennifer Youngblood

  20

  The week passed with no word from Kyle. His silence tortured P. J. On the one hand, she was furious with him, on the other, she was worried sick that something had happened to him. Come Thursday morning, she called Marigold. When it went to voicemail, she left a message. Next, P. J. called Kyle’s secretary Melanie.

  “Asher and Dunforth, how may I help you?”

  “Hello, Melanie, this is P. J. Bandy. I haven’t been able to reach Kyle, and I’m wondering if he’s okay.”

  Melanie paused. “I spoke to him this morning, and everything was fine.”

  P. J.’s heart squeezed. “Oh, okay.” Tears rose in her eyes. Kyle was avoiding her. Was it because of Annie? The situation had been tense at The Magnolia when they ran into Annie’s sister, but they’d gotten past that. Everything had been so wonderful. Kyle was the first to say that he loved her, and she told him that she loved him back. What was happening here?

  “I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but for the record, I don’t approve of what you did to Kyle,” Melanie snipped. “He deserves better.”

  P. J. gasped like she’d been slapped. “I—don’t understand.” Her lungs squeezed making it hard to get a good breath. “W—what did I do?”

  “I’ve already said more than I should have,” Melanie harrumphed as she ended the call. P. J. felt frozen as she sat there. Then, anger took hold. What was going on here? Trying to clear her mind, she willed herself to focus on work.

  She spent her morning doing a couple of valve repairs for people who’d had rheumatic fever as children. The operations had gone just fine. Now she was back in her office, sitting at her desk. The blinds were open to let in afternoon sun, but the lights were off. She couldn’t figure out what was going on with Kyle. She kept running his secretary’s words through her mind, returning to the part where Melanie said Kyle deserved better.

  Finally, P. J. couldn’t take it anymore. She crossed the clinic to Dr. Stone’s office. He’d just returned from supervising the vascular fellow, who’d put an abdominal aortic graft made of Dacron in place of a patient’s aneurysm that had been getting ready to burst, a cataclysmic event that was nearly always fatal. Dr. Stone looked weary, but thankfully, he wasn’t busy.

  P. J. knocked on the door.

  He looked up, a brief smile touching his face. “Dr. Bandy. Come in and have a seat.” He waved to a chair across the desk. “What can I do for you?”

  She jumped right into the meat of what she wanted to say. “Remember when you called me in here and told me I had to stop seeing Kyle Thornton?”

  Stone nodded, his lips forming tight lines. “That came straight from the Dean. I’ve heard from several people that you didn’t listen to me.”

  P. J. blushed and looked down at her hands, folded in her lap. “No, I didn’t,” she said, nearly in a whisper.

  “I’m glad you didn’t.”

  Her head snapped up. “What?”

  He waved a hand. “Sometimes these policies, well-meaning as they can be, aren’t all that smart. I mean, if you were out in practice already, it would be a different story, but here, you’re basically a temp worker, and—”

  “I think he’s dumped me.” A hard ball of emotion arose in her throat as she swallowed it back down. It was no use. Tears pressed against her eyes, and she could no longer hold them back.

  Stone abruptly stopped talking. He pushed a box of tissues across the desk and she took two of them to wipe her eyes and nose.

  He gave her a questioning look. “You think he dumped you? What do you mean?”

  Her voice cracked as she continued. “I have no idea what I mean.” A hard laugh rose in her throat as her hands went in the air. “Things were going great. We were getting pretty serious, and all of a sudden, he won’t return my calls. I called his office and spoke to his secretary. She accused me of doing something to hurt Kyle and said he deserves better.” Her voice rose to a crescendo. “From her reaction, you’d think I was the one who’d broken his heart instead of the other way around. I just don’t understand.” A sob wrenched her throat. She gulped it back down with a hiccup as she blew her nose.

  Stone sat back in his chair and rubbed his jaw. “I’m no relationship expert.” He grunted out a short laugh. “You’d think I would be, after raising and marrying off three daughters. I operate on people’s hearts, but this is a whole side of things where I’m not too knowledgeable.” He paused. “So when it comes to this kind of stuff, I’m afraid I don’t have any good advice for you.”

  P. J. sank in her chair. “I wish I’d listened to you when you told me to drop it.” Her voice trembled. “I just couldn’t. He was too good.” Tears pooled in her eyes. “I guess he was too good to be true.”

  “Does that mean you’re going to drop the issue?” He met her eyes. “The administration has asked me for a follow-up report on you. I’ve been stonewalling them, trying to buy some time. They really want you to break it off.”

  “They’re probably right.” She let out a long sigh. “I guess I’ll just move on.” She moved to stand.

  His stern voice cut through the stuffy air. “Young lady, sit down. I haven’t excused you yet.” She sat back down, confusion tumbling over her. Dr. Stone had never spoken to her like that before. “Now let’s see here,” he mused, stroking his jaw. “Fellowships end in two months. If the person who raised the concern …” he cleared his throat, giving her a pointed look that said they both knew exactly who he was talking about “… if that person were to file a formal complaint on this matter, the investigation would take four, maybe six weeks. After that, there would have to be a hearing, and with graduation and everything, that hearing would have to wait a couple more weeks. Then it would take another week or more to schedule your meeting with the Board. You’ll finish your fellowship at the end of May, and your trial, if I can call it that, will take place in June or July. So, from that standpoint, you’re in the clear.”

  Her brows knitted. “What are you saying? You ordered me to break it off with Kyle, and I disobeyed you, and now it sounds like you’re rationalizing my relationship.”

  “I want to make you a flawless transplant surgeon, but believe it or not, there are some things in life that are even more important than that.” A faint twinkle lit his eyes. “I know that’s hard to believe, but it’s true.” A smile broke over his face. “Now get yourself to wherever that young man is and get this straightened out.”

  She shook her head sadly. “I can’t leave. I’m on call this weekend.”

  Dr. Stone turned in his chair and looked at his computer screen. He waved his mouse and brought up another window. For about a minute he said nothing, rapidly tapping his keyboard and clicking here and there with the mouse. When he was done, he turned the screen so she could see it. “Well, would you look at that. How did I get on the fellows’ call schedule? I’m on call this weekend.”

  “What? No, this is my weekend. You’re the attending. You don’t take call.”

  “You can’t argue with a computer. There it is, in black and white. I’m on call, by golly.” He grinned. “It seems that all of a sudden you’re free to go do what you need to do.”

  She leaned forward and stared in disbelief. Sure enough, Dr. Stone had erased her name from the weekend call assignment and given it to himself. “Thank you! Thank you so much. I’ll find some way to make it up to you.”

  Dr. Stone’s face glowed. He didn’t look tired anymore. “You just get this all straightened out. I need all my residents and fellows to be focused on their work, not worrying about distractions like whether or not they have a love life. It endangers patients.” He gave her a concerned, paternal smile. “Besides, if I didn’t do something to help, and Mrs. Stone found out …” he clicked his tongue “… she’d be so mad she probably wouldn’t let me in the house.” He smiled broadly at her. “Let me know what happens. If you can win him back, then bless you. If not, don’t forget that you have a whole clinic full of friends who’ll have your back all day long
. Just finish your clinic tomorrow afternoon and you can leave right after.”

  “I can’t thank you enough.”

  Dr. Stone’s smile turned serious. “I hate to bring up something completely different and not at all romantic, but do you remember the incident report you filed?” P. J. nodded reluctantly. “It’s moving forward. The CCU charge nurse also sent hers to the university compliance office, and they sent a copy to me. They’ve been interviewing the nurses who witnessed it.”

  “I know. Florina can’t keep a secret. She filled me in.”

  Stone grinned. “Florina. She’s a great nurse, you know, and a wonderful person. She certainly keeps things lively over there. We’re already getting kickback from the higher ups. Seems Ascott’s daddy carries a lot of weight with them. The legal department told me they’ve already heard from his team of lawyers. How far do you want to take this thing?”

  P. J. shrugged. “On the one hand, like you just said, I’m about done here. On the other hand, I have to protect the other women at the hospital and the school. I mean, I’m not their guardian or anything, but I can’t just leave them to put up with him either.”

  “I agree. I’ll take care of it. He probably won’t get the boot from the school, but he’ll be on probation with some pretty strict conditions.”

  “Just promise me one more thing.”

  “What’s that, P. J.?”

  “You’ll protect Florina.”

  “Over the slap?” He chuckled. “There are half a dozen people or more in this department who’d have paid really good money to have seen that.” His eyes sparkled. “You didn’t happen to get a video of it, did you?”

  P. J. laughed darkly. “No, but I wish I had.”

  He waved a hand. “Don’t worry about Florina. Even Ascott’s own lawyers will admit that he deserved it. I’ll personally make sure there are no repercussions for her.”

  P. J. nodded. “Thanks,” she uttered. “Thanks for everything.” Assuming the conversation was over, she was about to stand to leave, but he held up his hand to stop her. “Okay, let me change the subject.” He paused, studying her. “I think you know that I hold a very high opinion of you.”

  P. J. blushed in surprise. That meant the world, especially considering the circumstances surrounding the no-dating policy and Ascott.

  He continued, “I know you’ve been getting calls for positions all over the country.”

  P. J. nodded. “And a handful in Canada, Brazil, and Singapore.”

  “Good for you. I’d like you to consider one more.”

  “Do you have a lead for me?”

  “I hope you’ll seriously think about staying here to teach.”

  P. J. sat stunned for a few seconds. “Really?”

  “You’d start as an associate professor. Usually it takes a few years to move up to a full professorship, but we’ll need someone to replace me when I retire next year, so you’ll be on a fast track to promotion.”

  “Next year?” she squeaked. She felt the full weight of the heart transplant fellowship program settle onto her shoulders.

  “Seventeen months, four days, and” he checked his watch with a grin “three hours, twenty-two minutes.” —“

  P. J.’s voice was dry. “How soon do you need an answer?”

  “No hurry. You should go think about it, pray about it, evaluate your other options, talk to your par—”

  “I accept,” she interrupted.

  Stone looked surprised. “What?”

  “I accept. I want to stay here.”

  “You realize that you’ll have to deal with Ascott Carson for another year if you do that.”

  P. J. grinned. “I’ll be dealing with him as an attending doc, a professor, not as an equal. I won’t let it be a problem.”

  “You don’t need to jump into it. Take your time.” He checked his watch. “Twenty-one.”

  “What?”

  “Seventeen months, four days, three hours, and twenty-one minutes.”

  “You’re not looking forward to retirement, are you?” Excitement started to roll around in her chest. “Please go back to whomever you report to, and tell them that if they’ll have me, I want to stay here.”

  “If I recommend you, the position will be yours.” He waved grandly around the small room. “Do you like this office?”

  She scrunched her nose. “Eh, it’ll do.”

  He glanced at the clock on his bookshelf. “Twenty.”

  With a chuckle, she left his office, picked up her things, and went home. If only she could tell Kyle the news. She would as soon as she saw him!

  Friday clinic was a drudgery. P. J. kept hoping her afternoon patients would all be early, but they weren’t. To make matters worse, they weren’t fast visits either. She finished her last chart a little after six. She locked the door and turned off the lights. The elevator took too long so she ran down the stairs to her car in the parking garage. Her suitcase was in the back seat.

  There were too many other cars heading out of town for her to keep up to the speed limit, and as she started getting close to Clementine there was a lot of weekend beach traffic. It was nearly ten by the time she reached the Clementine exit. She drove on to the next exit, for the town of Daphne, and checked into a hotel. Not that she would get any sleep, but it was too late to start a conversation with Kyle. That would have to wait until morning.

  By nine a.m. on Saturday morning, P. J. was in front of his house, slowing down to look for signs of activity. The curtains were pulled back. The front door was open, no doubt so the breeze could blow through the house. It was a beautiful sunny day, in the lower seventies, so a good day to take advantage of the breeze.

  P. J. drove past the house three times, trying to get up the nerve to stop. On the fourth pass, she saw Marigold standing in the doorway. In a town this small, a car passing one’s house repeatedly must have been hard to miss. P. J. pulled into the driveway and parked.

  When she got out of her car, Marigold had disappeared into the house. Her heart pounding at a furious pace, P. J. walked up to the door. She was debating whether to knock on the screen door frame or call into the house, when Kyle emerged. Her breath froze. As always, he was ruggedly handsome. She looked through the screen and took a quick assessment of his navy blue t-shirt, jeans, and bare feet. His dark hair was a bit disheveled and there were faint half-moon shadows beneath his eyes. His jaw tightened. “Hey,” he said coldly.

  Her spine stiffened as she met his glare. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you. Did you get my calls and texts?” Her voice squeaked as she sucked in a breath. “I even left a message with your mom and called Melanie.”

  “I know.”

  She jerked. “You know? Why have you been ghosting me?” A tidal wave of emotion crested in her throat as she swallowed, clenching her hands to stay the trembling in her fingers. Before, Kyle had always been so approachable, so compassionate. “What is going on?” she asked hoarsely, feeling the tears starting to form.

  He opened the screen door. “Come in. We need to talk.”

  He stepped back as P. J. cautiously entered. The accusation in his eyes cut her to the core. He turned and went into the living room with her following. The stiff unyielding set of his shoulders hit her like a barricade. As P. J. sat down on the couch, Kyle sat in a chair across from her.

  A curious numbness went through P. J. as she clasped her hands tightly in her lap. Marigold shuffled out of the kitchen. She gave P. J. a sympathetic look. P. J. felt a slight relief that there was no accusation or disgust in the older woman’s expression. “You two need to be alone. I’m going to walk over to Coralee Breeland’s, I mean Coralee Foster’s, if you don’t mind.”

  Kyle nodded curtly.

  P. J. felt like she was being swept away by swift rapids, trying every way possible to keep her head from going under water. “Kyle, what’s going on between us?” Her words lost air as she sucked in a quick breath. “Is this about Annie?”

  His jaw tightened to flint. “D
on’t bring Annie into this.”

  Anger took hold. “Then what is it? Have you grown bored with me?”

  He grunted in surprise. “How could you even ask that? I loved you!”

  Loved. Past tense. The anguish carved over his face confused her. “I love you too,” she exclaimed. “So what’s the problem?”

  Kyle sat motionless, not speaking. P. J. wanted to pull the words out of him, but she didn’t even know what words she would pull. This should be a time of happiness when she could tell Kyle about her conversation with Dr. Stone—how everything with her career was working out much better than she could’ve ever hoped. And yet, the bitter irony was that it no longer mattered. Kyle didn’t want her anymore.

  Finally, he spoke. “Tuesday afternoon, I came to the CCU to see you.”

  “You did?” she uttered.

  His eyes narrowed to fathomless slits. “I did see you, in the arms of Ascott, giving him a big kiss.”

  P. J. was stunned. This couldn’t be happening! “What?” she stammered. “You were in the unit?” The sound of the CCU doors banging shut rushed through her mind.

  Kyle nodded. “See, there’s no need to pretend anymore. I saw the whole thing.” He leveled a heated glare at her. “I haven’t been able to get the sight out of my mind. It completely shattered me.” His voice rose. “What were you doing? Did you even think about me? I thought we had something special between us, and then I walk in on that.” There was a wild look in his eyes as he shook his head. “Now I know why Ascott called, warning me to stay away from you.”

  The hair on the back of P. J.’s neck bristled. “Ascott called you?”

  “Yep, Tuesday morning.”

  Her insides lit on fire. “That snake!”

  “He told me about you going to his penthouse the night before.”

  An incredulous laugh gurgled in her throat. “Ascott is a liar.”

  Kyle’s eyes drilled into hers. “Were you at his penthouse?”

  She rocked back. “I … um … it’s not what you think.”

  “Save it,” he barked.