by Natalie Ann
“Sierra,” Grey’s mother said, coming forward. “It’s so good to see you again.” The box full of desserts was set down while she was pulled into a hug.
“It’s nice to see you too. And you too,” she said to Grey’s father. “Congrats,” she said to Rachel and gave her a hug, then Jake.”
Grey’s family was standing around, diving into the food, grabbing drinks and getting comfortable. Sierra found she fit in more easily than she thought she would and then wondered why she was fighting everything so much.
Part of her was thrilled Grey brought up the topic of where they stood earlier, the other part of her nervous.
What if he didn’t want what she did? What if it changed their dynamics when she liked where they were going?
She was afraid of where they were heading but told herself there were no rewards without risk. She realized she was willing to risk more than she imagined to be with Grey.
22
Avoided The Drama
A month had gone by and surprisingly things were going well with her and Grey.
They survived the weekend with her family and she and Marissa had been keeping in touch. Nothing like they had before, but it was a start.
Would she harbor bad feelings for her cousin and friend that didn’t stick by her side when she needed it? She probably would never forget the betrayal, but she knew how Marissa was and accepted it.
Grey and she had somewhat of a good routine going too. They had lunch once a week, even if it was just a quick twenty minutes to share a sandwich at the shop in the building where his offices were housed. It all depended on his schedule, as her lunch was the same each day.
They spent weekends together, her normally going and staying at his house. Other than that they just texted now and again or talked for a few minutes on the phone.
She was happy with this. She didn’t want to be glued to someone’s side nonstop and she didn’t want them to put pressure on her to do that.
“Are you going to thank me now?” Cori asked her. Cori was filling in in Sierra’s office again. They hadn’t seen much of each other lately either, but they did text now and again.
“For what?”
“Don’t play with me,” Cori said, grinning and bouncing on her toes. “You know what I’m talking about. Family weddings? Family dinners? Hugging a sexy doctor in the office? Yep, Jack told me all about that.”
“Jack’s a rat,” she said, laughing.
“Don’t be hating on my hubby. He just told me two days ago about the hug. He said it was weeks ago. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why would I tell you about a hug?” Sierra grabbed her laptop and pulled up the schedule of patients for the day, nodding her head at Cori to do the same.
Cori rolled her eyes and did it. “Because it was in Grey’s office where people could see you. Jack only told me because I happened to be talking about you and wondering what was going on with you two. I said I wanted to try to get us to go on a double date. He was fast to tell me all that then.”
She laughed, suspecting Jack didn’t like to go out much, and used it as an excuse to say there was no reason to push. “I’m sure he was. But Grey and I have lunch together once a week too in front of people. I don’t know what the big deal is.”
“The big deal is that hug was more than what friends do. I know you two have to be getting it on. I mean come on, you shared a hotel room together. There is no way you could keep your hands off of him.”
“What are you doing looking at Grey when you’ve got your own man?”
“Yes, I’ve got my own sexy man, thank you very much,” Cori said. “But my point is, friends with benefits strip, pounce, zip back up, then say goodnight.”
Sierra laughed at the description of what she always thought that type of relationship was about too. “And you know this how?”
“I’ve got a lot of friends that do it. Never me. I couldn’t. I need to talk to people and get to know them.”
“And we know how much you love to talk,” Sierra said. “Patients are waiting now.”
Cori scrunched her nose up. “I’ll be back. We can have lunch together.”
They both went about their morning, seeing patients, checking vitals, getting samples, answering questions, then moving onto the next.
Yes, this was downright boring to her.
She missed the action of the OR. She missed the excitement.
Not that she minded talking with the patients now and again, but the days went by faster in the OR than they did here.
When lunch rolled around, Cori grabbed her hand and said, “It’s a beautiful day; let’s go for a walk and we can talk. We’ll be back in time to eat quickly.”
“Easy for you to say,” she said. “You inhale your food as if a mob of starving football players see it as their last meal.”
“I’ve always been that way. I can’t help it. It’s worse now having a kid. It seems I never get to sit down to eat before I’m picking up messes or getting something for Summer. Thankfully Roxy picks up the messes on the floor that Summer drops.”
“Roxy?”
“Jack’s boxer. She’s a little older now, but if food is involved she moves fast. It’s like a live vacuum cleaner. It’s kind of nice.”
“Fine, we can walk, but I want at least ten minutes to eat.”
“Not a problem,” Cori said, moving fast out of the office but not in the direction to go outside.
“Where are we going?”
“We are going to walk around the building.”
“I thought you wanted to walk outside.”
“No,” Cori said. “I just stated it was nice out is all.”
The two of them started to move down the hall and to the stairs, up another floor. “So what did you want to talk to me about? I know there is something on your mind.”
“What is your big deal about not wanting to date doctors? You seem to be getting along great with Grey.”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to tell Cori about what happened but then realized it wasn’t that big of a deal. “I don’t want this broadcasted, so can you keep it between us?”
“Of course I can. Do you think I can’t keep a secret?”
“I’m not sure. We know how much you love to talk.”
“I like to talk,” Cori said, “but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep something private if asked of me. Of course, now I’ve got to know so you better tell me.”
And she did. She explained everything to Cori the same as she did Grey a month ago. “So it’s nothing personal like I got burned in a relationship or anything like that. It’s more professional. I’d always been the person in school to stand up to bullies for others. I normally won or felt like I did. This time I just crashed and burned. Maybe I was the cocky one in the end thinking I could change people.”
“If I were there I would have stood by your side. I’m so angry for you. That’s completely wrong. It makes me want to write them all a letter and tell them what pieces of shits there were.”
She believed that Cori would have stood by her and that she might actually get involved now. “Don’t worry about it. It’s over with. But Grey knows too. I had no choice but to tell him after Penelope cornered me when we were leaving.”
“I wonder what she was even doing in the lobby the next morning if she lived there?”
“My guess is she stayed the night with her date. They were both drinking. A lot of people were and stayed.”
“I suppose. Anyway, what was Grey’s reaction to it all?”
“He was really good about it. He understood, but he also said that if he didn’t know me he wouldn’t have stepped forward either. That he would have avoided the drama of it.”
“I can see that. Jack would have done the same thing. If someone asked him if he’d ever witnessed it, Jack would be completely honest and I’m sure Grey would, but neither of them would get in the middle of something that didn’t concern them.”
“Either way, I had a bad taste in my m
outh from that and I kind of held it against all doctors since it’s still fresh in my mind. If I really was sour over it I’d never date anyone that seemed cocky or arrogant about anything in life. Anyone that said a bad or negative word to another even if it was justified. It was foolish of me to take a personal stand against all doctors for Calvin’s actions. I shouldn’t have and I won’t again. I like Grey. He’s a good guy.”
“Then tell me I did good.”
“You did good, Cori, setting me up on a blind date lunch that I didn’t want and you tried to pretend wasn’t a date to begin with. You aren’t as sneaky as you think.”
“But it still worked.”
Later that afternoon Sierra walked into the last exam room of the day to see Sean Webster there. She didn’t normally remember all her patients, but she remembered him as he was going to see Grey after he saw Dr. Boswell.
“So why are we here today?” she asked Sean.
“Dr. Boswell put me on some new meds for my heartburn and ulcer. He wanted me to come back and check in to see how they are working.”
She started to take his vitals and then went to the computer and punched in the information. “So how are you feeling? Any improvement?”
“I thought everything was getting better, but then I had surgery and my system is all messed up.”
“Surgery?” she asked. During the vitals she’d asked him if there were any changes in his meds or other health issues and he didn’t mention surgery.
“My knee. Last time I was here I went to see Dr. Baxter. I know you said he was great and I liked him and all, but he sent me out with a brace and told me to ice it and take pain meds. It only got worse. I went for a second opinion and they said everything was torn and needed to be surgically repaired. Must be Dr. Baxter missed something, but now I’ve got even more problems.”
Shit, this wasn’t a position she wanted to be put in. She couldn’t very well talk about it, it had nothing to do with her and she didn’t know all the facts. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said and went right back to her exam. “Sometimes things don’t heal as fast. The body is a mysterious thing.”
“Dr. Baxter told me a few weeks to heal and stay off of it and that is what I did. I took the brace off and went back to work and felt fine. I played some more hoops with friends and down I went, blowing my knee out.”
Sierra nodded and finished her exam, then walked out the door.
She couldn’t get in the middle of it; it wasn’t her place. Plus there was doctor patient confidentiality.
By the end of the day she’d put it from her mind. This wasn’t the first patient that went for a second opinion, nor was Grey the first doctor that might have prescribed something lighter and a patient didn’t follow directions.
And, not her problem. It was most likely just conversation.
She was just leaving the building when she got a text from Grey asking if she wanted to go to dinner. She had no plans and figured why not.
She typed back a yes, but she wanted to go home and shower and change and asked where they should meet. By the time he replied back to her, she was walking in her front door with him suggesting she bring a change of clothes and spend the night with him.
They hadn’t done that once yet—spent the night together during the week. So far it was weekends and she was fine with it.
But why was he asking now? There was no reason to say no, so she packed an overnight bag and drove to his house so they could go out together.
“Can I ask why you wanted me here tonight?” she asked him when they were back at his house. They were just relaxing in the living room, looking for something to watch on TV. It’s not even like he jumped her the minute they got back, which he normally did.
He shrugged. “Just felt like cuddling with a warm body tonight.”
She snorted. “You hate to cuddle.”
Which she was thrilled to find out because she did too. She liked her space and found he was the same. When they were ready to sleep they each went to their sides of the bed and closed their eyes.
“I like it in the morning,” he said.
That was true. More than once she woke up with his arms around her, holding her tight, making her almost feel cherished more than anything. It’d been a long time since anyone made her feel cherished.
Probably years since her last true relationship. Patrick had gone his own way moving south and she stayed where she was. She’d missed him when they split, but not enough to leave everything she loved.
Yet, here she was hours from her hometown with a different job and a new life.
She turned on the couch and put her arms around him, her lips to his. “I kind of like waking up that way too.”
“You could stay more often,” he said.
She should feel pressured, but she didn’t. “I’ll think about it. Why don’t we go to bed now. We can watch TV there.”
“After,” he said.
She stood up and reached for his hand to pull him up, they made their way to his room. There didn’t seem to be any rushing tonight when just last weekend they were still yanking each other’s clothes off. Were they turning into a contented couple before her eyes?
He lifted her shirt over her head; she did the same to him. Slowly they undressed each other, then climbed into bed, reaching for the other but taking it slow.
There were more kissing and feather-like touches on both their parts and when they finally came together, it was a dance to a ballad rather than a knock-down salsa to fast-paced music.
Then why was her heart racing so much? Was she falling in love with Grey and why did it feel like it smacked her upside the head without her even knowing?
23
In The Middle
A week later, Grey got a call from Lucas Mathews. What no doctor ever wants to get—a call from the legal department. Least of all the head of that department.
He made his way to Lucas’s office. “I’m here to see Lucas,” he said to the secretary.
“Grey Baxter?”
“That’s me.”
“Have a seat. He’ll be with you in a minute.”
He wasn’t waiting more than five minutes when Lucas opened his door and motioned him in. “I wish I were calling you here for better news, Grey.”
His stomach pitched into his socks and threatened to ooze out the soles of his shoes. “What’s going on?”
A million things were running through his mind. Was an employee accusing him of sexual harassment? Though he didn’t think that was possible. He kept his distance from dating or commenting on other employees for that reason.
He figured most might have known he was dating Sierra, but he wouldn’t be called up here for that.
Could he be being sued for malpractice? He was running all his procedures through his head in the past six months and everything had a good outcome. None of this made sense.
“You’ve got a patient, Sean Webster, who is suing you and the hospital. He claims that he didn’t receive a proper diagnosis from you and then went on to further injure his knee requiring surgery. He had complications from that surgery on top of it.”
“I don’t even recognize the name,” he said, trying to figure out who it was.
“We’ve already looked into it. He came to you about nine weeks ago with a Grade 2 MCL tear. Your notes stated that he didn’t require surgery, you put him in a brace and told him to come back in three weeks and not to remove the brace until then.”
He remembered it now. “He never followed up,” he said. “It just occurred to me now that I didn’t see him again.”
“No. He had an appointment with you for three weeks after but canceled it. A month ago he met with another surgeon, not one out of Albany Med, but out of St. Peter’s, and ended up with a Grade 3 tear that had to be repaired. He had some complications during the healing but is on the mend.”
“And he is saying my initial diagnosis was wrong?” he asked.
“He is, but I’ve had three other doctors look
at his scans and they all agreed with your diagnosis. The one that was taken before his surgery showed significantly more damage. It’s clear something more happened, but we weren’t told if that was the case.”
“Did you request all his medical records from his other surgeon?”
Lucas smiled. “I did. I should have them soon. His lawyer only sent over a small report. They knew we’d be requesting it all, but my guess is they just want to settle. The truth is, I’m not sure what could come of this, as he didn’t follow up with you and anything could have happened from then until now.”
“You aren’t thinking of settling, are you?” Grey asked, feeling his face redden.
Thoughts of his insurance going up were pissing him off. A mark against him. Everything. He worked too hard to get where he was. It would be different if he truly did something wrong, but he didn’t and there were too many unknowns.
“In some cases like this, we’ve found it easier to, but not until we get all the facts.”
“And this isn’t that big of a case for you to get involved in, so why are you?”
“Because I’ve met you and because Cori and Jack are important people in my life. I know you’re friends with Jack and Cori is friends with Sierra.”
“How do you know about Sierra?” he asked.
“You have to ask how anyone knows anything when it comes to Cori? But Cori is best friends with my wife, Brooke.”
He remembered that now from the event they all attended. “Oh yeah.”
“Not only that, but Jack is best friends with my brother, Ryan. I feel as if I should take this one through one of those six degrees of separation instances. Not to mention, Ryan is friends with Colt. Weren’t Ryan and his wife, Kaitlin, at Colt’s party with you and Sierra?”
Why didn’t he remember all these things? “Yes, he was. Should I talk to Colt about this? Do I need to hire my own representation?”
“That’s up to you,” he said. “Right now I’m going to personally see this through. I want to tell you not to worry, but I know you will. We’ll get to the bottom of it. There are missing pieces and we need them before we go any further.”