AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Trouble in paradise?” I smirk.
“Ha-ha. No. Things are great with Nick. I was just keeping my eyes peeled for Poppy.”
What the hell?
The teasing expression quickly falls from my face at her remark. Over my dead body, am I introducing this guy to Poppy.
I clear my throat. “I’m pretty sure he’s married. With kids,” I blurt. I have no fucking idea what his marital status is. He’s about my age and not a bad-looking guy. I assume he’s married. Jarod and Pearl vetted him, as he interviewed during a particularly busy surgical week.
The thought that Katarina is actively trying to hook Poppy up with someone has me seeing red. I have no idea why I’m coming unglued by this.Am I going through a midlife crisis?None of this makes any sense.
“Kat, I think your seek and find skills are being requested in fast track.” Sharon guffaws in our direction.
Kat’s expression goes blank. “Is this of the downtown variety?”
Sharon doesn’t answer with words, but her taunting expression says it all. Retrieving foreign objects from private areas is never as entertaining for the provider as it is fodder for their coworkers. But the look on Kat’s face is priceless.
“Don’t laugh.” She points at me. “I don’t know which orifice this object landed in when they fell on it.” Kat puts air quotes aroundfell on it.That tends to be the most popular excuse for how these things end up where they don’t belong. “But if I can’t get it out, guess who I’m calling.” She laughs as she crosses her arms over her chest.
“May the force be with you.” I chuckle. I turn to look for Dr. Wilson as Kat heads to her newest patient and observe Poppy coming toward me. My heart speeds up a little, and I try to devise something clever to say besides ‘hi’ when my phone buzzes in my pocket. Once I reach back to grab it, I look up to see Poppy walking through the exit doors without a word.
Frustrated, I bring my phone to my ear and grumble, “Hello.”
“Well, hello to you too, Daddy. Having a bad day?”
“Hi, sweetheart. No. I’m fine. How’s my girl?”
“Good. I miss you. I feel like we haven’t seen you in months.”
I can’t help but wince, then quickly try to steer away from my history of being an absent parent and give my daughter my full attention. “It has been too long. But then again, your mom’s had you jet-setting all over the globe this summer.” I glimpse Dr. Wilson down the hall and head in his direction.
“Why didn’t you come with us? New Zealand was so much fun.”
“I bet it was. It was a busy time here. We had someone already out that week and another who just transferred out of state.”
I can hear her harumph across the phone line. “Well, I thought you had seniority there. Besides, you have more money than God. Why don’t you take some time off and live a little?”
There’s so much wrong with this conversation. First, Lauren has absolutely no appreciation of money. If we aren’t careful, this overindulged twenty-year-old will burn through every dime of her trust fund. Second, she needs to understand that a lot of moving pieces are required to keep a surgical practice going. “Lauren, I can’t take off whenever I want because I’ve worked here the longest.” And third, I’m growing tired of spending my vacations watching my wife and daughters with the new man of the house.
“I bet you could if you wanted to.” Her statement stings. She’s probably a lot more on target than she knows. And I’m the selfish bastard who has to live knowing I’ve continued to choose my career over my family. More specifically, over my children.
Camile and I have been lucky as far as divorced couples go. When we were married, we rarely fought about anything but my job. In retrospect, it’s painful to realize how clear I made it that she wasn’t the priority in my life. Camile knows my only mistress was the OR. We made it almost ten years before the writing was on the wall, and we filed for divorce.
Two things were clear. I wasn’t going to change, and she deserved far better. My daughters were ages seven and five when we split. Luckily, the upside to working all of the time was my children didn’t notice much difference until Camile started dating. But the girls are bright and well-adjusted, all due to Camile’s parenting, and they’ve accepted Joel as their new stepdad without missing a beat.
I admit there are times I’m pretty jealous. He’s stepped into his ready-made family and spends more time with my girls than I do. But life is about choices, and I have no one to blame but myself. Thankfully, he’s been nothing but respectful. At times, he’s present when I’m invited to spend time with them, and he gives me some space at others. I dare say I couldn’t have hand-picked a better replacement. I try to remind myself of that when I lay my head down at night, all alone in my big empty house.
I’ve harbored a lot of guilt over my life choices. Yet, there were a lot of things that led up to our split. It wasn’t merely my work-life imbalance.
Camile and I met during college. I had a sizable trust fund, so we lived larger than most medical students were capable. I’m sure this added to my attractiveness, as Camile has never been one to settle for anything less than the best.
She grew up with parents who lived a lavish lifestyle. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind she’d accept nothing other than the standard she’d grown accustomed. Fortunately, given how well my father and grandfather had invested their income, I could easily afford whatever she wanted. So I never chose to quibble over money.
Once I began my surgical career, I deposited money Camile could draw from and otherwise invested almost every dime. As my practice flourished, I became more aggressive with my investment portfolio. Sure, I splurged on a nice home and a few cars, but I didn’t go on lavish trips or shopping sprees.Who had time? I was always working.
Over the next ten years, the millions I’d inherited, plus the income from my thriving practice, pushed me into billionaire status. I was grateful my father required a prenup before receiving the inheritance. But Camile and the girls have always been well provided for. There was really no need to argue in court over money. Besides, she was well aware that my guilt over our family’s destruction would have me handing over more if needed.
I’m pretty sure Camile was relieved when we split. She had all the money she could want and was free to pursue a normal relationship. I wasn’t an easy man to live with. Not so much argumentative or controlling. Yet, I was absent… until I wasn’t.
