“I called Milton and Merle. She and I are going to go in this weekend. Get it done.”
I understood the importance so I easily said, “Okay. Then we’ll do that.”
He shook his head and lifted himself up and off me. “No. I’m taking Abi and James.”
Frowning, I guess I should’ve seen it coming. “What?”
“You’re going to the ranch for the weekend. Before we go on tour. You and Emery need it.” Then he smirked. “And you will take a ton of pictures and videos of my horse.”
I rolled my eyes, my heartbeat having picked up at the prospect of seeing Emery again so soon. “As if Hawk and Gemma don’t already do that for you.”
“They doooo,” he whined playfully. “But not as well as I know you will.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine.” As if I would’ve said no. The others would be able to keep him safe, especially when we kept everything under wraps and nobody knew Wren would even be going to Milton’s.
“Good. I have the schedule for you on my phone. I’ll email it over.” He smacked a kiss on my cheek. “I didn’t tell anyone you’re going.”
“Keep it that way.”
“Gonna surprise your man?” he asked as he got to his feet.
“Yeah.” I grinned. Then my phone started to vibrate on the table. “Speak of the devil.”
“Nah, Emery is more of an angel, yeah?” Wren closed my door behind himself.
I grabbed the phone. “Hey, baby. How’s it going?” I asked, smiling at the prospect of seeing him in just a few days.
Chapter 24
Emery
Long distance was as hard on my heart as I expected. I’d hoped it wouldn’t be. I’d had a fanciful notion that expecting the worst would translate to it not being terrible. But the past three months and ten days had been some of the hardest in my life, and I’d gone to one of the top twenty medical schools in the country. When it was good, it was enough to stave off the heartache. But there were plenty of missed calls. Texts that went unanswered for hours or even a whole day. Not because we weren’t trying. But Ville was busy and so was I. Sometimes, we just missed connecting.
And damn did I miss him.
Last night’s phone conversation had helped. I’d been so relieved when Ville answered that I nearly cried and we chatted for a long time. He’d sounded so good, happy, his voice low and sexy. It wasn’t surprising when things turned in a sexualdirection, because we were both missing that, and we switched to a video call before he talked me through an orgasm so powerful I’d hit the wall when I’d come.
“Next time, we’ll try for some real distance,” Ville said, all smug male, as he tilted the camera down to show me the mess he’d made all over his chest.
I hadn’t wanted to hang up, and Ville was more than happy to murmur to me while I fell asleep. When I woke up this morning, my phone was nearly dead, but he’d sent a text message telling me how much he loved me and to face my day with bravery.
I looked at the message again to shore myself up as I sat down in my office and booted up my computer. My first patient was scheduled for eight, so I’d come in an hour early to catch up on charting and prepare for my day. I needed the fortitude. No matter how much I loved what I did, and my patients, Dr. Hastings had become somewhat of a problem.
He was a good doctor. I still believed that wholeheartedly. He cared about his patients and treated everyone well, came in early and stayed late, and went above and beyond. But at the same time, he clearly didn’t see me as an equal. And in some ways, I wasn’t. I had a year of practice under my belt, if you didn’t count the two years of residency, and Hastings had nearly thirty. He’d been caring for this community for a long time.
But what he seemed to forget was I’d been a part of the community for my whole life and more than that, despite my age, I wasn’t a kid. What had started out as a mentorship had deteriorated into something else. The only thing I could equate it to was that Dr. Robert Hastings saw me as a wayward child who needed discipline.
Considering that my own parents had always been proponents of proportional consequences and not punishments, this was a new experience.
That’s not to say I hadn’t run into people like that before. Of course I had. Throughout med school and residency, there had been professors and physicians alike who embodied that mindset about those younger than themselves. But I’d never had a problem speaking up and advocating for myself in those situations. Jennifer and Michael Harrington had raised confident people, and though my siblings and I weren’t perfect—far from it—we all knew when to take a stand.
The only reason I’d allowed my anxiety to drive in this situation was that working here, serving this community, had always been my dream. Dr. Hastings had taken care of all of us as we’d grown up, and even now, most of my family still saw him. I had the wicked thought that if I told everyone what was going on, they’d instantly change to Luz, though Gemma and the twins, as well as Demi and her children already saw her. But Ville had been the only one I’d voiced my concerns and frustrations to.
My love had been gently, though persistently, encouraging me to have the talk with Hastings. He never pushed too much, but it seemed to come up in our talks more often than not. Ville understood why I was hesitant, but he also reminded me that I was strong and brave, and that if I didn’t deal with this directly, it would only get worse. Thinking about that, and remembering his text that I’d woken up to, felt like a sign to finally do something.
My inbox lit up as soon as I logged into the EMR system and I started going through the high priority messages. The second one made me stop in my tracks. The results of Elias Becker’s MRI had come back—the one Hastings had chastised me for ordering—and it turned out I was right. The man had multiple lesions in his brain and on his cervical spine and at least two of them were in an active flare up. And though I hated that I had to call the thirty-two-year-old actuary and tell him that he hadmultiple sclerosis and I’d be referring him to a neurologist, it was the example I needed.
It was time to stand up for myself and my acumen as a physician.
