“Nope, I’m not. Because we wereproductive.”
She lifted her head, one eyebrow raised. “That’s what we’re calling it?”
“You came twice.”
She swatted my chest, laughing. “You’re ridiculous.”
“But did I lie? And you love that about me. Ever since you were a little girl, you wanted to love a ridiculous man.”
“I really did.” She kissed me, slow and lazy, then sat up with a sigh. “And I really do love you.”
“Love you too, morning breath. So what time do we need to be at the house?”
“Mom wants you there by one o’clock to help cook.”
“So we leave at twelve thirty.”
“Thereabouts.”
“Good.” I pulled her back down against my chest. “Then we have time to celebrate new developments in our lives properly.”
She tipped her head up. “Haven’t we been celebrating?”
“Not enough for a new addressanda promotion.” I pressed my lips to her temple.
She was quiet for a second, then said, “My family’s going to be so extra today. They’ve been like this ever since I started bringing you to Sunday dinner.”
“Good. Let them be extra about you.” I pinched her chin, tilting her face up so I could look her in the eye. “You earned this, baby. Now is not the time to be shy about good things happening for you.”
“I’m not being shy. It just feels like it took forever between the announcement that Liz was leaving RMC and when they officially promoted me to Vice President?—”
“You mean when you chased her out of the hospital and took her job?”
She laughed. “That is not what happened, Cole.”
“That’s how I’m gonna tell it to our kids.”
The Greene case was still sending aftershocks through Ridgeway. According to hallway gossip and the RMC group chat, the hospital CEO was displeased with Dr. Rice’s handling of the inquiry. Bringing the institution into Vincent Cross’s orbit and risking a valued member of the surgical team over a donor who barely made a blip on the fundraising radar was evidently not what the board meant bydeal with this issue.
Dr. Rice was offered a generous separation package. She’d already lined up her next role at a hospital near Stanford University.
“She actually came to find me before she packed up her office,” said Harper. “I think she expected me to make departure easy for her.”
“And did you?”
Harper gave me a look that told the whole story. “About as easy as she made it for me to work with her.”
She folded her hands together with a satisfied smirk on her thick, pretty lips. “She said she hoped I understood what I was walking into. That the job was harder than it looked. Then she wished me luck.”
“In that way where she didn’t really mean good luck.”
“In exactly that way.” Harper tilted her head up so her eyes met mine. “I thanked her and told her Stanford was lucky to have her.”
“In that way where you didn’t really mean lucky.”
“Stanfordislucky to have her. Far away from me and my hospital.” Harper bit her lip, then allowed a proud grin to spread. “Vice President of Risk Management and Patient Advocacyiskind of a big deal, isn’t it?”
“Kind of a big title. Kind of a big paycheck. Kind of a big corner office on the Admin floor.”
