A day or two?Seattle had a must-win game against Edmonton tomorrow night.Lose that and they were likely to lose home-ice advantage in the playoffs.His heart tensed, releasing higher-pitched beeps on the machine.
“Don’t worry.We’ll take good care of you,” Dr.Singh said, clapping Gen on the shoulder.“Dr.Rivas is one of our best.”
“But you’re not looking after me after this, are you, Gen?”
Her gaze lifted as far as his chin.“No.”
“But—”
“Excuse me.”She shifted away, huddling with the older physician and Gerry, their discussion too low for Kyle to hear.Which seemed unfair, especially when it was his body that was affected.
He watched her, saw the stiff way she moved, the way she continued to avoid eye contact with him, like she was uncomfortable in his presence, which was fair.He was plenty uncomfortable with her, even before there’d been any talk of bladders and urine and delicate parts of his anatomy he’d much prefer her not to think about.
Had their mistake ten years ago created this tension or something else?Who was he kidding—ofcoursethis was all due to his mistake.But she’d said she was fine, so how could she blame him still?
Yet the thought that this might be his one and only chance to try to set things right only increased the pressure within.
“Sir, you need to calm down,” the nurse advised.
The trio paused their conversations, glanced at him.
“His BP is rising,” the nurse called.
“We better get him scanned fast,” the older doctor said.
“But I need to speak to Gen—”
“Take him to imaging,” she said, still not looking at him.
Two aides began preparing the gurney as the nurse unhooked wires and leads.“Gen, we need to talk,” he pleaded.
She shook her head and walked away, taking his heart with her.Just as she’d done ten years ago.
* * *
Gen exhaled shakily,silently.No way had she anticipated meeting Kyle Tinker like this, let alone being forced to treat him.Was God still punishing her for her mistake years ago?Seemed so.How was she supposed to paste on neutrality and her usual facade of calmness, when everything inside felt like a pan of hot oil spitting chips?
As for talking to him… She’d never dreamed he’d want to speak to her.What was he going to say, anyway?Try to make excuses?Plead forgiveness?It was enough to see him let alone figure out what to say.She thought she’d behaved professionally enough, but who knew what the others had seen?Regardless, after the past thirty minutes she had zero capacity to remain composed in his presence a second longer.
Okay, so mature her—the person everyone here at Seattle General knew her as—did know they needed to talk, and yes, she had plenty of things to say.But talking would only lead to further uncomfortable truths, and that was a quagmire of pain she couldn’t afford to get into.
“Who was that?”Dr.Charan Singh asked, joining her at the nurse’s station.
“An ex.”
“You need to avoid him if you don’t want a perceived conflict of interest.”
“I plan to.”
He nodded, then was called away.Thank goodness.She needed to prove she could keep her mind on the job, to not let distractions—emotions—get in the way, especially if she was to make emergency medicine her specialty.
“An ex, huh?”Marcie grinned.“I wondered.Hmm.A rather handsome and can I sayveryfit young man.”
Yes, he was.A definite change from the usual people they treated here.“I need to get to my next patient.”
“Aww, come on.Don’t be like that.We’re just all intrigued to finally get a glimpse behind the cool, calm, collected exterior of Dr.Genevieve Rivas.”
“There’s nothing to see here.”
