“Then that’s what matters. If you don’t want the Fellowship, don’t take it, but only don’t take it because you don’t want it. Don’t not take it because you think your relationship won’t stand up. I’ve done it, it can be done. And if you and Felix don’t last, then maybe you were never meant to.” She looked at me sternly. “You need to stop this and shake it off. You’re a surgeon, Molly. Your life is about taking calculated risks and hoping things turn out okay in the end, so why not do that here?”
I took a deep breath. She was right; I am a surgeon and I would always be a surgeon. Felix knew that. I’d been a surgeon as long as he played hockey. And we’d make this work. He’d be back in a few days and I’d tell him then, because this wasn’t an over-the-phone conversation. And I knew he’d be happy for me and support me, because he always had. It was ingrained in him.
“You’re right.” I pulled another tissue out and dried my damp face.
“Thank you, sorry for the meltdown. I needed to hear that though. I don’t have any friends who understand what it’s like to work these hours.”
“You have me, I’m your friend.”
I hugged her. “Yes, you are. Thank you.”
“Now we just need to figure out what to do about Hunter.”
The noise that came out of my mouth was what happens when you laugh and groan at the same time. The closest thing it resembled was the bark of a large dog.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do about that.” I shook my head, the attack in his voice still ringing round my ears until it was drowned out by our pagers going off simultaneously. We stood up together, heading for the door, but she stopped my hand before I could reach for the handle.
“Molly, I came to work here because of your reputation, because of what you accomplished in your residency. I was a little intimated, and if I’m being honest, I still am.TheDoctor Molly Marks I came to work with would never have let Hunter Reyes tell her what to do, or paid attention to anything he said. This is professional jealousy and nothing more. The guy is a tool.”
She was right again. I wasn’t pathetic or soft, and I wasn’t going to be pushed around by Hunter Reyes. Doctor Molly Marks would never have allowed that, and she wouldn’t have hesitated before signing that form. Before she fell in love. The two could co-exist.
I was going to do what I should have done two weeks ago.
“Hang on.” I grabbed a pen and the letter from my desk, signing the bottom and tearing it off, before shoving it in my pocket. “I’ll drop it into the Clerical Office after this call.”
Chapter 38
Ihit dial as soon as I got out of the car, slipping my phone in my pockets and taking my crutches from Ralphie, who was holding them out, mouthing thanks to him. The ringing was loud through my Air Pods as I hopped through the hospital doors, which had automatically glided apart as I got closer.
She answered just as I passed through the big atrium. I hadn’t seen her this morning, hadn’t really seen her since before I’d left for the away games, because even though we’d slept in the same bed nearly every night since we’d got together, one of us was usually asleep when the other got in, or left. But as long as I could snuggle up to her in the night, feel her warmth wrapped around me, I didn’t much care. And it wouldn’t be forever. It wouldn’t even be for that much longer because the season would end soon.
“Hey.”
“Hey, baby, I’m just walking in.”
“Sorry I left so early.”
I laughed at her. “Sorry I got in so late last night.”
She groaned quietly. “Will you come and see me when you’re done?”
“You bet your ass I will.” I pressed the button for the elevator and stepped inside. “Love love you.”
The doors opened on the fifth floor, the Sports Surgery floor, where Molly’s office was, but I headed in the opposite direction for my appointment with Doctor Hunter Reyes. I knocked on the door and pushed it open to find him sitting at his desk looking like the smarmy prick he usually did.
“Hey, Doc.”
He barely glanced up at me. “Hello, Felix. You can go ahead and lie on the bed. Take your pants off.”
I took a deep breath and counted to five because there was something about this guy that made my blood boil, and not all of it was because of Molly. He was just a prick. But Molly had to work with him every day and I wasn’t about to make things difficult for her by requesting a new doctor. So, unfortunately, he was the one in charge of my recovery.
“Sure.” I threw my pants on the chair in the corner and swung my legs onto the bed, laying back.
He came over, pulling on some gloves before removing my knee brace and moving through his usual routine of checking for swelling, tenderness, movement.
“How does it feel?”
I winced as he dug his fingers into my knee, much harder than he needed to.
