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“Now, if you can.”
The way he said it didn’t leave a lot of room for argument. It was more of a command than a request. Dee simply nodded and looked back at me for a second and then to Dr. Davis.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, handing her Rose.
“Of course,” Dr. Davis said, clearly happy to be holding a baby and transitioning seamlessly from doctor to mother figure. She held the baby tight to her chest, and I tried to mentally take notes of what position she was in so I could mimic it later.
“So,” I said after a moment, “who was that? I hope I didn’t get Dee into any trouble.”
Dr. Davis regarded me for a second. “That was Dr. Sutton. He’s our chief of staff. Incredible doctor, but he’s rather stern. Always gets his way, if you know what I mean.”
Something churned in my chest. I did know what that meant. I also knew what close proximity over long hours tended to mean too. Late nights and high stress only added to that. Someone as gorgeous as Dee was and someone as apparently talented and perfectionist as this Dr. Sutton was meant it was a recipe for things I didn’t want to think about.
But I didn’t see a ring on her finger, and she didn’t smile when she saw him. She jumped a little and followed his instruction; it wasn’t the kind of response that I would normally associate with the call of a lover. The twinge of jealousy that ran through my spine started to subside, but I figured I should probably wait until she got back and judge it then.
As the door opened again, Dr. Davis laid the baby back down in the crib and smiled at me.
“Seems she has calmed down some,” she said.
Indeed, Rose had finally stopped crying, and while she wasn’t fully asleep, she looked drowsy and milk-drunk. A little dribble was running down her chin, and the doctor wiped it away with her finger before going to the hand sanitizer and heading for the door.
Dee slipped inside, her mouth pursed shut tightly and her eyes narrowed. They almost looked like there were tears at the corners. Whatever that doctor had said to her, it wasn’t pleasant, it seemed. It at least certainly wasn’t loving. Not the look of someone who had just been talking with their partner.
I exhaled, and a part of my mind that had wound extremely tense relaxed.
14
DEE
Dr. Sutton was an exceptional doctor. He was one of those people who just seemed to have been born for the role and who inspired a sense of confidence and trust in anyone he treated. Everybody always said how incredible his bedside manner was. No matter what somebody was going through, he could manage to make them feel like they were in good hands and could calm them down.
But that was when he was dealing with patients. When it was members of his staff he was speaking with, there was an entirely different personality in control. Not that he was a bad person or I particularly disliked him, but he wasn’t exactly the most pleasant man when he didn’t feel like he was getting the best performance or the obedience he expected from his staff.
That was exactly what I was in for when he called me out of the room with Hawk. He brought me out into the hallway, demanding I explain myself. This wasn’t where I was supposed to be, and the man in that room certainly wasn’t one of the patients I was supposed to be taking care of.
I tried to explain the situation to him. I tried to get him to understand just how desperate Hawk was and how much the baby needed immediate care and attention, but he wasn’t sympathizing with me. What mattered to him was that I had taken it upon myself to determine that Rose should come before the other patients who were already admitted to the hospital or who had come through the emergency room prior to Hawk arriving, and that I had left my post in order to give him private treatment.
There was something in the way he said that, an undercurrent of implication I didn’t like. I understood Dr. Sutton. I’d been working with him for a while, and I could distinguish between him as a man outside of the walls of the hospital, as a doctor treating patients, and as a chief of staff. They were all very different sides of his personality, and I thought I’d gotten to the point where I could not only separate them all in my mind but navigate interacting with him effectively in any situation.
That moment made me question that. I didn’t think he was the type of man to suggest, even without saying it, that I would be unprofessional or put the health and safety of any of my patients at risk simply so I could please a man. Since he hadn’t come right out and said it, I didn’t try to defend myself. That I was giving Hawk special treatment because I was attracted to him. And that I had compromised my reputation and possibly even my position at the hospital by going against his orders, taking a doctor away from her post, and providing treatment and offering suggestions that had not been approved by a doctor.
