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She was grateful the pediatric surgeon from Driscoll Children’s Hospital wasn’t super territorial and more concerned about ego than finding the right treatment for the patient. She dealt with those types way too often and made a concerted effort to never become one.
Did she sometimes disagree with another resident’s course of treatment? Of course. But as long as it was viable and wouldn’t put the patient more in harm’s way, London knew how to step back and allow another resident to take the lead. She was arrogant when it came to her work, but she wasn’tthatarrogant.
She was already an hour past the end of her shift by the time she finished with the family from Brownsville. London downloaded the files she wanted to look over tonight from the shared server and packed up her things so she could leave. She didn’t want Dr. Renault to catch her here. One of the promises she’d made him was that she wouldn’t put in the abundance of extra hours she’d been known for during these past five years.
Of course, she’d also promised that she wouldn’t bring so much work home with her either. She doubted her mentor would approve of the number of case files she planned to review tonight.
She locked up her office and made her way to the elevator, hoping but failing to find any more of those cookies from this morning. The nurses had already gone through their shift change, so any leftovers would have already been inhaled by the night shift.
She got off the elevator on the second floor and walked across the enclosed bridge that connected the hospital to the covered parking garage. Her assigned spot was near the entry—a perk she’d earned for being voted Resident of the Year by fellow staff.
London’s steps slowed as she reached her parking spot. Drew was standing next to her Mini.
Correction: He wasleaning onher Mini. One hand was casually stuffed in his pants pocket—the other occupied by the cell phone he was currently scrolling through.
London hit the panic button on the key fob and took no small amount of pleasure from the way he jumped at the shrieking alarm. She quickly hit the off button before hospital security rushed over to see what was going on.
“Get away from my car,” she said as she walked up to him.
“Can I please have five minutes to apologize?”
“Oh, so you agree that the bullshit you fed me in my office this morning wasn’t a real apology?”
“At the risk of pissing you off even more, don’t you think you’re being a bit dramatic about this?” He held up his hands. “Look, I’m not trying to tell you how you should feel. If this is a big deal to you, then fine, it’s a big deal. But what happened this weekend shouldn’t have an impact on the work we have to do here at the hospital. One is personal, the other is professional.”
London closed the distance between them, getting right in his face.
“Don’t lecture me on how to keep my personal and professional lives separate, Drew Sullivan. It’s a skill I’ve been forced to use more times than you will ever have to. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I wasn’t able to block out some of the shit I see here.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not trying to make comparisons. I can’t imagine how hard your job must be. But that’s why we need to work together if we’re going to help make things better here at County.”
He slipped his hands in his pockets, his relaxed pose like something out of an ad campaign for a top-of-the-line suit designer. He’d removed his tie at some point during the day and unbuttoned the top two buttons on the light blue shirt.
Her eyes zeroed in on the tantalizing indentation at the base of his throat. Her mouth now had intimate knowledge of that sexy dip.
She tore her gaze away.
Stay focused.
“Here’s what I think we should do—” Drew said.
She cut him off. “I just love how you keep using the wordweso casually.”
“I usedwebecause I need us to be on the same team. After only a few hours I recognize how well respected you are around here. I visited various departments today, trying to gain insight into how County’s personnel regards the hospital overall. Whenever I asked what people found most favorable, your name came up. If Trident is going to be successful in completing the task we’ve been handed, we’re going to need allies like you, London.”
“Ally?” She couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing. “Did you miss the part when I said that I amagainstwhat the administration is doing at the hospital?”
“Didyoumiss the part about how Trident is here to possibly prevent the hospital from being sold?”
“Possibly,” she said. “Which means it possibly could still happen.”
“Better than definitely,” he countered.
London bit her bottom lip.
He had a point. Coleman said that half the hospital’s board was ready to put up aFOR SALEsign. London and her colleagues had been trying to read the tea leaves for months, but it was clear now. Drew’s company could very well be the only thing standing between County remaining a public hospital or being taken over by some profit-hungry conglomerate.
She would besucha fool to trust him after the way he’d kept her in the dark about the real reason he was back in Austin, but could she trust the hospital’s top brass?
