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14
Drew walked over to the eighty-inch LCD screen that had been brought in for today’s meeting. He had Larissa rent it after discovering Travis County Hospital was still using the pull-down projection screens whenever someone had to give a presentation. In the grand scheme of things, updating the AV equipment didn’t even crack the top twenty on the hospital’s necessities list, but he was ready to donate his own money if that’s what needed to be done to bring them up to the current century.
“Is everything ready?” Drew asked Samantha Gomez.
“It is.” She looked at her phone. “We’ve got about twenty minutes, so we can just give everyone a chance to trickle in. Those are mine!” she called, looking past Drew’s right shoulder. “I ordered a couple dozen cupcakes. I figured a little late afternoon treat would put everyone in a good mood.”
“Works for me,” Drew said.
Hell, he would buy them all steak dinners if that’s what it would take to convince them to support Trident’s efforts here at County. If he had his way, he would move this meeting completely off hospital grounds, to somewhere with more space. This room wasn’t much bigger than the collaboration room at his apartment.
He’d finally gotten the full story on why they couldn’t utilize the largest conference room here at the hospital. According to the custodian he’d spoken to this morning, the main conference room was pulling double duty as storage after a busted pipe took out one of the storage rooms on the second floor several months ago. No move had been made yet to repair it. Trident had only been here a week, yet even that tiny glimpse into how this hospital was managed was enough to show Drew how it had gotten into such a pile of shit.
He didn’t want to get too far into the weeds when it came to this job—that’s what their project manager was there for—but Drew also knew there was too much work to be done here for him to return to the sidelines. He would pull back if his team asked him to do so, but he’d already resigned himself to being more hands-on.
He walked over to a cardboard coffee carrier delivered from a local shop—another thing Drew had insisted upon after tasting the hospital coffee. He filled his cup from the spigot and added a packet of sweetener, then turned just in time to see London walk through the door.
His body experienced that now-familiar jolt he always felt upon seeing her.
Last night was the first time since their class reunion that she hadn’t spent at least a few hours in his bed. It was scary to think that he’d gotten so used to having her there after just over a week, but he could still feel the disappointment that had assaulted him when she’d responded to hison your way?text with apulled into surgeryresponse. A few hours later, she’d texted that the surgery was over but she was too exhausted to do anything except sleep.
Drew had offered up his bed, strictly for sleeping purposes. He was only a couple of minutes from the hospital, and it just made sense for her to spend the night.
But she was already home by the time she’d read his text. And her follow-up response made it clear that her thoughts hadn’t changed regarding the boundaries they’d set. When it came to his bed, there was only one activity she wanted to engage in while there, and it wasn’t sleeping.
Drew had spent the rest of the night in a state of frustrated restlessness. It wasn’t that he had a problem with being London Kelley’s boy toy for the next few weeks. He’d gone into this former-high-school-classmates-with-benefits arrangement with his eyes wide open.
He wanted the sex, but he also wanted more. What that more was, he wasn’t sure yet. He hadn’t taken the time to define it. But after last night, maybemorewas her being comfortable enough with him to crash at his apartment following a three-hour emergency surgery at the end of her shift. That didn’t seem all that outrageous.
She walked up to him and nodded at his cup. “That coffee doesn’t look like motor oil. Please tell me there’s more.”
He moved to the side so that she could see the coffee setup on the table. “Help yourself.”
“Is this a perk to working with Trident?”
“This is a perk to being anywhere that I am,” Drew said. “I’m not particularly picky about my coffee, but it must at least be drinkable. So, yes, there will be coffee brought in whenever this group meets.”
She sniffed the steaming coffee before taking a sip. She closed her eyes and released a satisfied sigh. “Maybe I won’t regret this after all.”
Drew chuckled. “I’ll be honest, I was surprised when I got word from Dr. Coleman that you would be joining us. After yesterday’snon-ambush, I was pretty sure you would turn down the invitation.”
She shrugged as she took another sip of coffee. “I had a change of heart.”
“Brought about by?”
“By the thought of this hospital potentially closing altogether. I’ve always been afraid of it being sold to a private corporation, but state-run hospitals get shut down all the time.”
“That won’t happen,” Drew said. “Trident will make sure of that. It’s why we’re here.” He paused, debating whether to continue with his thought. London had made it clear that she was against privatization. Drew didn’t want them to start off on the wrong foot by bringing it up before their first official meeting even started.
Then again, he needed to be completely transparent with her, especially after not being straightforward about his working at County.
“We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure County remains in operation, but you need to understand that a takeover by a private corporation is still on the table, London. It may be the only solution.” He put his hands up. “I don’t know yet. None of us do. That’s why we’re here.”
“And I’m here to make sure we explore every possible avenue,” she replied. “I’m also here to make sure that your recommendations aren’t just a regurgitated list of the budget cuts Coleman and his cronies tried to shove down our throats last year.”
Drew took a sip of his now slightly cooled coffee before massaging the bridge of his nose. “How hard are you planning to make my life? I just want an estimate so that I can have my assistant adjust the amount of ibuprofen she adds to the shopping list.”
“First, of all, I am not here to be difficult,” she said. “And second, you’re in a hospital. Just ask one of the nurses for some. You don’t have to get your assistant to buy ibuprofen.”
