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“Nah.” He shook his head. “I was pretty down to earth until my net worth reached about fifty mil.” He glanced over at her. “I’m kidding.”
“Hey, I’m not hating on you. Apparently you’re good at your job, and you’re compensated well for it. It’s not the same as saving the lives of sick children, but you know?” She shrugged. “I guess hedge fund managers serve a purpose too.”
“Well, I’m no longer a hedge fund manager, and the work I’m doing now helps to save hospitals. So, technically, Iamhelping to save the lives of sick children.”
“Nah-uh,” London said. “Not the same.”
“I’ll give you that one, Dr. Kelley.” He chuckled. “When it comes to the most noble professions, you’re winning.” He took a sip of the citrus-flavored soda he’d bought from the truck. “I do like what I’m doing these days with Trident. It feels as if we’re really making a difference in people’s lives. Not that I wasn’t before,” he quickly added. “Pulling a company back from the brink of insolvency and saving thousands of jobs is something to be proud of, but working to keep hospitals running…It just seems as if the impact is more tangible, if that makes sense.”
“I get that,” London said. She twisted on the bench so she could face him. “What steered you in this direction? I can’t imagine what it would take to leave a job making the kind of money you were making. I mean, seriously, you were able to buy an apartment with a bathroom that overlooks Central Park.”
He narrowed his eyes as he chewed the bite he’d just taken out of his kebab. London burst out laughing. She would never get tired of needling him about this.
“When do you have time off from the hospital?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “Why?”
“Because the next time you have a day off, we’re flying up to New York and you’re going to see that view from my bathroom for yourself. That’ll shut you up.”
His suggestion tempted her so much more than it should have. London considered for a moment what it would be like to let Drew whisk her away to New York. To leave behind this drama with Nina, and with Coleman, and with the hospital in Chicago that was flooding her inbox with inquiries about that fellowship.
If she could have just a day without all of these issues weighing her down.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d taken a vacation. She was supposed to go to the Texas Hill Country with Samiah and Taylor a couple of months ago, but that fell through. What did it say about the state of her work-life balance that she couldn’t manage to get two hours away from this place?
“I may eventually take you up on that,” London heard herself say.
Drew’s head jerked back, his eyes bulging with shock. “No shit?” he asked.
“Maybe,” she said. “It won’t be anytime soon. I’m nearing the end of my residency and have a ton of decisions to make. And then I’ll have to oversee the creation of that sensory room thatwillmake its way into the budget, right?”
“We haven’t agreed on the exact terms of that deal just yet,” he said.
“True. The only thing we agreed to is no blow jobs.”
“We did?” He looked over at her with sheer panic in his eyes.
“Yes.” She nodded. “You’ll still get them, just not in exchange for a sensory room.”
He slapped a hand to his chest. “Thank God.”
She laughed and was once again struck by how odd it was to find herself having such a good time with this man she’d detested for so long. A hollow sensation blossomed in her chest when she realized he would be gone in a couple of weeks.
London pitched those thoughts out of her head. The benefit to casually hooking up was that life went on without any baggage or regrets once the sex was over. This was still just a fling for her.
That dull feeling in her chest intensified.
“You never answered my question,” she said as she dipped her last falafel in the tzatziki. “Why did you leave your old company to start Trident?”
“My mom,” he said. “She got sick a few years back. Cancer. She passed away last year.”
“I’m sorry,” London said softly.
“Thanks.” He balled up the empty wrapper from his food and rolled the wad of foil between his palms. “She lived in a town about an hour and a half west of here.”
“I didn’t realize she’d remained in Texas.”
He nodded. “Despite my many attempts to bring her up to New York, she refused to leave this state. I found out too late that the small, rural hospital where she began her cancer treatments was both underfunded and mismanaged.”
