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Chapter 2: Jace
A perfect day. So far. Those kinds of days are rare. I’ve had a meeting with my managers and there were no surprises there. The contractors doing some renovations in the patient bathrooms on the second floor are on schedule. All the systems that make our clinic run smoothly are working as they should.
I glance at my wrist watch as I enter the clinic café. I’m right on time to meet my brothers for lunch. My stomach growls as the scent of food teases my nostrils.
“Do you have any of that delicious lasagna left, Rosie?”
“One last piece.” Rosie smiles and gestures to the far end of the café where Dylan and Alec are seated. “They took two each.” She laughs and turns away to arrange my lunch on a tray. She serves me a cup of coffee without asking, knowing that I need a boost of coffee for the afternoon. Employees like Rosie are the back bone of the clinic. She started working at the café when my parents started the clinic. She’s loyal and she has an incredible work ethic. I doubt if Rosie has ever missed work except for when one of her boys was sick. “Enjoy,” she says, handing me the lunch tray.
I carry it across the room to where my brothers are seated. “Hey.” I sit down and immediately start eating. I’m starving.
“You need a woman in your life to teach you eating etiquette.” Dylan grins. He can say that now because he has Harper. A few years ago, when Alec first got married, he and I were in the same boat.
I fork a generous helping of lasagna into my mouth. Hospital cafeterias have a bad reputation for serving bad food. Ours is different, thanks to Rosie and the cooks under her watch. “Want to lend me Harper? Bet she won’t want to come back to you after she gets a taste of me.”
Dylan scowls as I knew he would. He absolutely adores that wife of his but then, so do we all. Both my brothers lucked out in the wife department. Ivy, Alec’s wife, is awesome. She’s an author and great company. It doesn’t seem fair that my womanizing brothers have found love while I haven’t.
I’ve more or less given up. My relationships usually start off well, but then the complaints about how much time I spend at the clinic start coming in. It’s not a false accusation either. Sometimes, I come back after dinner to walk around and make sure that everything is okay. It’s so ingrained in my system that if I don’t do it, it feels as if something is missing. I enjoy having a chat with the staff on duty and helping out where I can. I wheel the patients to where they are needed or whichever other task needs to be done. Mingling with the staff and patients grounds me. It’s a reminder that we are all about service to people. When you’re up there in the CEO’s office, it’s easy to forget that your bosses are the patients.
“You would bring her back after a day,” Dylan says. “She’s moody as fuck but that’s to be expected.” Harper is pregnant and knowing my sister-in-law, she’s not handling the inconveniences that come with pregnancy very well. She’s a career woman with a passion for philanthropy. I can’t imagine her taking forced days off from her beloved work.
“Is Joshua excited that he’s going to be a big brother?” Alec asks.
“He doesn’t get the whole big brother thing,” Dylan says and we all chuckle.
I eat and listen as they talk about growing children and families. A longing grips my chest like a vise and not for the first time. These days I feel it more and more when my brothers talk about their families. I want the same thing too but at thirty-four years old, I’m losing hope fast. Maybe the universe knows what it’s doing. I’m not cut out for family life. The clinic comes first and I don’t see that situation changing anytime soon.
I take a sip of my coffee. Whoever invented coffee deserves an award.
“Hey, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about,” Dylan says, his face solemn.
“I’m listening,” I say.
“I have this idea to have a one-day free clinic where people from disadvantaged backgrounds can get a chance to be treated at our clinic. You know fertility issues don’t care about financial backgrounds. It’s a wide spread problem and we can help,” Dylan says, his face intense.
“Wow,” is my first reaction. Where did that come from? A one-day free clinic? I’ve heard of the concept and I know that a lot of big hospitals are doing it these days but because of their size, they can absorb that loss. I’m not sure about a specialist clinic like ours.
Dylan frowns. “Is that a positive wow or a negative one?”
It’s not the first time that one of my brothers has come to me with an idea for the clinic. There was the time Alec wanted us to expand to other areas of surgery and not limit ourselves to gynecological issues. I vetoed that by having them go back to the clinic’s core mission which is to help families grow.
Our clinic has won several patient care awards over the years and it’s thanks to my brothers. Alec and Dylan excel in that area. I, on the other hand, excel in the overall management of the clinic. Given our different areas of strength, we are bound to clash sometime. I see one coming up now.
“Well?” Dylan prompts when I don’t immediately respond. “Why are you hesitating? Is it the funding?”
“We can afford it at least in the short term,” I reply. My concern is difficult to put into words and I don’t want to pour cold water on Dylan’s idea. “It’s a noble idea.”
He stares at me, impatience written all over his face.
I choose my words carefully. “I’m not sure that’s the direction we want to take as a clinic. We cater to a completely different demography.”
“You are such a fucking snob,” Dylan explodes. “So what are you saying? That our paying clients are more important than the people who need our services but can’t afford them?” Dylan is the most explosive of the three of us. Add impatient to that list and that’s our youngest brother. When he puts his mind to something, he wants it done today.
“Hey, cool it,” Alec says. “You’re not being fair to Jace.”
Dylan raises his hands in the air. “It’s just that it’s important to me.”
Like Harper, Dylan is drawn to philanthropy. So much so that he has gotten a few awards for it. He does voluntary work on his days off from the clinic. Sometimes he’ll take an extended leave to focus on voluntary work. He says it restores his soul. I get that. I also get this need to give back as a clinic but my primary responsibility is to our current patients. The paying ones who keep our clinic running and profitable.
