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“I suspect you’ll do right by our girl then. Soon.”
“Of course, sir. If there’s nothing else, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I’ve got a few things to take care of before I head home.”
“Fine, fine. Go take care of business. When you talk to maintenance again, tell them I expect hospital property to be clear at all times, and that idiot—”
“Understood,” Garret said before Harry could go off on another tangent about the Maintenance Department’s performance. The team was top-notch, but Harry wasn’t satisfied. “Good night, sir.” Garret dropped the phone and held up a hand when Toby immediately opened his mouth. “Don’t—”
“Comment on that? Yeah, right. The Whipping Boy’s getting an earful tonight. What’s got the old goat’s goat?”
Garret glared at his friend and returned to his search of the drawer. Finding what he wanted, he pulled out some ibuprofen and downed two with the help of lukewarm root beer left over from lunch twelve hours earlier. He grimaced at the flat taste. “What are you doing here?”
“I was wondering the same thing about you.” Toby nodded toward the door. “Maria’s in labor and Rob’s trying to get back from a business trip in this mess so I got elected to drive her and Ma. Labor and Delivery is a busy place tonight.”
“Always is when the barometric pressure drops or there’s a full moon. Freaky stuff,” Garret muttered, referring to all the cyclical and otherwise unexplainable things that happened in a hospital. He’d learned to prepare for these events over the years after being caught off guard the first year or so on the job. Weather changes were nearly as busy as holidays when families turned against each other and the world’s most inept chefs decided they wanted to be Emeril and speed chop.
“You can say that again.” Toby’s agreement was packed with the vehemence of a confirmed bachelor. “I grabbed this on the way out, thinking I’d slip it under your door.” He lifted the file and waved it in the air for a few seconds to make his point before dropping it onto the desk. “The Jacobs settled and agreed to no press statements or public discussions regarding the case. Signed and sealed.”
“Thank God.” Garret rubbed his hands over his face in an attempt to ease the tension and fatigue. At least that was one problem handled with minimal fuss. The doctor at fault had been ordered to seek employment elsewhere months ago. But keeping the hospital’s name out of the papers because of a surgical accident hadn’t been easy. Or cheap.
“You know,” Toby said, “we could always go through with our plan from law school.”
“Beauty would never be the same with the two of us in practice together.”
“Just an option to think about. Gotta admit we’d set the white shoe boys on their asses if we did.”
Garret nodded as he always did whenever Toby brought the subject of a partnership up, and added the file to the stack he would take home with him—a stack to match the one already in his SUV from his first attempt to leave. He needed to review the settlement before passing the news on to the board at the meeting Monday morning. If therewasa meeting. Having to reschedule would screw up a whole week’s worth of meetings. Was that what life was about? A series of meetings? Was he destined to spend his days listening to Harry complain?
Toby’s reminder about their law school ideas left Garret scowling. He’d like to say that opening a practice had been the pipe dream of two idealistic attorneys out to change the world, but that wasn’t true.
“You look like hell. Bad day?”
“You could say that.” Garret stacked the piles together and stuffed them into his briefcase. He’d told the nurses to call him if things took a turn for the worse and they weren’t going to be able to stop Darcy’s labor. Did that mean they had? He should’ve instructed them to update him no matter what.
“I heard that trip to Nashville yesterday scored you a nice ride.”
He grimaced. News traveled fast. It had been Harry’s responsibility to go to Nashville, but the president had balked at the last minute with a bogus excuse, sending Garret to deal with the university hospital officials instead. Knowing he’d come back to a disaster after a single day away, the visit to the car lot had been a gift to himself. “Always wanted a convertible. It’ll be delivered this spring in time for the pretty weather.”
He stood and pulled on his coat, piled more files into the already-full briefcase and led the way to the door. Another week gone in the blink of an eye. It wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t leave his house before six every morning to hit the gym and arrive at work before the sun did more than brighten the horizon. Why buy a convertible if he could only drive it in the dark? “You’ll love it when we take it to the course for the charity golf tournament in June.”
Toby waited while Garret locked the office. “Like that’ll happen. You’ll cancel again. What was it last time? Something to do with the nurses’ union?”
“Security upgrade,” Garret corrected automatically, his brain clicking through time and events by the problems that had crept up and ruined his enjoyment of them. Toby had a point there, as much as Garret hated to acknowledge it. The odds were against him. “The new system kept going off every five minutes, and it was upsetting all the parents with infants in the nursery.” He lifted the leather case and used the worn corner to punch the down arrow at the elevator. “You’ll thank me once your niece is in there and all is quiet.”
“That law degree must really help with handling that kind of stuff.”
Garret twisted his neck, sighing in relief when it popped loudly. “Enough, Tobe. My job may not be one hundred percent law—”
“Or even twenty.”
“—but I’m good at what I do and—”
“Your father and grandfather worked hard to get you the position,” Toby muttered, his voice reeking of boredom as he made the statement. “Hey, I get that there are perks, and I know guys who’d kill for your pay. But for all the hours and headaches I don’t see much in it for you besides a ridiculous salary and a prime parking space. Is the money worth all…that?” He indicated the bulging briefcase.
“Everything’s going to be shut down because of the snowstorm. Joss and I are supposed to get together this weekend, but with the snow I thought maybe we could stay in and—”
“Work?”Toby smirked.
“Back off, Tobe. Not now, okay?”
