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That’s horseshit, and you know it, I thought as I pulled out my buzzing phone from my scrub pocket.She died the moment that semi T-boned her. Don’t let this get into your head, Cade.
“Hello,” I said wearily.
“Whoa,” Remington replied, his kids loud in the background and his voice slightly out of breath. “Who shriveled your dick?”
“Lost a patient,” I mumbled.
Remington went silent. The sound of his raucous boys suddenly died down, and I heard the loud swish and click of his backyard door. “I’m sorry, man. What happened?”
“Semi versus compact,” I said with a sigh. “She didn’t stand a chance, but I tried anyway.”
“Hey, they’re lucky to have a world-class neurosurgeon in their ER. She stood a better chance with you than with anyone else.”
A ghost of a smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “Thanks. No, I knew going into it that the outcome didn’t look good. Still sucks.”
“Yeah, it does. How long has it been?”
“Couple months,” I replied, rubbing my forehead and shuffling into the tiny, outdated locker room.
“The last one was an older patient, right? Heart attack?”
Remington was a lot of things—frat boy turned family man, tech guru with a yoga obsession, part-time crime solving sleuth leading a small army of online geniuses who solved cold cases. But more than anything else, he was observant, and he cared. Like, really cared. He cared about his family, he cared about the people in his orbit. And he remembered little details like which patient I’d lost and when.
“Yeah, only she wasn’t that old. Fifty-four.”
“Damn. Well, I’m sorry, man. You’re a good doctor, you know that, right?”
I knew it. It didn’t make losing a patient any easier.
“Hey, you can move back to the big city anytime, you know,” Remington said for the thousandth time since I had moved from Salt Lake to Montpelier three years ago.
I frowned as I unlaced my sneakers. “I’m starting to think you want to get rid of me.”
“Nah, I just feel bad. You were saving all those brains and doing research shit in SLC.”
“I likeMy Little Ponymarathons better,” I said honestly.
He snorted. “Okay, well we just have to find you a chick and get your roots down, then.”
I paused too long as my brain latched onto an image of Laurel sleeping soundly in my bed, her chocolate and caramel hair loose down her shoulders and her lips parted slightly as she let out little puffs of air.
Remington made a long, drawn-out sound of discovery. “Ohhhh man. What was that? What wasthatpause? Who did you meet?”
“No one,” I said too quickly. I kicked off my shoes and wedged the phone between my ear and shoulder as I shucked off my scrub pants and reached for my black slacks.
Remington made a buzzer sound. “Wrong. Try again.”
I sighed through my nose as I shoved my foot into the pantleg of my dress pants. “No one,yet.There’s a… maybe.”
“So, what, you fucked her, but you found out you kind of like her?” I scowled at the phone. “Don’t look at me like that,” Remington guessed correctly. “Come on, who is she?”
“How about I answer that if she’s still around when you all get back from your trip?”
“Fair enough. Get some, brother.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sorry, was there an actual reason you called?”
“Yes. Leif wants to know if he left his Pinkie Pie toy at your house.”
