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The clock ticked to the top of the hour, and his pulse slammed in his throat.
He took a step forward and cleared his throat. “Good morning, everyone.” He pointed at the white board. “I’m Kyle Nixon…”
And then he knew what he needed to do. He stepped back and grabbed a red marker. He added the most important piece of information to the board in big block letters.
Kyle Nixon, M Ed class of 2016
Guest Lecturer
GRADE 4/5/6 TEACHER
(14 LONG, WONDERFUL YEARS)
“And I’m a teacher. I’m taking a break from the classroom to do some graduate work, but my pedagogy begins and ends in the classroom, where it matters. And that’s what we’re going to talk about for the next hour.” He took a deep breath, refusing to look to the back of the lecture hall where his professor sat. “So let’s talk about all the ways that what we’re taught in here has zero bearing on what we see out there.”
He might be fucking over his career as an academic, but at least he had everyone’s attention.
Laney had never been to Bluewater Cove Regional Medical Centre before, and she was surprised when, after driving for an hour on county roads surrounded by snow-covered fields and not much else, she found herself in the parking lot of a substantial hospital.
Even though they had surgical residents doing rotations here, she’d thought it would be smaller than this. Two significant-sized wings extended from a large central tower, and it was all gleaming bright and shiny in the winter sun. She parked in the visitor lot and headed inside. A friendly volunteer at a desk in the lobby pointed the way to the OR, where she introduced herself to the coordinator in the front office. He looked at the schedule and informed her that the resident she was here to meet, Dr. Kim, would be in surgery for another thirty minutes.
Before she finished writing a note for Dr. Kim, she heard a voice behind her. “Laney Calhoun?”
She looked up and saw a tall, familiar form from her past. “Wyatt!” She gave her former classmate a big grin and took his extended hand. “I didn’t know you were here!”
Wyatt Fisher had been a year ahead of her in medical school, and had done one rotation at the hospital she did her residency at in Calgary. “Long time no see.”
“Did you know I’d be here?”
He winked. The man was walking charisma, although it had never been like that between them. And it wasn’t now, either. His gaze was curious and looked on her, but not in an interested way. “Ellie told me she was interviewing with you and I thought I’d surprise you. Can I buy you a coffee?”
She tipped her head to the side, trying to read him. It was impossible. But coffee sounded great. “Of course.”
They fell into step beside each other as he directed her to the coffee shop on the third floor. The lounge looked out the other side of the hospital from where she’d parked, and she gasped at the view—in front of them lay the town of Bluewater Cove, and beyond that, the frozen edge of Lake Huron.
“Nice, huh?”
Laney looked out the window again after they got drinks and a bagel for baby. “This is some hospital you’ve got here, Dr. Fisher. I’m assuming you’re on staff?”
“Not just on staff. As of two weeks ago, I’m the interim chief of surgery.”
“Wow.” It wasn’t uncommon for young surgeons to get pushed into leadership roles. They were often thankless positions that older surgeons had done their time in and wanted nothing more to do with. “That’s a lot of work.”
“Especially when we’re short-staffed.”
She couldn’t imagine. “Cancelling surgeries?”
“Some. Doing a lot in the evenings and on weekends, too. Just a lot of hours.” He rocked back in his chair. His gaze never left her face. “How are you liking Chicago?”
She hesitated.
He shrugged. “You can tell me to piss off if you want.”
She laughed. “No, I like it a lot. We like it. My husband is actually from around here…”
From the twinkle in Wyatt’s eye, he knew that.
Laney gave him an “I see what you’re doing” look, and kept going. “But he’s moved to Chicago and is in the middle of grad school there. We really do like it, but…the answer is more complicated now than it used to be.” She pointed at her belly. “I’m due in the spring.”
