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Dr. Hart stood and extended his hand to Drake as he laughed. “Finn Maguire is your cousin? What a small world. That crazy SOB just needs to not get shot during a kamikaze mission next time he’s in Lebanon, and he’ll be safe from my can opener.”
Drake shook his hand. “Well, he’s my favorite cousin, so thanks for saving his life.”
Margo huffed and began pounding away on her tablet to add notes to a file.
“Finn and I served on the teams together. He’s hardcore. He probably would have tied his own tourniquet if I’d let him. Margo tells me you’re considering joining Mercy?”
“Yeah.” He looked at her again, but she refused to meet his eyes. “I think I’ve been away from home long enough. And plastics gets a little predictable, so I thought I’d spend some time in the ER.”
Dalton laughed. “You won’t find anything predictable in the ER. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. Next time I get your cousin out for a drink, you’ll have to join us.”
“Sounds great. Have a good shift. Good night, Dr. Monroe, I’ll see you in the morning,” Drake said and paused until Margo’s eyes shot up. Her lips lifted in a pinched smile he recognized as her annoyed-but-wouldn’t-say-what-was bothering-her face.
“Good night.” She flipped her braid back over her shoulder.
He had no choice but to leave them to their work, even if every part of him wanted to stay. But the moment he walked out of the emergency room, his body felt like it was completely depleted. Learning a dozen ER policies and procedures, coupled with being around Margo, had taken their toll. He made his way to the long-term stay hotel a few blocks away. He found it the day before when he decided he was staying longer. A furnished apartment within walking distance of the hospital was his home for the next month. But leaving Margo behind with Dr. Hart left a pit in his stomach. To make matters worse, Dalton was a nice guy, probably a great guy. But Finn had said he’d be surprised if Dalton was looking to settle down with anyone.
As far as Drake was concerned, Dalton wouldn’t be settling down with Margo. She was definitely his one that got away and had the power to pull him right back to being twenty-one. A full day around her made it clear he wasn’t over it.
They’d basically lived together in his dorm for four years of college at George Mason before they both got into medical school at UCLA. Then two days before they were due to move, she told him she couldn’t go. The scholarship she was depending on fell through, but he knew there were student loans or he could have helped her if she’d just let him. She’d applied for a local safety school without telling him and said she was going to go there instead. It was the feeder school for Mercy Hospital. He hadn’t even known she’d had a safety school.
It felt like she’d kept a backup plan from him and all of a sudden decided it was her new plan A—without him. He hadn’t applied anywhere else. UCLA had the best program in the United States for plastic surgery, and he had an offer from a prestigious medical practice if he could complete the program at the top of the class. He did both.
He’d argued they could do long distance, but she’d said no. She couldn’t worry about time zones and never seeing each other. She wanted to focus on school. He’d been forced to choose between his dream of medical school or staying in Virginia to be with Margo. And he chose UCLA. By the time he looked back, she’d cut him off.
*
The next week was the toughest he’d had since finishing medical school. He was constantly learning something about ER procedures, getting yelled at, and sewing up patients.
“What is it about people and knives? I’ve already sewn up five people today, and it’s—” Drake said.
Margo and Nina yelled in unison, “Don’t jinx it.”
The next person through the door was a man with a large hunting knife protruding out of the side of his leg.
“Son of a—” Nina popped him upside the head.
“What was that for?” he said, following the nurse and the man with the knife wound.
“Negative reinforcement. Next time you’re about to jinx us, you’ll associate it with pain. It works,” she called out after him.
Margo’s melodic laughter sounded from behind him, but she turned to greet Dr. Raj, another attending physician on rotation in the ER. She would spend the next half hour reviewing patient notes from the previous shift and then slip away without saying good night. It was her routine after every shift. At least she wasn’t meeting with Dalton again. He hadn’t expected the jealousy to be so swift when he’d seen her with Dalton at the gala, but clearly it had been more than enough for him to consider moving back. But seeing them together night after night was getting old. He needed to know how serious it was.
Tonight Finn invited him for drinks after work at a nearby lounge, and Dalton was joining them.
After dealing with the knife guy, and seeing no sign of Margo, he cleaned up and met his cousin at the high-end whiskey tasting room. He had learned that not only was Dalton a former SEAL, but he was also quite wealthy, with the kind of money that gave a man the luxury not to have to work. However, Dalton preferred to work in the most intense medical discipline in the hospital, the ER. He wondered if that was what drew Margo to him. Walking into the venue in black jeans, a gray shirt, and black coat, he felt underdressed when he found Finn and Dalton both in polished menswear and a waitress eyeing them like candy while asking for their drink order.
“Gentlemen,” Drake said as he took a seat in the empty plush black velvet chairs that matched the trendy, modern decor. Finn leaned forward and shook his hand while Dalton just nodded.
“Cousin, how bad is it working for a man who runs on adrenaline and green smoothies?” Finn asked.
“Well, to be frank, it feels like I’m running downhill and going to hit a brick wall every second of every shift,” Drake replied.
“Let me guess, I’m the brick wall,” Dalton said with a laugh.
“But are you happy with your decision?” Finn asked.
“I have a few more weeks to decide for sure, but I’m going to start looking for a house, if that tells you anything. It’s fast-paced, with no drama.”
