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All this time, she thought he’d chosen his medical future over her, but then to hear him blame her for their breakup, it was too much. For him to believe she could have ever dated his brother, felt like another arrow to her wounded heart. This proved their past was a stone best left unturned. It was too painful and messy. He was only back temporarily, but once his mom had a clean bill of health, the excitement of the ER wore off, and his glamourous life in LA started calling, he’d be gone again.
She just needed him to stay long enough for the board to select the new deputy director, then he could go on his merry way. She would play her part, even if it meant she was stuck working with the man she might still love. And even if he blamed her for how things ended.
Chapter Eight
Drake
Drake felt rocked to the core. He had pushed Margo because he needed her to explain why she thought they’d broken up. Now it was clear she blamed him for ending things between them, but maybe she still cared about him.
Maybe she’d never stopped.
Why else would she be bothered by the idea of him dating someone at the hospital? All these years, he’d thought she had been the one to walk away. How was it that two people so in love and connected could see such a pivotal moment in their lives so drastically different? Had he been so blinded by the dazzle of UCLA medical school that he missed what was going on with Margo? His parents had been elated when he got into the medical program and had a top-tier medical practice looking at him. Margo had been excited too at first because they’d both gotten in. But then suddenly, she changed her mind about taking on student loan debt, like it was the excuse she’d needed. It never dawned on him that she didn’t qualify for enough loans. At the time, he’d been so crushed and then overwhelmed with medical school he’d just pushed it aside.
He’d only been back to Virginia twice in the years they’d been apart, and he’d never sought her out or confronted his brother. But now working with her, it was clear they still had a very real attraction, and he had been missing out on a lot. It was like a door was opened on a world he’d forgotten. In LA it was state-of-the-art facilities, uber-wealthy clients, posh, boring, easy, routine. But in the ER it was challenging, unexpected, messy, dramatic, and Margo.
He’d had no choice but to find a way to stay longer after learning about his mom’s health. And seeing Margo. Because when he’d touched her, it felt like a bolt of lightning mixed with memories, and something he was missing in life. It had been surprisingly easy to convince Mercy to let him spend time working in the ER, and while his practice wasn’t happy about his hiatus, the other physicians were more than happy to take the thousands of dollars’ worth of procedures he had booked and pad their own accounts.
The problem now was getting her to admit there was still something between them and convince her they owed it to each other to explore it. He had insisted the director assign him to work with Margo so he could be close to her, but he knew as his supervisor she probably felt an obligation to remain professional. He was going to help her move beyond that, but first, he needed to speak to Ian. Because it was time to clear up why they were always at odds and fix it, one way or another.
*
Drake was freezing since he was forced to wait outside the Mindful Rehab Clinic an hour outside the city, a facility where his brother had apparently checked himself into.
It wasn’t lost on him that he had no idea his mother was sick or his brother struggled with an addiction that warranted the need to go to rehab, more than once. Or the fact that Ian confided in Margo and not him. The oddest thing was that his mother had even known where he was and didn’t show any distress when she told him.
After almost twenty minutes, his brother finally appeared through the thick glass doors and spoke to the guard shielded behind another set of glass. Next, Ian walked toward him and was buzzed outside. Instead of inviting Drake in, he opened the door and pulled out a pack of what looked like holistic non-tobacco cigarettes.
Ian grimaced before sliding one between his teeth and offering one to him. Drake bit down on his knee-jerk reaction to tell Ian he was an idiot for offering a doctor anything that looked remotely like an inhalant.
“No thanks.” He took in his brother’s casual clothing, a name tag on his T-shirt. His dark blue eyes were clear, like the depths of the ocean, with no bloodshot indications of any kind of substance.
“Um, are you allowed to exit? I didn’t mean for them to let you out,” Drake stammered, unsure what he should say.
“Yes, I’m allowed out. It’s not a prison. What are you even doing here? You didn’t call me for a decade, and now you’re suddenly bugging me at work?” Ian said, walking out into the sunshine and lifting his face to the sky, the unlit cigarette in his mouth.
“Wait, you’re working?”
“Yes, why else would I be here?” Ian replied, but then one eyebrow cocked up and he eyed Drake. “Wait, did you think I was a patient here?” A sly grin spread, and he almost dropped the cigarette. Then he started chuckling to himself.
“Ian, can we pretend for five minutes you don’t despise me? And will you please just catch me up on your life? What are you doing here? I thought you were a public defender.”
Ian huffed. “Mom said you were coming. I just didn’t believe her.”
“Look, I know we never got along, but I’ve never hated you. I didn’t care for your party lifestyle or the way you punished Mom and Dad while you found yourself and rebelled against anything Dad ever said, but haven’t we grown out of all that?”
Ian laughed. “I don’t know. It looks like I still enjoy getting a rise out of you.”
Drake huffed and ran his hand through his hair. His brother was the one person who could drive him insane. Maybe it was because he knew he had so much potential. Ian was always sharp witted and an exceptional athlete.
“Okay, yes, we have grown out of it. I just assumed you’d written me off. It took me hitting rock bottom and getting arrested, but I’m not that kid anymore. I haven’t been for years, but it’s fun to let Dad think I still am once in a while.”
“So you had a drinking problem, but you’re sober?”
Ian shrugged. “Honestly, I wasn’t even good at that. It started out small and recreational—a little booze and weed in high school. It’s funny how much you can pretend to be something you’re not, and people will believe you.” Ian sat on a bench nearby. “Everyone thought you were the golden son, so I got to be the bad egg. When Alex died, that really put me in a dark place.”
Drake waited, holding his breath. He’d never spoken to his brother about everything that happened surrounding his high school girlfriend’s death, but they’d all known it changed him. Alex was a bad influence on Ian. She was a party girl, but people blamed Ian. Even though Ian had been home in bed the night Alex died. She’d gone with some older kids to a party in the city and overdosed the first time she’d tried opiates.
“Then in college, drinking heavily became a bit of a problem. After getting arrested at a frat party that went bad, I was suspended from the swim team. Then one more party that ended with me having my stomach pumped, and I was done with it. That was my rock bottom.”
