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Alex didn’t seem to take any offense, though Kayla could almost see the frustrated waves radiating off Daniel increase. Stella had made plenty of mistakes in her life, to be sure, but she had turned a corner in the past couple years.
A door opened and closed on the second floor.
“Here we are. Angela’s dress couldn’t be repaired, so we found her something else to wear.” Eliza escorted Angela back downstairs to the living room. “What are we talking about?”
“Step 2 studying,” Raj mumbled, his eyes threatening to fall out of their sockets.
The ‘something’ Elizabeth had selected for Angela was a lehenga from Kayla’s closet. Kayla owned multiple sarees, primarily for family events, and Elizabeth had picked a lehenga Kayla wore for a cousin’s wedding two years ago.
The outfit fit Angela differently than it did Kayla. The lehenga sparkling pink and orange skirt wasn’t the problem. Nor was the sheer beaded fabric dupatta drape crossing half of Angela’s chest.
The choli blouse had been a crop top for Kayla’s more modest charms. On Angela, it was barely a jeweled bikini, as her chest strained out the top.
Poor Angela immediately squeezed onto the loveseat between Michael and the arm. Her husband hugged her to his side, partially hiding her from view for the second time of the night.
Eliza, unable to find an empty spot, plopped down on Marcus Doyle’s lap. “Ah, Step 2, the newest way to open doors to your preferred specialty. How’s the specialty selection going, Harper?”
“I’ve been thinking more and more about surgery lately,” Michael answered after taking a quick glance at Eliza.
Angela grimaced slightly. “Honey, I thought you were considering ER.”
“I was. I am,” Michael said, a ball of contradictions.
“You’ll do fine at either. You think on your feet. Perfect for a man who delivered my baby in a parking lot in a tornado,” Stella said. “I will totally serve as a character reference.”
Steadman choked.
“What’s the holdup in making you decide?” Eliza asked. “Need more clinical time?”
“I’m going to reassess my options after my exam,” Michael said, his eyes staring instead at his wife. “I have more considerations than specialty to worry about.”
Kayla understood his meaning. More than most medical students, he had a very limited number of institutions he could match into and be near Angela. If his board score wasn’t good, he’d have a difficult choice to make.
“You’ll do great on the exam. You’ve been studying so much.” Angela laid her head on his shoulder. “Whichever one you pick, I can follow you after I finish my fellowship.”
Michael grimaced at that. Angela had three more years at MetroGen, and his shortest residency would last a year after that. If he did surgery, his residency would be five more years.
“I have a great idea to help you pick. Why don’t we give you a two-week mixed emergency surgery rotation? Two weeks on the ER and two weeks with the trauma team,” Eliza suggested.
Michael tore his gaze away from Angela. “Really, you’d do that?”
“Yeah, I’m the clerkship director. I can make any rotation I want. Marcus, are you on board?” Eliza blatantly batted her eyelashes.
Doyle rubbed his chin. “Intriguing idea. Don’t have a reason we can’t.”
“Then it’s settled. Med Student Michael Harper is the first victim... er… volunteer for the combined fourth-year trauma-emergency rotation.” Eliza snapped her fingers. “I’ll start the paperwork tomorrow. What month would you like?”
“I can rearrange for September or October. Interviews are December and January,” Michael said.
“Good choice. It’ll give you plenty of time to get your letters of recommendation. And should give you plenty of long versus short procedure experience,” Doyle agreed with the plan.
“Besides, it might convince you to pick the best of both worlds, pulmonary critical care,” Angela suggested.
“Brilliant, brilliant, though I’m not sure I’m ready to make love to potassium for three years of internal medicine to get there.” Michael kissed her bare shoulder, and nearby Steadman made a gasping noise. “Maybe I’ll decide I want to go into neurosurgery or ENT instead.”
“Very funny.” Angela stayed cuddled up to him.
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with neurosurgery or ENT!” Stella protested.
