The tears escaped and dripped down my cheeks. “Atlas—”
“I should have told you right in the beginning, but I was an asshole.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re an asshole.” I wiped the tears away. “I understand how hard this is for you.”
“Trust me, you don’t understand.” His arms returned to his knees, and he stared at the floor for a while, his eyes open and vacant, reliving memories that he didn’t want to share.
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to fix this.
He pushed to his feet again, grabbed his sweater off the floor, and slowly walked to the door.
I didn’t try to block it.
He grabbed his keys then walked out without saying a word.
3
Atlas
I wanted to call in sick and skip Monday.
But I didn’t have the luxury of sick days.
I had too much shit to do.
I went to the lab in the morning, and thankfully Dr. Hamilton had meetings that required his attention. It always happened at this time of the month, when he had to reflect on the wellness of the company as a whole with his CEO—his wife.
I went to the clinic afterward, my gaze locked on my office in the rear.
My assistant followed me inside, giving me all the messages waiting for my attention.
I got rid of her then worked in the office for the day, didn’t even look through the glass at my colleagues.
The last thing I wanted to do was see her.
She was smart and didn’t call.
Gave me space.
I would need a lot of that for a while.
Anthony came into my office at the end of the day. “Shelly and I just discharged Mr. Northridge. Fuck, Lyme disease is ruthless…”
“That’s great.” I tried to force the enthusiasm I normally felt in victorious moments like this, but I felt none. My chest was an empty pit. There were no emotions. Just venomous snakes. “I’ll assign you a new patient first thing in the morning.”
“Great.” He walked out.
Then Daisy walked in.
Fuck, I didn’t want to do this.
She shut the door behind herself then approached my desk, her eyes timid like a kid in time-out.
“I’m not ready—”
“I’m here for work. Only work.” She held a folder in her hand, dressed in black pumps and a black dress, looking elegant and powerful.
Even if that was the case, I still didn’t want to talk to her. But that would be a whole different level of unprofessional. I gave a nod to the armchair in front of my desk.
She took a seat, crossed her legs, and as if nothing had happened, talked to me about her patient.
I used to enjoy these conversations because they gave me an insight into her mind that I didn’t have before. I could see her thought process, how she connected ideas, how she jumped from one conclusion to the next with superior intelligence. Now I wanted nothing to do with her. Didn’t even want to see her face.
She placed the copies of the lab work on my desk. “He’s been admitted to the hospital for multiple heart attacks. I wouldn’t ask, but he doesn’t have much time left.”
I stared at the numbers she placed in front of me, and once a life was on the line, I snapped out of it. I straightened in my chair and organized everything on my desk before I spun around to grab a couple textbooks off the shelf behind me. I threw them on the desk before I hit the button on the intercom. “Lillian, grab dinner for two before you go. I don’t care what it is.”
Daisy’s head was down, reading through her notes. “Make it three.”
My eyes narrowed.
She answered my unspoken question. “I asked Dex to join us.”
The second Dex walked in the door, he was all business. He didn’t even acknowledge his sister before he sat in the other armchair and helped himself to the folder Daisy had made for him. With one ankle crossed on the opposite knee, he sat there and read through everything. Like me, he was dressed casually, just jeans and a t-shirt. You’d never know he was the best heart surgeon in the world.
We worked in silence, all of us thinking hard and fast, racing against the clock.
Dex flipped through a stack of papers. “It’s his medication.”
Daisy immediately turned to him. “Really? Which one?”
“All of them.” He bent the stack of papers with his thumb like a deck of cards and let them slide down one by one. “Who the fuck is on this much medication? The guy is in his fifties. I have patients in their nineties who take a fraction of this amount.”
I grabbed the medication list.
“Of course you’re going to have a heart attack when you’re on this much shit.” Dex grabbed a pen and started to make notes on the paperwork. “Piece-of-shit doctors…can’t figure out his problem, so they just throw medication at it. Fuck off.”
“You’re right,” I said. “There’s no way he needs all these.”
Daisy was quiet, her fingers brushing over her lips as she thought. “I bet he’s taking something he doesn’t need, and it’s causing distress to his heart.”
“You guys keep looking.” I grabbed another stack of papers. “I’m going to read through his physician notes.”
Another bout of silence passed, none of us touching the dinner on the table.
Too focused.
Dex released a sigh here and there, and Daisy hardly moved, just her fingers when she made a note on the paper.
The patient had been to the doctor a million times, so it was a lot for me to read through.
But after the fifteenth visit, I found something. “He was prescribed Viagra.”
Dex looked up from his chart. “It’s not on the medication list.”
Daisy looked up too.
“But if he were to take Viagra every single day, it wouldn’t be surprising to have this many heart attacks.” My mind worked quickly, finding an explanation within a few seconds. “He has so many pills to take, he’s probably taking the Viagra by mistake.”
“Shit.” Dex turned to Daisy, his eyes wide. “I bet that’s it.”
Daisy must have agreed because she threw her stuff down and darted out of the room. “I’ll call the hospital.” She ran in her heels to her office to make the call.
I shut the folder and leaned back in the chair. “Hope we figured it out in time.”
Dex grabbed a sandwich and relaxed in his chair, taking a big bite. “Fuck, me too.”
“Thanks for coming by to help.”
“Anytime.”
Daisy came back a few minutes later. “I got the message to his doctor, but I’m going to head to the hospital anyway.”
Dex picked up a sandwich and held it out for her.
“I don’t have time for that.” She grabbed her folder and bag and darted off without saying goodbye.
“Damn.” He turned in her chair and watched her go. “I’ve never seen Daisy turn down a meal.”
I watched through the window. She strutted to the main doors then stepped onto the sidewalk outside, my heart going with her. “Yeah, there’s only one thing she cares about more than food. People.”