I stopped right before opening it. “And another thing. I think it’s completely unethical what you and Gibson are doing. But it’s fine. Doesn’t matter.” I looked him in the eye. “This is my team. This is my hospital. You’ll never get the job, no matter who pulls strings for you.”
I slammed the door on my way out.
Chapter 4
Jacob
I had no idea what the hell she was talking about. None. And I wasn’t going to ask her. I waited a few moments before leaving the supply closet to give her a chance to clear the area. Then I did my best to stay on my own side of the ER for the rest of my shift.
I wondered if I could keep doing this. I was miserable here. I was miserable at Memorial, and I would probably be miserable wherever else I went too. Maybe this was my life now, just existing and hating every minute of it.
It occurred to me that maybe Amy had been right to give up on me. How could I be lovable when I wasn’t even likable?
I wrapped up my last patient and was heading to the locker room when Zander came out of room seven, the one Benny was in.
“Maddox!” He grinned at me. “There you are. I was gonna go hunt your ass down.”
Dr. Zander Reese was a nephrologist. A kidney specialist and a good one. He was also my best friend. We’d been roommates in med school and through our residencies. He was one of the selling points of this move. Knowing someone here had been a plus. It was nice to finally see a familiar face, one that wasn’t scowling at me.
Maybe Zander was Benny’s kidney specialist? I peered past him to see into the room, but the curtain was across the sliding glass door.
I wondered if she was still there. Probably.
I felt like I should apologize to her for the comment in the supply closet, but it seemed like the more I talked, the worse things got.
Zander smacked me on the shoulder. “Hey, sorry I missed you yesterday, bud, I had rounds at the dialysis clinic.” He nodded down the hallway. “Gibson sent me to look for you. You’re off right now, right? Wanna get a drink? We’re thinking Mafi’s across the street.”
I liked Mafi’s. And I liked that it was a place I’d been to before. He’d probably picked it for that exact reason.
Places I knew were less stressful for me because I had a sense of how loud it was going to be, how crowded. I wouldn’t have to ask anyone where the restrooms were.
Sometimes I’d Google a place just to see what I could before going. Figure out what I’d order, what the parking situation would be like. Or if there was a big dinner or a party I had to go to, I’d walk through the venue the day before, so when I got there, I’d feel more oriented and less stressed before having to deal with a large social commitment.
I’d done that here too. I’d toured Royaume twice before I took the transfer. Zander was here, I knew Gibson, I knew the job, I’d felt comfortable with the move.
But sometimes even the most thorough due diligence couldn’t show you the heart of a thing…
Zander was waiting for my reply.
Normally after a day like today I’d just want to go home. But I needed to have a positive social interaction so the last one wouldn’t be all I could think about. If I didn’t put something between me and what happened, I’d fixate on it the rest of the night.
“Sure,” I said. “Let me get changed. I’ll meet you guys there.”
I found them in the restaurant thirty minutes later. Gibson waved me over with a friendly smile. He was one of those easy people everyone liked.
Gibson and I went way back. We’d never worked together, but we’d had the same job for the last few years and ended up at enough of the same conferences to get pretty well acquainted. Plus he knew Mom. Most doctors did. She was a well-respected physician in her own right.
He smiled at me as I sat down. “Maddox. How’s the new job treating you?”
“Good,” I lied.
“And how’s Amy?” he asked.
“Fine. We broke up eight months ago.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Ouch. I didn’t know that. I’m sorry. Is that why you transferred?”
I picked up a menu and looked at it, though I didn’t need to. I’d already checked it out online. “In part, yes,” I said. “She’s getting married, actually. To Jeremiah.”
Zander stared at me. “Are you kidding me?”
“I’m afraid not.”
Gibson leaned back in the booth. “And what does your mother have to say about that?”
“Plenty,” I mumbled.
Zander nodded at me. “At least you got the dog,” he said.
“There is that.”
I’d adopted Lieutenant Dan when Amy and I were together. He was my dog, but we’d shared him pretty equally, and Amy loved him just as much as I did. I half-expected her to ask for partial custody, but luckily she didn’t fight me on it. She didn’t fight me for much, come to think of it. There was nothing to fight over. We’d never lived together, didn’t have kids.
I looked up at Gibson over the menu. “Hey, I wanted to ask you something. There’s a doctor here, Briana—Zander, I think you’re treating her brother?”
“Dr. Ortiz,” Gibson said a little warily. “Is she giving you problems?”
“No. She said something to me about you pulling strings for me? She seemed upset about it. Do you know what that’s about?”
He blew a breath through his lips. “She’s up to replace me when I go. I mentioned to her that I’ve put off retiring to give the staff a chance to get to know you before we vote on the next chief. She was not happy with me.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded. Well, that would do it.
“I have no interest in the position, Gibson.”
He looked surprised. “No? I just assumed you’d take a stab at it. You took a pretty big step down coming here.”
“My chief days are over. I came here to simplify my life.” And was failing miserably…
He let out a sigh. “Okay. Well, I can respect that.”
“Seems a little unfair to delay the vote on my behalf,” I said. “I can understand why she’d be frustrated.”
“Eh, it wouldn’t have mattered,” Gibson said dismissively. “No shade to you, I’m sure you’d put up a heck of a fight, but it’d be a landslide in her favor no matter how long I waited. Her team loves her and she’s a hell of a physician.”
“Then why bother putting off the vote?” I asked.
He picked up his menu and started to look it over. “I don’t like the optics of her running unchallenged. It takes validity out of the win and I don’t want anyone whispering under their breath that she got it because there was no one else. It’s not fair to her and it’s not a good way to enter a position of leadership.”
Zander bobbed his head. “So you put her up against an obvious front-runner—and let her obliterate him.” He looked impressed. “I like it.” He nodded at me. “Fucked up for you, but I do like it.”
I also liked it. Not the me losing part, but the reason for it. At least it had been well intentioned.
“As noble as it sounds, I’m still going to have to opt out,” I said.