CHAPTER TEN
Langston
“Linda, would you please schedule Mrs. Roberts for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy?”
She gave me a little salute. “I’m on it. Another gallbladder bites the dust. Room six is next. One more after that and you’re done for the day.”
Grabbing the chart for my next patient, I reviewed it quickly. A follow-up check from a bowel resection two weeks ago.
That stopped me in my tracks.
Two weeks ago, Dad performed this surgery and I was in Nigeria. Everything was normal at the time he made the first cut. Now, Dad’s patient was mine.
Dad’s office was mine.
The charts. The scribbled notes with his familiar handwriting. His staff, the ones who continued to look at me with sad eyes.
The next two patients took less than half an hour to complete. It would have taken much less if they both hadn’t wanted to talk about my father and what a great man he once was.
I made the appropriate noises and head gestures as I examined their healing wounds. I ordered the right tests or referred them to the appropriate specialist for continued follow-up treatment. I wrote a prescription for an antibiotic. Then I was done.
At only a little after four in the afternoon, I’d already finished the clinic schedule for the day, and I wasn’t sure what to do with myself next. This wasn’t close to the kind of life I was used to, with office days and operating room days so neatly filed into a calendar which I was expected to follow.
This was what I’d been afraid of. Boredom. The monotony. And I’d only been doing it a few days.
Tomorrow would be better, I told myself. I had three surgeries in the books. Two were gallbladders, something I could do in my sleep, but it was something different than checking sutures and pressing bellies.
Heading back into Dad’s office — my office — I shrugged out of the white coat and hung it on the hook next to his. I hadn’t had the heart to remove it, might never remove it. Just like I might never change the dark wall color into something lighter I would prefer. Just like I’d probably never take all of Dad’s medical journals off the shelf. I felt like a trespasser stepping on hallowed ground.
But this was my life now. Steady. Sedate. For the most part, anyway. There would be emergencies, I knew. There would be a day when the patient schedule was jam-packed. Dad had slowed down the past couple years, but I could fill it back up. Maybe do some advertising to build the practice to its fullest capacity. I could even offer evening hours for those who had trouble getting off from work. Anything. I could do anything I needed so I wouldn’t have to go home alone.
Lonely.
I shook the word off, attempted to shake off the woman who had uttered it, and went to stand by the window. The view of the city skyline was beautiful, but I found myself looking down at the streets. That was what I found myself doing often. Looking for red curls, my stomach lurching each time I saw anyone who came close to looking like her.
Because I was a fool, I’d gone to the bar where I’d met her last night. I’d nursed three beers, waiting to see if she might step through the door.
She didn’t.
And she wouldn’t. I knew that. But I couldn’t stop my eyes from scanning the crowds, my gut twisting with hope and desperation.
There were over eight million people in the city. Finding one person was like searching a beach to find a particular speck of sand. I had to get over her. Needed to get over her.
Maybe Josh was right. I should just go out, find some willing woman to fuck, then screw the little redheaded witch out of my head.
“Dr. Kimbrough?”
I turned from the window to find Linda standing in my door. “Yes.”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but we got a phone call from St. Mary’s, and they are in desperate need of doctors.”
I frowned. “When?”
Linda lifted both hands. “Now. Today.”
I straightened, a sense of foreboding coming over me. I hadn’t heard of any disasters, but I also hadn’t been paying attention to the news. “What happened?”
She sighed. “Apparently, there was some National Hospital Week event for the doctors at lunchtime today. There was a sushi bar and half the medical staff has come down with food poisoning.”
I stared at her. “You’re kidding.”
“Wish I was.” She wrinkled her nose, causing her entire face to wrinkle. “I love sushi, but I might be off it for a while.”
I headed her way, jumping at the chance to stay busy. “I don’t have privileges there.”
She was a step ahead of me. “I can fax them pertinent information. They can grant you emergency temporary privileges before you can walk through the doors.”
I shrugged back into my white jacket. “Wow, food poisoning sure does wax the cogs of a normally slow wheel.”
“You betcha. Text me later to let me know what needs to be done.” She smirked, the older nurse having seen it all. “And don’t slip in anyone’s puke. Don’t need you to break a leg.”
I laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”
She placed a hand on my arm. “Langston. Sorry, I mean, Dr. Kimbrough. —I”
“Call me Langston.”
She smiled, her eyes crinkling up at the corners. “I changed your diapers, you know. It’s kinda hard to not think about you as that little boy.”
I patted the hand still on my arm. “I know. It’s Langston. Always for you.”
She beamed at me. “Well, Langston, it’s good to have you here. I know it’s not what you wanted, but it’s good for you to do it anyway. You’re a good son. Your father adored you and was very proud of you and the man you became.”
I swallowed hard. “Thanks, Linda. We’ll make it work.”
The bright smile was back. “I have every confidence in you. Remember to be wary of brown puddles on the floor and don’t let any of those cute nurses snatch you up.” She winked, giving me a glimpse of the young nurse she once was. “I’ve heard they’re be polling for New York Hottest Bachelors. Don’t want to miss out on that.”
I fake shivered for her benefit. “Gotcha. No puke. No cute nurses with snares. And absolutely no bachelor lists.”
She was still laughing as I headed out the door and went through the process of dealing with New York traffic as I headed to where I was needed most.
***
“Thank you for coming, Dr. Kimbrough,” a harried-looking doctor said as I was shown into the emergency room.
I stuck out my hand to shake hers. “Glad I could help. And glad you avoided the raw fish.”
She wrinkled her nose. “It’s a good day to be a vegetarian for sure.”
I looked around the busy emergency room. “What do you need me to do?”
She looked down at a clipboard in her hands. “Have you signed for temp privileges?”
“Yes, just came from administration.”
She looked relieved. “Great. What are your specialties? I know you’re a surgeon. So sorry about your father, by the way. But what else can you do? Deliver babies?” She looked up at me hopefully.
I nearly groaned, but from the look in her eyes, that was clearly where help was most needed. “Yes. I’m trained in obstetrics, although it’s been a while since I’ve sat through a vaginal delivery. Conducted several C-sections in Nigeria in the past year, so my skills are up for that too, if needed.”
She leaned back against the wall and wiped her forehead with the sleeve of her jacket. “That’s perfect, better than I could have wished for at this point. We have several laboring mothers on the floor, one who is trying for vag delivery but might need to be sectioned. We have one OB up there already. No anesthesiologists. Every damn one of them are raw fish eaters. Got a couple on route to fill in.”
While I’d been hoping to stay in the trauma unit, I would go wherever I was needed the most. She gave me directions to the elevator, and I took it to the correct floor, then was buzzed into the secure labor and delivery unit where I was met by a round-faced woman with a huge smile on her face.
“Dr. Kimbrough…” she was blushing and breathless, “I’m Melinda, day shift charge nurse for the unit.” She was talking a mile a minute. “Thank you for coming. I’m so sorry about your father. He was such a good man. I worked with him for a few years before coming here. A really good man.”
“Thank you.” I looked around the unit with its soft, soothing colors so different from the emergency room. “What do you need me to do?”
She looked me up and down, then licked her lips, “C-c-clothes. You need to change.” She blew out a long breath that fluttered her bangs. “Follow me.”
Trailing behind her squat form, she led me to the men’s locker room. There, she pointed out fresh scrubs in my size. Then she just stood there, staring at me. “Um, thanks. I’ll take it from here,” I said, shrugging out of my jacket. She didn’t move, just continued to stare as I worked at the tie I hated. “Um, Melinda. I’ll find you when I’m finished.”
She jumped, blushed furiously, and turned on her heel. “Of course. I’ll be at the nurses’ station.”
I made short work of getting out of my constraining office clothes and into the familiar rough cotton I preferred. Stepping back into the hallway to find Melinda, I stopped short as a screaming woman was being wheeled toward me on a stretcher by two tight-faced men.
“I’m not pregnant,” the clearly pregnant woman screamed and tried to climb out of the stretcher. I rushed to assist, another nurse coming on the other side.
The woman grabbed me by the front of my scrubs, twisting her hand around the fabric. “Tell them I’m not pregnant so there is no way I can be in labor! I’ll sue this place! Sue!!!”
I glanced at one of the men, who was just shaking his head, his lips in a thin line. Using my most soothing tone, I said, “Let’s take a look and see what’s wrong then. Since we’re here, we’ll use one of these rooms.” She seemed to settle, letting go of my shirt and lying back on the pillow, but her eyes had a crazy look about them and she was gnashing her teeth so hard I was afraid they were going to break.
She screamed and clutched at her stomach. “I was abducted by an alien,” she panted through the contraction. “It’s trying to bust out. I kept telling them that I wasn’t Sigourney Weaver but they wouldn’t believe me.”
I looked at the nurse, motioned for her to come by my side. “Order a psych eval. Keep at least one of these guys for security. Get blood if you can. We need to find out what she’s on if this isn’t psychological. Have NICU on standby, a pediatrician, if there is one, in the room for delivery.” The nurse seemed capable and was nodding in agreement to everything I said.
Just then, another doctor came out of a room. I could hear a wailing baby inside, even over the noises of the woman in front of me. The doctor clapped his hands together, frowning at the writhing patient on the stretcher. “One down. What have we got here?”
I was thrilled to hand the screaming patient over to him, giving him a brief update on the situation and the orders I’d made so far. My ears were still ringing as they wheeled the expectant mother into the farthest room down the hall, hoping the best for the baby. Poor kid would probably come into the world addicted to street drugs.
Be careful what you wish for was a wise old quote for a reason. I’d wanted some action and adventure, but I just might have bit off more than I wanted to chew.
Turning to find the nursing station, I nearly ran over Melinda. Reacting quickly, I grabbed her by the arms to steady her. She blushed, giggled, looked up at me through rapidly blinking lashes.
Oh good lord.
“What do you need me to do next?”
Melinda took a deep breath, trying to rally, I could tell. “Follow me, and I’ll introduce you to a very special patient. She’s one of our nurses, and we all love her to death. There isn’t a father on the scene. The rat left her, can you believe that? Told her he was leaving for some place in Africa or something like that. Knocked her up, but her best friend is in there. She’s nice too. Really tall. I think she used to be a basketball player or something.”
For some reason, gravity seemed to be getting heavier and I felt it pressing down on me as Melinda talked almost faster than my ears could track her words.
“Here we are. Best room in the entire unit. It’s usually only for VIPs, but Scar is a very important person in our books.”
Scar?
Melinda pushed open the door, and I stepped inside, hearing only voices at first.
“You’re doing great. That’s right. In through your nose. Out through your mouth.”
When I stepped past the privacy curtain, my heart dropped into my stomach.
Red curls cascaded around a sweaty freckled face contorted into a mask of pure agony. She was panting, the most pitiful little sounds coming from her throat.
The world tilted sideways, and I nearly went to my knees.
She looked up, blue eyes locking on mine. It was her.
“Delilah,” I breathed.