Chapter One
Twelve Years Later
Aaron
“Look, I’ve been trying to talk to you in person for five days, Aaron. I haven’t been able to see you, and I don’t think you’ve even noticed.” I listened to my voicemail as I sipped my coffee. I heard my boyfriend sigh before he continued, “I’m really sorry, Aaron. I like you… really like you. And I care about you, but you’re never around. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here. It’s been nearly two weeks since I’ve seen you, and almost a week since we’ve talked. I just… I can’t do this anymore.” Make that my ex-boyfriend. I sighed at the same time I heard him sigh on the recording. “I’m sorry I’m doing this over your voicemail, but I’ve been trying to see you all week. This isn’t working for me anymore. I’m going to leave my key to your apartment on the table after I get my stuff. I’m sorry, and… I hope you find what you’re looking for.” Then I heard the click of the phone, ending the voicemail.
I leaned forward over the table and banged my forehead on it a couple of times. I’d liked him. A lot. I’d even been considering asking if he wanted to move in with me, since I knew we both slept better when we were together. But I couldn’t say I blamed him for breaking it off with me. I was a terrible boyfriend. I mean, what kind of person doesn’t even talk to their boyfriend for a week at a time? Who does that?
I do. I do that… and I’d screwed up every single relationship I’d ever had.
I banged my head a few more times and groaned when I felt tears prick my eyes. Dammit, why do I always do this to the guys I like?
“What’s wrong?” Evelyn asked as soon as she walked into the break room.
I rubbed my eyes with my fingers before sitting up to look at her. “He broke up with me.” I didn’t want to say his name; it made me too sad. Evelyn didn’t need a name, anyway. She knew exactly who I was talking about.
“Oh, honey,” she said sympathetically. “I’m so sorry. What happened?”
I sighed. “Same thing that always does. I wasn’t around and he couldn’t take it anymore.”
She sent me a sympathetic look. “You seriously need to stop with all the overtime. You’re allowed to have a life outside of the hospital, you know.”
“It’s not that easy, and you know it.”
“It’s also not your responsibility to fill in every time someone calls out or they’re short-staffed.”
“Yeah, but if I don’t do it, people could die.” I shot her a look.
She rolled her eyes. “Babydoll, if you stopped stepping in every single time, the hospital would be forced to hire a new doctor, and we’d both be allowed to live our lives outside these doors.”
I took a deep breath. “I know you’re right, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty when they need an ER doctor on hand.”
She reached over and patted my hand. “I know, sweetie.” Evelyn was older than me by about twenty years. Though she was as gorgeous as ever with her brown hair, forever in a bun, and her sweet brown eyes, which even had laugh lines. She was almost a foot shorter than me, so she was a little peanut, though a spitfire that you’d be crazy to cross.
I’d met her years ago while I was still doing my residency here. She had been a wonderful mentor and now, she was a wonderful coworker. I’d also gotten used to her tendency to call me—and all the other staff member and even patients—by every pet name and endearment under the sun. It was actually kinda sweet, since she was kind of like the mother hen of the whole hospital. She was someone I admired and respected, and honestly, since I no longer spoke to my own mother, it was nice to have her around. She was always there with an open ear and a hug, or a kick in the throat when the situation warranted. She was probably the most understanding and gracious person I’d ever met. I loved her dearly.
Sadly, she was probably my only real friend, and I mostly only saw her at work, and very occasionally outside of work, though it’d been months since the last time.
I really did need to get out more.
I sighed. “I went to my interview at Oakford Children's Hospital like you suggested.”
She smiled. “Good. How did it go?”
“I think it went really well. They don’t have any openings right now, but they said they’d let me know if any opened up.”
“That’s wonderful, babydoll. I know you want to work in emergency pediatrics.”
She was right. One day I wanted to be an emergency pediatrics specialist. But this hospital didn’t have a specialized pediatrics unit. Of course, we treated children when they came in, but if it was anything serious, they were flown to a children’s hospital—usually Oakford. So as much as I loved this hospital, my true passion wouldn’t happen here. I wanted to do more with my career, so Evelyn had reached out to some doctors she knew on my behalf.
Before I could respond, I was paged back to the ER, so I shot Evelyn a smile and headed up to see what my latest trauma would be.