– Whitney
I’m embarrassed that I turned into a puddle of quivering mud when Dr. Davis was in my office, but I’m back to being determined not to let him get away with whatever it is that he’s trying to pull. I don’t know what exactly that might be, but I’m not going to let it happen.
It’s clear to me that I should have trusted my first instincts when it came to Dr. Davis. He has bad intentions and he needs to be stopped. I just need to figure out what exactly he needs to be stopped from doing.
And I have to do it in a way that won’t jeopardize my job.
I’ve been trying to call Harlow, but his voicemail just picks up without his phone ever even ringing. He obviously has it turned off.
I panic, but then remind myself to stay rational. I haven’t ever called him before, so for all I know he leaves his phone turned off at work during the day the way I usually do, and then checks it later. I leave him a voicemail but decide that even though it’s urgent, that’s about the best I can do right now.
Since I have nothing else to do in the meantime, I go visit Lance.
“Hey there, Hot Shot,” he says, as I enter his office.
“What?”
“Dr. Davis stopped by. He cleared up the little misunderstanding.”
“Huh?”
What now?
I have stopped even trying to understand what’s going on.
“Oh, you know, he just told us that you were concerned about working with Harlow and wanted to ensure he was getting the very best training possible.”
“I…” I start to say, but Lance doesn’t let me get a word in edgewise.
“I think it’s very professional of you, especially since I know what a raging girl-boner you have for him,” Lance continues. “Since you can’t trust your judgment, it’s best to pass him on. And I’m the one who has been assigned to work with him from now on. So thank you!”
“Lance. You don’t understand. Listen to me…”
My mind is racing, trying to figure out a way to make him believe me. I can’t just dump out all my information, as Lance might automatically head for Dr. Davis’ side of things.
Nor can I tell Lance all about my suspicions here, as it’s clearly Dr. Davis’ territory and I don’t even know what he’s up to. He seems to know an awful lot about Harlow, and me, and Harlow and me together. For all I know, he’s got spies, or some sophisticated surveillance system or something.
“And you know what?” Lance says, a smile coming over his fact that I wasn’t expecting. “I think you were right that Harlow is good people. I was just over at the surgery recovery ward because our next potential physical therapy patient, Jesse, wanted me to drop in on him. I guess he wanted Harlow to do that too, because Harlow was there, checking on him. Isn’t that just the sweetest thing you’ve ever heard?”
“He… Harlow was with Jesse at the hospital?”
“Yes,” Lance says. “And with me, and Mae. She worked tonight specifically so that she could do the same thing. I mean, we only all saw each other in there for a little bit of time, since the poor guy’s half out of it. But Harlow was really nice while he was there, and I do think he means well and cares about people.”
“Wow,” I say, both impressed that Harlow was doing such a nice thing but also glad that there was an explanation as to why he wasn’t answering my calls. I doubt he wanted to have his phone turned on in a recovery ward of a hospital. He wouldn’t have been able to talk.
I feel certain that as soon as he gets my message, he’ll call me back. I know that what he had was real. Sure, it was sex, but it was something more than that—something that Dr. Davis can’t destroy, no matter how much he wants to blackmail both of us. I just have to warn Harlow and figure out a way for us to still be together without Dr. Davis finding out and it affecting my job or Harlow’s treatment. Who knows what Dr. Davis is capable of.
“I want to take you to lunch,” I tell Lance, knowing how much he loves to go to lunch.
Sushi, to be exact. He loves sushi.
“To Sushi Heaven. To celebrate your newest patient. Congratulations.”
“Today?” he says, his hand over his mouth. “I need to check my schedule…”
“Clear your schedule,” I order.
“All right,” he says, not putting up much of a fight. “I can always make time for sushi. But I’d already promised Mae that I’d have lunch with her, so, can she come?”
“Sure,” I answer, automatically.
I’ve always liked Lance’s sister. And maybe she can put her head together with us to help us figure out what’s really going on with Dr. Davis.