Chapter 15

Lainey

Three days later, I was still smiling. This time, like an idiot over a Tupperware container. Not even Jones’ waffling attempts at flattery and mansplaining could ruin my post-non-date-buzz.

After strolling around the market for a while longer, Sam had taken me back to his place. We’d made pasta and sat on his deck until long after the sun set. He’d pressed a container of leftovers into my hands before I left.

Something about him packing the dressing separately from the salad had made me want to drop the container and attack his face. Instead, we’d stuck to light, teasing touches while we made dinner, and a few chaste kisses that stopped well-short of qualifying as making out. Unfortunately.

I grinned like a fool down at my salad, remembering how the restraint had snapped when he dropped me at my apartment.

“Lainey. One more.”

That had qualified as a make-out session, one that only stopped because the doorman knocked on the window of Sam's car to tell us we were blocking the flow of traffic in front of my building.

“What are you smiling about?” Rija set her plate down across from me. Jones, thankfully, beat a hasty retreat.

The lounge was relatively quiet, only a few of us scarfing down food between appointments. Despite our hectic schedules, I’d gotten used to sneaking coffee breaks or finding excuses to talk with Sam around the floor. I was quickly starting to miss him on days like today, when he was stuck in meetings, so I was glad to have Rija’s company. She was a vast improvement over my smarmy fellow.

“Good mood, I guess.” I shrugged. “How’s your day going?”

“Lost a patient this morning.”

“Crap. I’m sorry.” I hesitated for a millisecond before I reached out to touch her arm. “You okay?”

It was a horrible, horrible truth: losing patients never got better. Ever. Some people learned how to shrug it off faster than others, or build up a thick skin, but it was all just coping mechanisms. When you lose someone under your care—which inevitably happens—the grief and the guilt stick with you, whether you pay attention to it or not.

A flicker of surprise crossed her face at my hand on her arm. “I’m better now…Thank you.” Unease weighed on me at her reaction. I liked Rija a lot. She’d gone out of her way to be a friend to me and I had gone out of my way to avoid truly getting to know her.

“Would some tapas and wine make you feel better?” I offered. Sam’s face flashed in my mind, along with the easy relationships he had with Santiago and his family.

“Wasn’t tapas and wine invented to be an emotional cure-all?” A small smile curved her lips, though her body remained slumped over the table, bent by the weight of the loss.

“I’ve been wanting to try that place that just opened up a few streets over. Want me to bully a resident into switching on-calls with me tonight?”

Her eyes went round before she schooled her face. The suggestion, at least, had straightened her up in her chair. “Seriously? Are you sure?”

I tsk’d, spearing some more pasta. “Why would I joke about tapas?”

“Because you and Cooper have that surgery tomorrow morning. And you’ve never once hung out with anyone outside of work before.”

It wasn’t that I avoided my coworkers, necessarily, but it was just easier to keep things compartmentalized. I had work people and…well, not many other people. It was a depressing thought, especially when compared to Sam. He had good people. Checking tires people. I wanted that, darn it. Maybe it was time to put my big girl panties on and make some new friends, finally. I couldn’t live in the shadow of Katie’s betrayal forever.

I took my time chewing. Thinking. “It’s sometimes hard for me to make friends.” Rija’s look told me she thought I was full of it. “I mean, close friends. I haven’t had the best luck with relationships in the past, so I tend to push people away. But I think I need some people, you know?”

Rija’s face softened. Now her hand wrapped around mine. “Aw, hun. I’ll be your people. You’re good people!”

There was a certain vulnerability in telling someone that you were socially celibate. Heat rose to my cheeks, but her immediate acceptance felt good, bolstering. “You’re good people, too. Maybe we could be friends? Outside of work friends?”

“Fuck yeah, we’re friends! We’ll cement this new stage in our friendship together tonight over spicy octopus.”

“Who could turn down an offer like that?”

“No one’s ever turned down my spicy ‘pus, Lainey. Don’t be the first.”

“Anyone seen Reese?” A nurse popped her head in the door.

“Dr. Reese has a meeting a few floors up. HR, I think.” I pretended it was very chill and casual that I knew exactly where he was, even though today wasn’t one of his clinic days. “What’s up?”

“He’s got some family here to see him, and they can’t get a hold of him.”

“I might be able to help.” I stood, popping the top onto my container. “Is your spicy ‘pus free at six?”

“I’m there. Thanks, Lainey, seriously.” Rija’s grateful smile followed me out the door and down the hall.

I stopped short when the patient check-in desk came into view. “Jasmine?”

“Hi. They said Sam’s not here?” She rubbed a hand along her belly. Her eyes darted around the room.

“Yeah, sorry. Hey, what’s up?” The closer I got, the more out of sorts she looked, pale and fidgeting. This was not the vibrant woman I’d shared tacos with two weeks ago.

“I…Shit. I was hoping he could come down to the maternal ward with me. My doctor sent me for some tests and Conner’s stuck in traffic on the other side of town.” Her hand ran across her forehead and she forced a smile. “It’s okay. I can go by myself.”

“I can page him again.” I wasn’t a super touchy-feely person, but I rested my hand on her arm. She looked like she could use shoring up. “Some tests, huh?”

“Yeah. My blood pressure is up? I’ve been having these headaches, and I didn’t think anything of it but he said he’s worried about preeclampsia which is just terrifying but it’s okay. Right? It’ll probably be fine.” She stroked her stomach again, biting her lip. “Don’t page him. I already texted him, and I’m sure it’s nothing. Right?”

She repeated, looking around for assurance. Usually, I’d give her a pat on the back and ask Sam about her later. But something made me pause. Maybe it was the lost, scared look on her face—one I had seen on patients many, many times—or maybe I was still riding the high of my recent friendship proposal to Rija. It could also be the little voice in the back of my head whispering, “ Sam would do it in a heartbeat .”

Whatever the case, I found myself saying, “I’ll walk you down there. You want a ride?” I popped open a folded wheelchair by the elevator bay.

“Oh, no, you don’t have to. I don’t want to interrupt your day.” She rubbed at her eyes, side-stepping me to get to the call button.

“I’m only on call. Nothing scheduled for the next few hours.”

She took a breath, like she was about to tell me to take a hike, but she was one of Sam’s people, even if I didn’t know her well. It elevated her status in my head.

“Jasmine. You don’t have to do this alone.” I wheeled the chair back in her path, reaching out my hand. She studied me, only hesitating for a moment before she let me guide her into the chair. “If anyone asks, I’m down on six.” The nurse at the desk nodded and watched as I wheeled Jasmine into the elevator.

“Thank you, Lainey,” she muttered, reaching up to touch my hand where it rested on the chair handles.

“No sweat. We got this.” I squeezed her hand. We stayed like that the whole ride down.

◆◆◆

“Three hours?”

The nurse shrugged. “Sorry.”

I breathed through my nose, telling myself it wasn’t this nurse’s fault that the maternal ward was understaffed and apparently busting at the seams with preggos. I made my way back to the waiting room as one waddled by. I’d left Jasmine with a promise that I’d “work some doctor magic” to see if I could get us a room. My magical white coat had failed me.

Her face fell when I shook my head. “They’re not working with a full staff right now. I know they’ve hired some people, but everything’s just taking a long time. I got a look at your records, though. This is a very mild concern. There’s a reason they’re not prioritizing you. That’s a good thing.”

Jas wilted. “You should go. Who knows how long this is going to take?”

“The nurse said it could be up to three hours before they’re able to call you back.”

“Three…?” Her eyes filled with tears and her forehead fell to her palm. “Oh, my God. What if something’s really wrong and we’re just sitting here waiting and something bad happens?”

“Hey.” I stepped closer, fully about to tell her to frack this place and check into the hospital across the street. Mercy’s cardiac ward was in shambles right now, but that didn’t mean its OB department was. I could call in the referral myself and check their wait times while I was at it.

“Lainey?”

Blood drained from my face as Katie edged into my line of sight. She glanced between me and Jasmine. “Everything okay?”

I surveyed her coat and scrubs, the iPad she held in her hand. “I didn’t realize you’d already started here.”

“First week.”

Jasmine tried to cover up a sniffle, and my attention whipped back to her. I glanced at Katie again. That little voice from earlier started peeping up. This time, I didn’t want to listen. I whined back. Do I have toooooo ?

Jas sniffed, and I caved. If anyone owed me, it was Katie. At one time in my life, she’d been the one I trusted to move heaven and earth if I needed it. Maybe that version of her was still in there. And if not, I would mercilessly make use of the fact that she’d ruined my life to cash in a favor.

I grabbed Jasmine’s hand. “My friend’s doctor has some concerns about preeclampsia. But she can’t be seen for hours.” I locked eyes with my former friend.

“I’ve got some time.” Katie practically jumped at the opening. “Let’s get you a room, Ms…?”

“Reese. Jasmine Reese,” Jas snuffled. “I don’t want any special treatment or anything. I just don’t know what to think right now. The waiting is killing me.”

Katie’s turn to lock eyes with mine. Reese . She recognized the name. “Let me see if I can grab your file. Come this way and we’ll get you sorted.”

We followed Katie to the nurse’s station. Jasmine dabbed at her eyes. “You know her?”

“We went to school together.” I realized once the words were out of my mouth just how clipped and cold they sounded. Jas looked nervous, so I grudgingly added: “She’s a good doctor. You’ll like her.”

Katie led us to an exam room tucked in the back of the hall. Jas assured us the whole way there that she was happy to wait, but her watery voice said otherwise.

“It’s fine. It’s my first week and my caseload is light. I’ve got some free time.” Katie gestured inside the room. “We can set up in here. Hospital policy usually only allows family in the exam room…”

“She’s family. She’s going to be my sister-wife someday.” Jas brought our joined hands to her chest. I could read the hesitation on Katie’s face, but she smiled for Jas.

“You know, maybe I did see in your file that someone requested a cardiac consult, if anyone asks.” She waved us in and gestured for Jas to get comfortable on the exam table. “How do y’all really know each other?”

I was impressed, despite myself. The Katie I knew would never have bent hospital policy, especially in her first week. Then again, the Katie I’d known also wouldn’t have sex with my boyfriend for months and lie to me about it. People change and whatnot.

“Lainey works with my brother-in-law in the cardiothoracic department,” Jas explained, easing onto the bed.

“Dr. Reese is your brother-in-law? I met him briefly at a cardiology event a couple of weeks ago. He seemed nice.”

God, had it only been two weeks since she’d shown up and blasted my carefully manicured peace to smithereens? Despite the new thing I had going with Sam, late at night, it was easy to keep myself awake with increasingly outlandish, invented scenarios that involved running into one or both of the McDaniels in the hospital.

Oddly, now that it had actually happened, it wasn’t going as poorly as my two a.m. brain had anticipated, even if she was fishing for information on Sam.

“Dr. Reese’s brothers own the gym I go to. I’m friends with…their family.” It felt odd saying it out loud, but I supposed that was the best way to describe it. I’d chased bubbles with Eli and I knew Jas liked spicy peppers on her tacos. Will and I harmlessly flirted whenever we saw each other. Was I… friends with Sam’s family? Between the Reeses and Rija, I was wracking up quite the tally.

“Still doing the kickboxing thing?”

“No.”

Her smile faltered, just a millimeter. “Too bad. I was hoping you’d be able to recommend a place.”

“Nope. Sorry.”

“I’m sure I’ll find something. Mrs. Reese, let’s get you changed into this gown and then we can see what the baby’s up to in there, shall we?”

Katie closed the door on her way out.

“I can give you a minute, too,” I offered, already reaching for the handle.

“Uh-uh. You stay right there.” I stopped, frozen in place by Jas’s Mom Voice. It was effective. “Spill the tea before doctor blonde lady comes back.”

Jasmine rustled around with the gown as I kept my back turned. All the better for me to hide my wince. “What tea?”

“Why we hate her, obviously. It took me a second to pick up on it. I was too busy blubbering in the waiting room.”

“You’re allowed to blubber a little when you’re in a hospital waiting room.”

“You can turn around now. And tell me fast before she comes back. Why do we hate her?”

We . See, this happened when you started making friends with people and accompanying them into an exam room. Closeness. Camaraderie. We .

She was seated on the exam table when I turned, sporting a faded hospital-issue gown. “You do not need to hate her. I meant what I said earlier. She’s a good doctor.”

Jas pointed at me. “Your face did that thing when you said that before, too, like someone’s pinching you. Come on. Let me in on the hot goss. It’ll take my mind off….” She looked around the room, then back at me. Her puppy-dog eyes were a little too good.

I squinted at her, but she didn’t budge.

“Come on. Tell ol’ Jasmine why she’s a bitch and when she comes back in here, I’ll clothesline her with my giant stomach.” She wiggled her fingers, drawing me closer to the bed. I studied the ultrasound machine in the corner.

“Fine.” She clapped as I sighed. “Katie—Dr. McDaniels—was my best friend in high school. We roomed together in college. Went to med school together. And then”—I swallowed—“it turns out she was banging my boyfriend for several months behind my back just before we graduated med school.”

Jasmine sucked in a breath. “What the fuck?!”

“Ha. Yeah. I thought he was going to propose. Nope. Just…in love with my best friend. They’re married now.”

“Shut up. She’s carrying around a cheater baby under those scrubs?”

That surprised a laugh out of me, which gave me enough courage to look at Jas again. I didn’t see any pity, just anger on my behalf.

“I don’t think it qualifies as a cheater baby if they’re married to each other.”

“Mmm mmm. That’s a cheater baby.” Jas shook her head. “Once a cheater, always a cheater. Let’s get out of here.”

“Whoa! Absolutely not. We’re getting you checked out so that you and your healthy baby can go about your day.”

“We hate her. I’m out.” Jas began inching off the exam table as quickly as her pregnant body would allow.

“You’re not waiting for three hours.” I pushed at her shoulders until she sat back down. “She owes me, obviously. If I can’t shamelessly exploit her for my own uses, what was it all for?”

Reluctantly, Jasmine admitted I had a point and settled back on the table.

“Any progress on that promotion?” I asked. By the time Katie walked back into the room, Jas was laying back and regaling me with tales of her firm’s all-white, all-male executive staff. Absolute bull crap.

“Alright. Let’s take a look at you.” Katie smiled as she approached.

Jasmine hummed, sizing Katie up from her seat on the bed. Be nice, my raised eyebrows said. She’s doing you a favor.

Jas huffed, sitting up as Katie pulled a stethoscope from her neck. “Let’s get this over with.”

An hour later, Jas was hooked up to several machines, and had been poked and prodded within an inch of her life. But Katie was good at her job (ugh) and Jas continued to relax when all signs pointed to a mild preeclampsia diagnosis.

Katie was indulging Jas, giving her some extra screen time with the baby on the ultrasound monitor. He was awake, making us giggle over his kicks and flips. We were still waiting for a few tests to come back, but with every passing moment, I could feel Jas’s tension fading.

A nurse knocked, sticking her head in. “Sorry to interrupt, Dr. McDaniels. Dr. Reese is here to see the patient?”

I grudgingly gave Katie credit when she didn’t bat an eye at this news. “I don’t mind a crowded exam room if you don’t?” She looked to Jas, who nodded. “Let him in, please.”

Sam’s familiar frame filled the door. “Jasmine, what the hell?” He sighed, shaking his head at his sister-in-law like she’d purposefully ended up in the hospital. She threw up her hands.

“I know, I know. I just love the paper sheets on the beds so much. Listen to the crinkle.” She rolled back and forth as Sam crossed the room.

“I’m Kate McDaniels. Nice to see you again, Dr. Reese.” Katie stood from her stool and Sam shook her hand. I clenched every muscle in my body to stop myself from lunging across the room and pulling them apart.

Sam let go of her hand with barely an acknowledgment of her greeting, just a polite nod in her direction, before swiping Jas’s file from the counter.

“I feel like that’s a HIPAA violation,” Jasmine grumbled, relaxing back on the table.

“I’m your emergency contact,” he countered.

“He doesn’t know what he’s looking at,” I whispered to her. “He’s a cardiothoracic surgeon. Anything below the diaphragm is an utter mystery to us.”

“I’m just going to step out for a moment to check on those tests.” Katie smiled. Sam didn’t look up from the file.

Jas sat up as soon as the door shut. “Hey. We hate her,” she informed Sam.

“Yes. We do,” he muttered, flipping through a few pages. “Her husband has a stupid face.” I turned to frown at him.

“Yes!” Jasmine sat back again, satisfied that Sam was firmly on board the hatred train. “Yes, he does have a stupid face.”

“You’ve never even seen him before.” I scoffed. “Besides, I dated him for nearly four years. You’re saying I have bad taste in men?” I glared pointedly at Sam. The look he exchanged with Jas was so quick, I almost missed it.

“Taste changes,” she argued, crossing her arms.

“Mmm. It improves with maturity,” Sam assured. “Like wine.”

“Or like a beard?” I supplied. Nate was clean-shaven. He’d never been able to grow facial hair that wasn’t patchy. Sam’s grin nearly knocked me off my stool.

“Exactly.”

“I should be upset that you’re making heart eyes at each other during my very urgent prenatal check-up, but I can’t find it in me.” Jasmine clasped her hands to her heart. “I knew I was making the right choice in a sister-wife.”

“Not the sister-wives thing, Jas. Come on!” Sam scowled at the files in his hands.

“Wait, you knew about the sister-wives thing?” I demanded. Sam’s ears grew a truly delightful shade of pink just as Conner burst through the door, nearly mowing down the nurse who opened it.

“Jas, baby. What’s happening? Have they done the tests?”

She smiled softly, reaching for him. “Come here, love. I think it’s okay.”

He cradled her, sweeping the hair back from her face. “Sam, what are you seeing?”

I backed out of the room as Sam gave his brother a surprisingly accurate and succinct rundown of Jas’s condition and the monitoring we’d done this afternoon. There was something intimate about the three of them together, hunched over Jas’s file. Family. Even if I’d started to call them friends, I felt like I was intruding.

In the hall, I took a moment to breathe. Jas and the baby were fine. And, hey, I’d just spent over an hour with freakin’ Katie and the world hadn’t melted. Was this what being an adult felt like?

I wasn’t sure I liked it. Even if I was still standing, being around her and watching her be competent at her job was hard. She’d been the same old Katie, warm and disarming, cracking jokes that almost even made Jasmine forget that “we hated her.”

“All good in there?”

I whirled. Speaking of the devil. We stood in the hallway, squared off. Tumbleweeds should have rolled past. I swallowed, thinking once again of how scared Jas had been a little while ago. How happy she was now. Calm.

“Fine. Her husband’s here, so I figured I should pop back upstairs and see if the residents have burned it down yet.”

“I thought I smelled smoke coming from the elevator…” She smiled at her weak joke. I couldn’t find it in me to reciprocate, but I could still be an adult. (Ugh.)

“Thank you. For seeing her so last-minute. It means a lot to her…and me.”

“It wasn’t any trouble.” The rows and rows of pregnant women in the waiting room would say otherwise. She was probably lying, but I didn’t push it too hard.

We stood there awkwardly; her clutching her tablet while I tried to think if there was anything else to say here. I opened my mouth to tell her I was heading back when she blurted: “Reese, huh?”

I willed my muscles not to lock up, reminding myself I’d look defensive if I got defensive. And I had nothing to worry about.

“He’s a friend.”

She nodded, glancing around. “You seem close to his family. I mean, you accompanied his sister-in-law to an emergency medical appointment.”

I shrugged. “Sam was in a meeting. I wasn’t going to let her come down here by herself.”

“Sam…” I realized my mistake when Katie repeated his name back to me. I’d said his name, not Reese. Crap. “Just be careful there, Lainey. He’s an attending.”

“I’m aware of that. We’re just friends.” Not true. Even if we slapped a “trial period” label on it, I knew what he tasted like, which went well beyond friend territory. “We’re not dating.” Also arguably not true, but I felt like I had to put it out there.

“I don’t want you to get hurt. The hospital has all these crazy workplace relationship policies in place. Nathan and I had to do so much paperwork when he got accepted for an interview—”

“I know about this hospital’s policies. I’ve worked here for almost five years,” I snapped. I didn’t want to hear anything about what she and Nathan had been getting up to. When I’d known them, they’d been Katie and Nate. But they were all grown up now. Kate and Nathan. Gross.

So much for being an adult.

She started to say something else, but halted when the door to Jas’s room swung open. Sam and Conner stepped into the hallway. I staggered when Conner wrapped me up in a hug without warning.

“Thank you,” he whispered, tightening his grip around my shoulders. Haltingly, I patted his back. “Thank you for being here with her.”

“I just brought her down in a wheelchair.”

“You did more than that.”

I read somewhere that the cast members at Disney World are trained not to break a hug with a fan until the kid breaks it first. I gave Conner a few more pats while he cleared his throat. It took him a few more seconds to pull away. His voice was thick. “Next time we get tacos, it’s on me.”

“Didn’t you pay last time?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He turned to watch as Katie approached. His eyes flicked up and down. Surely the once-over was Jas’s doing. Of all the Reeses, I knew Conner the least. But it seemed he, too, was ready and willing to ice out the doctor who was just doing her job, all because she’d wronged me years ago.

Sam’s mouth curved into a smirk when he saw it, too. We shared a look before I tore my gaze away. Sharing looks with my attending right after Katie’s not-so-veiled warnings would only fuel the fire. Once I made Conner promise to have Jas text me when the results were back, I spun on my heel and made my way to the bank of elevators.

It didn’t matter that I’d barely seen Sam in days, and all I wanted to do was steal a few minutes of conversation with him on the ride back to our floor. I couldn’t give Katie any more ammunition than she already had.

It didn’t matter that something in my gut told me I could trust her. That feeling had let me down before, as had Katie. It was a vicious reminder of just why I didn’t do this anymore. Any of it.