The Hookup Plan, page 29
She projected this air of detachment when it came to the surgeries she performed, but Drew had expected from early on that it was a coping mechanism. Approaching her job with a certain level of remoteness allowed her to focus on the task at hand and not the mass of emotions undoubtedly attached to each case.
He leaned over and traced a finger along her cheek.
“I’m sure the patient’s family appreciates every second he has on this earth. You’re the reason he’s had more time with his family. Remember to take credit for the wins. You deserve that much.”
She nodded but remained silent. Drew saw the way her throat worked as she swallowed hard.
“You don’t have to be strong with me, London.” He continued to brush his thumb over her smooth skin, keeping his touch light. “Everyone needs to let go sometimes. Allow yourself to feel whatever you need to feel. I’m here to absorb it.”
Her eyes fell shut and she leaned into his hand. Her lips trembled as a single tear fell from the corner of her eye. “It can be so overwhelming,” she whispered.
“I honestly don’t know how you do it.” He brushed the tear from her cheek.
“I don’t know how the parents do it. I’m just doing my job, but those parents continue to go through this day after day after day. For so many of them, their child’s illness becomes their entire life.” She opened her eyes. “I’m blown away by their strength. Having kids is not for the weak.”
Drew tipped his head to the side. He waited a beat before asking, “Do you want kids?”
She vehemently shook her head. “I never have, and I am not ashamed to admit it.”
“You shouldn’t be,” he said. “I’ve never had the desire to have kids either.”
He stopped there, but he didn’t have to put voice to the rest of his statement for it to have an impact. This was yet another example of how perfect they were for each other.
“Lobster crepes?”
They both startled at the chef’s intrusion.
“Thank you,” Drew said, taking the plates from the man.
“This looks and smells amazing,” London said. “My PB&J didn’t stand a chance.”
“I have to give the credit to my assistant, Larissa,” Drew admitted. “My initial expectation when I asked her to set up a picnic was a blanket on the ground with some meat, cheese, and fruit for us to share.”
“That would have been nice too,” London said. She sent him a wry smile. “You’d better watch out. I can get used to this, Mr. Sullivan.”
He deliberately chose to disregard the amusement in her voice when he answered her.
“I want you to get used to it,” he said.
“Picnics in the park with you?”
“Every weekend,” he said. “And maybe even during the week. All the time.”
Her fork arrested on the way to her mouth. “What are you saying, Drew?”
“You’ve done something that I never thought would happen,” he said. “You made me fall in love with Texas. Well, maybe I’m not in love with Texas per se.” He sucked in a breath before continuing. “But I am in love with you, London.”
He felt as if all the air escaped his lungs as he watched London’s expression change from surprise, to what was possibly joy, but then to unmistakable apprehension.
She set her fork on her plate. “No, Drew. It’s too soon.”
He shook his head. “Not for me.”
“This thing between us…it…”
“It’s real,” Drew said. “I’ve been in love before, London. I know what it feels like. And what I feel when I’m with you is so far beyond anything I’ve experienced in the past. I’m not ready to let that go.”
“So you’ll uproot your entire life?”
“You say that as if it would be difficult. I’m based in New York, but I can work from anywhere. I’m willing to move back here if it means I get to be with you.”
“I’m leaving,” she blurted.
Drew’s head snapped back. “What?”
“Shit,” she released with a sigh. She dragged her palms down her face, then gripped the back of her head. “It’s a possibility,” she said. “Remember that extremely competitive pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program in Chicago I mentioned the other day? They’re pulling out the big guns in their effort to recruit me.”
Drew sat back. “This sounds serious.”
“It has done wonders for my ego—not that my ego was suffering,” she said with a short laugh. “I’m starting to think that hypertension isn’t the only thing my dad passed down to me. The line between being proud of your own accomplishments and being a narcissist is thin.”
“You are not a narcissist,” he said.
“What makes you so sure?”
“I was a hedge fund manager. I’m pretty sure if you research the profession with the most narcissists, that would be at the top of the list. You, on the other hand, were driven to overexcel because of your dad, and in the process became this badass surgeon hospitals around the country are willing to fight for.”
She shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. And these hospitals are putting up a fight. This offer out of Chicago is unlike anything I’ve heard of for a fellowship. I would have the chance to work with some of the top pediatric heart surgeons in the country, and the salary is so generous that it would allow me to pay off a huge chunk of my med school loan debt.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to offer to pay off her student loans, but Drew already knew what her answer would be. And that wasn’t what she wanted from him. She’d demonstrated in so many ways that she didn’t care about his money. It made him love her even more.
“That actually makes it easier for me,” Drew said. A confused frown creased her forehead. “I already have an apartment in Chicago,” he said. “In a high-rise on Lakeshore Drive, overlooking Lake Michigan.”
“That’s almost as impressive as the one overlooking Central Park,” she said.
“Almost.” He chuckled, but then he sobered. “Is this what you really want? This job in Chicago?”
“It is, hands down, the best move for my career,” she answered.
“But is it what you want?”
“It’s not that simple, Drew.” She hunched her shoulders. “I have to consider what makes the most sense for my future. Although, now that I think about it, what’s best for my career has never been the top deciding factor.”
She fiddled with the petals of the flower she’d lifted from the centerpiece earlier. When she spoke, a trace of that unapologetic self-assurance he’d come to love had entered her voice.
“I could have had my pick of residencies when I finished medical school,” she started. “Honestly, I was more aggressively recruited for residency programs than for these fellowships. You should look me up online. Some of the articles written about me back then really made me look like a rock star.”
“I’ve read some of them,” Drew said. “You are a rock star. County is lucky you chose to do your residency here. The more prestigious institutions would all love to have had you.”
“I began my residency at one of those more prestigious private hospitals, but when Doug Renault contacted me about joining him at County, I didn’t hesitate. It was a calling. I needed to be here.”
“Do you still feel that way?”
“I do.” She nodded. “Not only because of my patients, but I feel a bit possessive about the sensory room after fighting so hard for it. I don’t want to leave it in someone else’s hands.” She blew out a breath. “More than anything else, I want to be the big sister that my siblings need me to be. This incident with Nina really put things in perspective. I can do better when it comes to those kids. I should do better.”
“It sounds as if you’ve made your decision.”
“I just…I don’t know.” She massaged her brow. “Feeling this discombobulated is completely foreign to me, and I do not like it one bit. I pride myself on having my shit together at all times, but not these days. And now I have this thing with my dad to contend with.”
Drew frowned. “I thought you were done with your dad?”
“So did I.” She swirled her spoon around in the cold bisque, but didn’t sample it. “April texted me while I was in surgery. She said that Kenneth wants to meet with me, to talk things over.” She hunched her shoulders. “Maybe me calling him an asshole to his face affected him more than I first thought.” She finally took a spoonful of the bisque. “Oh, yeah, I can definitely get used to this. This is delicious.”
She alternated between the crepe and the soup. After taking a sip of sparkling grape juice from the champagne glass, she asked, “Are you really willing to move back to Austin just to be with me?”
“You ask that as if it isn’t reason enough. It is, London.”
An unhurried smile slowly made its way across her lips. “Liking you is a lot more enjoyable than not liking you,” she said.
Drew swallowed past the lump that lingered in his throat before asking, “How do you feel about loving me?”
Her pause was agonizingly long, but then her smile broadened. “It doesn’t feel nearly as scary as I thought it would,” she finally answered.
The intense, vibrant emotions that crashed into him left him breathless. Drew braced his hands on the table and leaned over it, then captured her lips in a slow, deep, decadent kiss.
“I’ve been in love with the idea of you for more than a decade,” he whispered against her lips. “But now, after getting to know the real you, to say I’m in love feels inadequate. I’m not sure what the words are for how I feel, I just know it’s a feeling I never want to lose.”
34
Drew blew across his steaming cup of black coffee before taking a sip. He felt a breeze whiz past his head as Samantha Gomez’s pacing increased. She and the rest of the team had been camped out in his apartment since seven this morning. They’d entered the phase of an audit when everything feels out of sorts yet as if it is all coming together at the same time. There was no getting around the intensity of this point in the process.
Yet his mind repeatedly wandered to the condo listings his Realtor had forwarded him last night. All he could think about was finding a place to live that would keep him as close as possible to London.
Focus.
He could not allow any distractions to knock him off his game, even one as tempting as London. He and his team had poured hundreds of hours into examining Travis County Hospital’s finances and operations. Now they were barreling toward the finish line and praying for no stumbling blocks during this final stretch. He owed them his full attention.
“Who’s running the numbers on the recommended equipment purchases for the ortho lab?” Samantha asked.
Drew reached for his iPad and pulled up the spreadsheet he’d received via email this morning. He held it aloft.
“Here you go,” he said.
Samantha took the iPad from his hand and continued her pacing.
“Calm down,” Drew said over his shoulder. “You always get like this toward the end of a project, but there’s no need to worry, Sam. The numbers tell the story, and the story is a good one.”
“I know that we’ve done good work here,” she said. “But I can’t help being nervous. It’s just my nature, okay? I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“Stop inviting trouble.” Drew caught her arm, putting a halt to her frenetic pacing. “This team has worked its ass off for the past month. Travis County Hospital was on the verge of being sold, and with the recommendations we’re making, not only will they be able to function as the low-cost health-care provider this area needs, but they’ll be able to provide even better services for the entire community. That’s something to be proud of.”
If even one family could be spared the heartache of losing a loved one due to a late diagnosis or inadequate care, his hard work here would have been worth it. It would be a small tribute to his mother’s legacy. If he could save someone else from a similar fate, her dying so young wouldn’t be in vain.
“What the fuck!”
All eyes turned to Josh Hall, who stared intently at his computer with a look of horrified astonishment.
“Oh goodness,” Samantha said. “Is it the other shoe dropping?”
“More like the other Timberland boot,” he said. “And it’s dropping right on our necks.”
Drew pushed back from the table. “What’s the matter?” he asked as he rounded Josh’s seat and looked at his laptop.
Josh set two copies of the document to print before closing out the dialog box, and then he pointed at the text on the screen.
“Stevens v. Travis County Hospital. Specifically, Dr. Frederick Coleman and Travis County Hospital.” He lifted the documents from the printer bed, handing one to Drew and the other to Sam. “From what I can gather, the hospital settled a malpractice suit with the widower of Abigail Stevens, who died while under Dr. Coleman’s care two years ago. There have been a few legal hang-ups, but the payment is coming due to the tune of nearly five million dollars.”
“What!” Drew flipped through the pages.
“Oh, God,” Samantha said. “This is why I’m always so afraid to hope. I’d rather set myself up for disappointment, because it always comes.”
Drew skimmed the court document, trepidation amassing in his gut. This was more than just bad. This was catastrophic. Based on Trident’s calculations, the most the hospital could absorb, even with malpractice insurance paying the lion’s share, was a half million. And that was cutting it extremely close.
“But we’ve been in constant communication with Legal,” Drew said. “Why would they keep this from us!”
“Because it makes Coleman look bad,” Josh said. “He probably ordered that everything be kept under wraps, even away from other hospital administrators. This is the type of stuff that you hide from as many people as possible if you want to maintain your position of power.”
“I could tell that guy was a prick from the first day we arrived,” Samantha said.
“I don’t care that he’s a prick,” Drew said. “I care that the powers that be in this hospital intentionally misled us. They had to have known that Trident could not conduct a clean audit without this information.”
“None of this is our fault,” Josh pointed out. “Our contract states that clients are to disclose all known financial obligations, both current and future. We can’t be held liable if they intentionally kept this from us.”
Drew wasn’t worried about Trident’s liability. They’d run the most complete audit possible based on the information provided to them. His concern was grounded in what this new detail meant for the recommendations his team had compiled for the hospital’s board of directors. One recommendation in particular.
Samantha put voice to his worrisome thoughts.
“This blows up everything,” she said, tossing the document onto the table and resuming her pacing. “We were already working on a razor-thin margin. A malpractice payout also means allocating more money toward insurance for the next fiscal year. Say goodbye to the new employee day care center. There’s no way County can fund that now.”
“The list of things County can no longer fund is longer than the list of what they can,” Josh said. “We’ll have to reassess every single dollar now.”
And in that reassessment, the fifty thousand dollars they’d estimated in order to get everything London needed for her sensory room would never fly. They wouldn’t even be able to do a scaled-down version.
There was only one solution: Drew would pay for it.
He’d offered to pay for the sensory room before. From the moment he realized just how important it was to London, Drew knew in his heart that he would do whatever he could to make it happen. He could make the donation in his mother’s name, or maybe he could ask London if she had a patient she’d lost in the past whom she had been particularly close to. The sensory room could be a memorial to whomever she chose. It was the easiest solution.
But was it the smartest?
He dragged his palm down his face and sucked in a deep breath in an effort to curb his frustration. He knew better than most that throwing money at a situation wasn’t always the best solution.
Even if he specified what the donation was intended for, the acceptance and subsequent distribution of monetary gifts would still have to go through the hospital board’s approval process. They could choose to reject his gift outright if they didn’t agree with the strings he attached to it. Given the way they’d covered up Coleman’s malpractice suit, Drew wouldn’t put it past them to do just that.
The board’s opinion was one thing, but they also had to consider the public’s opinion. If it turned out that there wasn’t enough money to fund some of the more urgent needs of the hospital, there was no way he could justify a donation being made to finance what many would consider to be his girlfriend’s pet project. Not when they could potentially face cuts to basic services that were used by the majority of patients.
Drew couldn’t think of a PR firm in the country that could put the kind of spin on this that they would need in order to pull it off.
Fucking Coleman.
That son of a bitch was going to cost London her sensory room after all.
35
Excuse me, are you using this extra chair?”
“Yes,” London said to the woman who’d already started carting the chair away from the table. “I’m waiting for someone,” she further explained.
Someone who should have been here twenty minutes ago.
She glanced at her Apple Watch again, then up and down Fourth Street. According to April’s text, Kenneth was to meet her here at noon. The downtown coffee shop was only a block from his law firm, but London refused to go to his office. Her olive branch extended only so far.
She returned to the journal Samiah had sent her. She hated to admit it, but this shit worked.
