Dr. Grump’s Surprise Baby (Bossy Bachelors #2)

5. Dominic

CHAPTER 5

DOMINIC

“ B efore we begin our rounds today, a quick announcement,” Dominic said. “The Midwestern Medical Summit is happening in Chicago this year, and the hospital is offering to send anyone who would like to attend, including interns. It’s a two-day affair that will be held in a hotel downtown. If you’re interested in attending, you should put your name on the signup sheet in the break room.”

Sara put her hand up. “Is there a limit to how many people are allowed to go?” she asked.

“If too many people try to sign up, we’ll have to cut it off, because we need to have coverage here at the hospital,” Dominic said. “But I don’t think that will be a problem.” He looked out at his interns. After a few weeks together, he had begun to remember their names, and even to think of them by their first names instead of their last. He felt as if he knew them well now. Sara was the one who always came to work with her makeup done, with painted nails, and he knew that she changed out of her scrubs and into a nice outfit every night before leaving. It had given him cause to wonder where she went and what she did, if she was going out clubbing after work or something. Just the idea of that made him feel as though she would probably be one of the interns to be cut at the end of the three-month period.

“Dr. Berger, is anyone really expecting us to have time for a conference?” Chad asked. He didn’t bother to put his hand up. “I’m already behind on all the paperwork I’ve been assigned.”

Chad was another one who should have been worried about his spot, but unlike the others, he never seemed to consider the idea that he might not make the cut. It was a confidence that Dominic would have liked if it had had any basis in reality at all.

“If you’re behind on your paperwork, I suggest you start staying late and get yourself caught up,” Dominic said curtly. “But no, you’re not expected to attend the conference. Nobody is. It will be good for your professional development if you do, but you’re not going to be punished if you opt out of it. The choice is entirely up to you.”

In truth, he didn’t expect to see any of the interns sign up for the conference. They were three weeks into their internship, and he knew from experience that this was the stage at which his interns started to buckle. They would all be in the process of realizing how difficult this was, and none of them would be in the mood to take on anything extra. That was the way things went.

At least, it always had been in the past.

So he was beyond surprised, later that day, to walk into the break room and see that there was a name on the signup sheet. In fact, there were three.

He walked over to the sheet to see who the brave volunteers were.

The first one was Cassidy Cook. That came as no surprise. He knew her by reputation and had before she’d come to the hospital — she was here because of nepotism. Her father was the chief of medicine here. No doubt he’d pressured her into signing up for the conference. Dominic had yet to figure out whether Cassidy had any interest in or aptitude for medicine, but one thing he did know was that he wouldn’t be permitted to cut her at the end of the three-month trial period. It almost didn’t matter what she did.

The next name on the list belonged to Emily Swinton.

Dominic found himself staring at the list for several long moments, wondering if he had read it wrong.

The last three weeks had made it clear to him that there was more to Emily than her late arrival on day one. She’d proven to have a good bedside manner and to be excellent at putting patients at ease, and her basic skills were just fine — he felt comfortable sending her to handle simple procedures without feeling the need to supervise her all the time, the way he did some of the others.

Still, it was a surprise to see her sign up for this conference. She didn’t have a father working in hospital administration, so what was her reason?

The third name on the list was Sara Flaherty. There was no mystery there. Dominic had seen the way Sara and Emily had gravitated toward one another. He was sure that Sara had signed up for the conference at Emily’s request — that Emily had wanted to have a friend along with her. Honestly, that was smart of her. But he still didn’t understand what had caused her to put her name down in the first place.

“So you’ve seen it,” a voice said.

Dominic turned and saw Jonathan standing behind him. “Did you see this?”

“I was here when they signed up,” Jonathan said. “Or rather, Emily and Sara signed up. Cassidy’s father put her name down.”

“Right,” Dominic said. “What’s the betting Cassidy doesn’t show up to the conference at all?”

Jonathan shrugged. “Not our problem,” he said. “That’s between her and her father. But what do you think of the other two names on the list?”

“You said you saw them sign up?”

“I did.”

“Whose idea was it?”

“Emily’s, of course. She had her work cut out for her talking Sara into it. Had to promise to go to some concert or other with Sara in exchange, but I’m guessing she’ll try to get out of it.”

“Do you think Emily understood that she didn’t have to go to the conference?” Dominic asked.

“Of course she did. Why would she fight so hard to sign up for something mandatory? You’re not making sense.”

“I don’t know,” Dominic said. “I’m just struggling to understand it. Why she would want to do this.”

“You told them it would be good for their professional development, didn’t you?” Jonathan asked reasonably. “Maybe she cares about her professional development.”

“No, I’m sure she does, but… I don’t know,” Dominic said. “I wasn’t expecting anyone at all to sign up for the conference. I told them as a courtesy, but I didn’t think anything would come of it.”

“You’ve underestimated that woman from the get-go,” Jonathan said. “I’m telling you, she’s going to make through the internship program. I think her chances are great.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Dominic said.

“I don’t understand why you’ve fixated on her, to be honest,” Jonathan said.

“Fixated? I haven’t fixated on her.”

“You have, though. It’s not unusual for you to tell me what a mess a group of interns is as a whole, but she’s getting more than her share of your criticism, and I’m not sure why that is.”

“Well, you know she made a bad impression by arriving late on the first day.”

“Yeah, I know. I also know that was three weeks ago. She must have done something between now and then to make some sort of impression on you right? I mean, this isn’t all because she was late on the very first day.”

“You’re reading too much into it,” Dominic said.

“I don’t think I am. You’re paying more attention to her than you are to any of the other interns, and I really think you should ask yourself why that is.”

“Why do you think it is?”

“I don’t know,” Jonathan admitted. “Maybe you think she’s the best of them, and that bothers you for some reason.”

“Why would that bother me? Someone has to be the best.”

“But you’re not denying that you think it’s her?”

“I haven’t thought about it,” Dominic said honestly. “I’ve been thinking about who’s at the bottom of the list, but I haven’t given any thought to who would be number one if I had to rank them.”

“Well, for me, it would be her,” Jonathan said. “She’s been a real breath of fresh air.”

“She’s naive, is what she is,” Dominic said. “She thinks this job is going to be full of sunshine and happiness.”

“What makes you think that?”

“It’s something about the way she is with the patients. She always has something positive to say to them.”

“I know, how annoying.” Jonathan rolled his eyes. “How dare she be positive with the patients?”

“Jonathan, you know as well as I do that we can’t be positive all the time in this line of work,” Dominic said. “Sometimes you have to be realistic.”

“But realism is no reason to be negative,” Jonathan said. “If I’m honest, Dom, you take things too far in that direction. You’re not hopeful with the patients. They need to be told the truth and not have any punches pulled, it’s true, but they also need reasons to hold on to hope. You don’t give them that. You give them the bare facts and nothing else. If Emily is the kind of doctor who can make her patients believe they have a reason to keep fighting, I think that’s someone we want around here very much.”

“As long as she’s not giving people false hope,” Dominic said. “You know young doctors can fall into that trap.”

“You think that’s what it is? Is that why you say she’s naive?”

“That’s why I worry she is.”

“Even if it’s true, it’s hardly the worst thing our interns have going on,” Jonathan said. “There are plenty who have more egregious flaws. I think you don’t like her because it bothers you to see a pretty young woman showing up to work every day with a smile on her face.”

“Who said she was pretty?” Dominic asked.

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “Did I strike a nerve?”

“I’m just not concerned with what she looks like,” Dominic said. “She’s one of my interns, not some girl I ran into at a bar. I think you’re just trying to push me into a conversation about how long it’s been since I’ve dated again.”

“I’m not doing that,” Jonathan said. “Obviously you’re not going to date one of the interns.”

“Of course I’m not.”

“That doesn’t mean you haven’t noticed her,” Jonathan said. “I mean, you’ve got to admit, she’s cute.”

“I’m not having this conversation,” Dominic said.

The truth was that he had noticed. Of course he had. Emily was far and away the most attractive of all the interns, even though she didn’t go out of her way to spruce herself up for the work day like Sara did. She was always fresh-faced, her hair in a simple bun or ponytail. Her scrubs fit her well and he had noticed her figure, but that was really the only style choice she’d made that contributed to his noticing her in that way.

It was something else about her. The way her whole face lit up when she was posed an interesting question, or the sympathy in her eyes when she dealt with patients. She was in this line of work for good reasons, that couldn’t be denied. And Jonathan was right about one thing — Dominic wasn’t used to seeing a bright smile at the beginning of his workday.

He’d gotten used to it, he realized.

He had gotten used to walking into the hospital and seeing her beaming — never at him, but at someone.

If he had to cut her at the end of three months, he would miss that smile. And that wasn’t a good enough reason not to cut someone.

He sighed, wondering what he was going to do. Could he be objective about Emily Swinton? Was Jonathan right that she was one of the best interns — in which case could he justify keeping her around? Or did he just want her around because he had, in spite of everything, started to like her and to want her around?

He sort of wished they had met at a bar instead of at work. Had that been the case, he would have been able to flirt with her, take her home, get to know her better — and then let her go.

As things stood, he had no idea what role she should have in his life. He didn’t know how to face the fact that what Jonathan had said was absolutely true — he had an interest in Emily that went beyond what was strictly professional. He was both perpetually annoyed by her sunny optimism and, at the same time, found himself strangely drawn to it.

And either way, it was a distraction he didn’t need, and something that would make it that much harder for him to simply do his job.