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

16. Dominic

CHAPTER 16

DOMINIC

L unches with Emily quickly became a regular part of Dominic’s routine — in fact, they were the highlight of his day. He woke up each morning thinking of things he wanted to ask her, things he wanted to share with her.

Everything he learned about her felt special and magical. She told him about her sister, Ruth, with whom she had been so close before the tragedy that had claimed Ruth’s life. Dominic found that hearing Ruth’s story made him look at patients differently. Every person who came through the doors of his hospital was somebody’s Ruth. Everyone had people whose lives would be forever changed if they were lost.

He had always given his patients the absolute highest standard of care, of course. But he had done it because it was his job. Now he felt as if he was seeing Emily’s face on every frightened mother or sister who brought a loved one in for care. He was saving them from the heartbreak Emily had endured — and it felt like the least he could do, since he hadn’t been able to protect Emily herself from that pain.

He knew that what had happened to Ruth hadn’t been his fault. Even so, it was empowering to think that his work might help some other family escape what Emily’s had gone through.

He couldn’t judge her anymore for wanting to treat her patients with such a personal touch. He was beginning to feel the same way.

Maybe he was learning just as much from her in the course of this mentorship as she was learning from him.

“You were so great with that little boy this morning,” Emily enthused one day as they ate the soups and salads that had become their go-to lunch. The soup of the day here was nothing special, but getting it together felt like sharing an inside joke, and Dominic wouldn’t be giving that up anytime soon. “That poor family was so freaked out, but you settled them right down.”

“They were just getting the kid that much more upset with all their hysterics,” Dominic said. “If the parents had calmed down, he would have sailed through the procedure.”

She giggled. “Never change, Dominic.”

She kept doing that — slipping and calling him by his first name while they were at work. So far, he hadn’t corrected her. If he was being honest with himself, he would have to admit that he sort of liked it.

“Never change?” he asked her.

“No matter what happens, you stay the same old irritable doctor,” she said. “When we’re in our seventies, you’re probably going to be stalking the halls of this hospital and grumbling at the walls.”

“When I’m in my seventies I’d like to be retired,” he said.

“You, retire? I can’t see it. You’ll be in that OR as long as your hands are steady enough to hold a scalpel,” she said. “They’ll have to drag you out kicking and screaming.”

She was probably right. Honestly, it was something he’d thought about before — what would have to happen to compel him to finally take his retirement? Right now, he couldn’t imagine actually doing it. Walking away from medicine for good seemed like too much to ask.

He looked at his phone.

“What time is it?” Emily asked.

“Twelve thirty-two.”

“Do we need to get back on the floor?” Technically, Dominic’s lunch break ended at twelve-thirty. Emily’s was more flexible — as an intern, she could go anytime as long as she had the approval of her attending physician.

Dominic looked at her. There was a time when he wouldn’t have permitted himself to overstay his lunch break by ten seconds. But today, two minutes didn’t seem like such a big deal. Hell, five minutes didn’t seem like such a big deal. Not when it bought him a little more time with Emily.

“We can finish our salads,” he decided. “Don’t worry about it.”

She grinned. “That doesn’t sound like you.”

“Well, they’d page me if they needed me,” he said. “No reason we shouldn’t enjoy our meal, right?”

“I mean, yeah, I agree with that,” she said. “I didn’t think you would, though. This is a landmark day. Dominic Berger chooses fun over work.”

Another explicit acknowledgement of the fact that what they were doing together was fun, not work. Both of them kept doing that. Dominic felt a pinch of nerves every time it came up, knowing that the time they were spending together relied on self-deception. The truth was that each of these lunches felt more like a date than anything else. It certainly didn’t feel like a professional mentorship.

He was helping her. He was committed to making sure she became the best doctor she could be.

But that wasn’t his only reason for being here, and it certainly wasn’t the reason he was taking this prolonged lunch break right now. Dominic Berger chooses fun over work. She really couldn’t have said it any better.

“It’s not healthy to try to eat too fast,” he said. “And I know that because I’m a doctor.”

“Oh, okay,” she said. “I mean, when you’re right, you’re right, doctor.” She raised a spoonful of soup slowly to her lips, her eyes fixed on his, a small smile on her face.

He wanted to call her out, to tell her that he knew she was flirting with him, but what could he say? He was sure she knew it too. The point was that neither one of them could acknowledge it. If they did, they would have to stop, and he didn’t want to stop. He had a feeling she didn’t either — at least, he hoped she didn’t.

“I wanted to thank you,” she said.

“Thank me? For what?”

“These lunches have come to mean a lot to me,” he said. “And not just because I know they’ll be good for my career.”

He regarded her for a moment, wondering where this was going. Surely she wasn’t about to actually say the words?

“It’s just… good to feel as if I have a friend here,” she said. “Someone I can really talk to. Someone who can meet me at my level. I have Sara, but we don’t have as much in common as I hoped we would when we first met.”

“No, I wouldn’t think so,” Dominic agreed. “She’s a little shallow.”

“Don’t be mean. She’s nice. And she is still my friend. But I don’t find myself able to really talk to her about medical stuff. She’s more interested in connecting on a superficial level. I do need that. But…” She met Dominic’s eyes. “I need this too.”

She wasn’t alone in that. Dominic wanted to tell her so. He wanted to let her know that their arrangement had come to mean a lot to him as well, and that he didn’t think he could get by without it anymore.

But those were the kinds of things they couldn’t say to one another.

They lingered for a while. Dominic kept meaning to get up and head back to work, but he kept finding reasons to put it off. Finally, at twelve forty-five, he knew he had delayed as much as he could, and he pulled out his pager to check it as he dumped his cafeteria tray in the trash.

He froze where he stood.

He had received a page — and he had missed it.

How had he missed it? The pager had been on his hip, right where it always was. He should have felt it vibrating! He broke into a run, cursing himself, not even noticing where Emily was — whether she was following or not.

He arrived in the emergency room and skidded to a halt. “What’s going on?” he demanded of a passing nurse.

“Poisoning case.” She pointed.

He ran over to the bed. Another doctor was there, a less experienced one, and a look of relief came over his face when he saw Dominic. “I don’t know what to do,” he said, indicating the patient on the bed — an unconscious toddler, pale and shivering. “I’d give him something to make him vomit, but he’s unconscious.”

“What did he ingest?”

“The parents think it was something under the sink, but they don’t know what,” the doctor said. “He was having seizures when he came in, but that’s stopped now. I don’t know what to do,” he said again, helplessly.

“The parents are here?”

“In the waiting room.”

“Okay, go and speak to them. Sit with them.” It was something he would never have thought of before, but Emily had changed him — had changed the way he thought about patient care. Someone needed to be with those parents right now. “Tell them I’ll be out as soon as I have something to tell them.”

“Do you think you’re going to be able to save him?”

“Let me work, will you?”

The doctor left. Dominic took a breath to calm his racing heart.

He knew what to do. He had dealt with situations like this one before.

He instructed a nurse to begin monitoring vitals. Then he began to assess antidotes.

Twenty minutes later, sweating through his scrubs, he went into the waiting room. The little boy’s parents were waiting there, both of them in tears.

“We only took our eyes off him for a minute,” the mother was saying to the other doctor. “I don’t know how this could have happened.”

“A minute is all it takes,” Dominic told them. They looked up at him in surprise — they obviously hadn’t heard him come in. “Don’t let it happen again, okay?”

“I— again?” the father said. He looked as if he could hardly stand to let himself hope that he was hearing correctly.

“He’s going to be okay,” Dominic said. “But you need to hear me when I tell you — this could have ended very differently. You put a childproof lock on whatever it was he got into. Keep an eye on that boy. Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself back here, and you might not be so lucky next time.”

The mother burst into loud sobs. “He’s going to be all right? Really? Oh — thank you, doctor!”

Dominic felt sick to his stomach.

He didn’t deserve their thanks.

He had been down in the cafeteria flirting with one of his interns while that little boy was suffering. The other doctor on duty hadn’t known what to do.

He had missed his page because he had been paying attention to Emily.

He had let his focus slip, and someone had almost died.

That just couldn’t be allowed to happen again.

He left the waiting room, unable to face the parents. He had saved their child, but he had also very nearly been the reason their child had died. Their gratitude made him feel terrible.

Emily had evidently chased after him when he’d fled the cafeteria. He found her waiting by the nurses’ station, looking deeply concerned. “Are you all right?” she asked him, reaching out to touch his arm.

He jerked away. “I’m fine.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re not fine. That patient… the nurses told me what happened. They say he’s going to be all right. That you saved his life.”

“I almost didn’t.” He turned away from her.

Emily was just too kind. Too tender. And that was the last thing he wanted right now. He wanted someone to tell him how wrong he had been. He wanted someone to hold him accountable for his selfishness. She wouldn’t do that.

He walked off in the direction of his office, needing to be alone with his thoughts.

She didn’t follow.

Good . He didn’t want to be followed right now. He wanted to be left alone.

And yet…

There was a part of him — a small, vulnerable part that had never existed before — that craved her company. The reassurance that only she had ever been able to provide.

He wanted that, and he knew he couldn’t allow himself to have it. Not anymore. Not ever again.

He had been too permissive with himself, allowed himself to get too close to her and enjoy too much of her company. And the cost had almost been unthinkable. Just like the day he had lost his mother.

This was what happened in medicine. If you took your eye off the ball for even a moment, people died. He knew that, and he had almost allowed it to happen again anyway.

He sat down at his desk, took out his pager, and put it in front of him.

From now on, he would keep his focus strictly where it should be. He wouldn’t allow himself to look away again, not even for a moment.

He felt his body begin to relax as he made himself that pledge.

You couldn’t control much in life, but this was one thing that was under his control.