One Year Later
I stood in the nurses’ station, listening in on reports for my patients while flipping through their charts to ensure their recovery was moving along well after the two surgeries that I’d performed this week.
I tuned out the giggles and lack of professionalism coming out of Jackie’s mouth—the one nurse who kicked ass in her job, yet grated on my nerves whenever there were newbies around. Unfortunately, I had interns standing on each side of me, so I couldn’t tell Jackie to shut the fuck up.
Now certainly wasn’t the time for messing around. The interns needed to take this part seriously. They could find out more about how I functioned as the chief of the cardiovascular unit of St. John’s at a different date. Hell, most of them probably wouldn’t last anyway.
“Dr. Mitchell, do you have anything to add? Or are you too busy for all of us this morning?” the RN questioned as my eyes roamed over Mr. Jackson’s chart.
Did the woman seriously call me out like a first-grade student who wasn’t paying attention to her class? Four other doctors were standing here doing the same shit as me—checking our patients’ charts for shit’s sake.
“You worked the graveyard shift as the charge nurse, did you not?” I eyed her, noticing the deadpan looks on the other nurses’ faces standing around her.
“Yes,” she said, placing her hand on the counter, her silver and short curled hair glistening under the fluorescent lighting of the nurses’ station. “Is there a problem?”
“I gave the order for Ms. Davis to be brought to this CCU floor from the SICU before I left last evening. Why am I not seeing her charts here?” I asked the single-most-important question on my mind since arriving.
“Her charts aren’t with us.”
Are you fucking kidding me, I thought, gritting my teeth in anger, knowing this bitch dropped the goddamn ball and gave herself one less patient to care for. Well, I guess the interns were about to learn very quickly that I didn’t put up with shit on my ward.
“Nor is she,” I said, preventing myself from slamming my patient charts onto the desk before me. “Nurse O’Brien said she was calling down to you to have Ms. Davis transported to this floor for monitoring, and she was to be here so I could check in on her this morning when I arrived. Care to explain why you believed leaving my patient in the care of the SICU staff was okay?”
“Dr. Mitchell.” Her eyes were wide under my glare. “I just—it wasn’t like—we were full and understaffed last night.”
I narrowed my eyes at her lie, then looked over at Glen and Rose, the two RNs, rolling their eyes at her answer. “Is this true? Were all of you understaffed, and room 394 couldn’t accept a new patient?”
Glen gave me a look that told me I needed to figure out the charge nurse was not only lying, but she also refused my order so she could sit on her lazy ass all night long.
“She was Jackie’s transfer. We were busy but not necessarily understaffed, of course, Dr. Mitchell,” Rose said while Glen looked as annoyed and pissed as I was. Must’ve been another shitty night with Jackie acting like she owned the place.
“We’ll talk about this formally later,” I said. “Report to my office after the shift change, and I’ll have Sandy push back my first patient this morning.” She went to talk but halted when I inhaled deeply. “It’s negligence on your part to ignore any doctor’s orders, and there are few people on earth who loathe insubordination more than I do,” I said severely. “I will not tolerate it whether or not you’ve been with our medical group for over twenty-five years. If I order something, I want it done when I arrive the next morning unless there is a valid excuse as to why it can’t be done. I will not have my patients’ lives hanging in the balance because you think you know better than everyone else.” Her cheeks were turning a shade of red that might’ve made me feel bad if it were any other circumstance. Unfortunately for Nurse Test-My-Patience, I was not in the mood. “While we’re dealing with the topic of the best care for our patients, I would like you to transport Ms. Davis here personally, and then you can help prepare her room. And while you’re finally doing as instructed, I’ll be coming up with some bullshit excuse as to why I’m an hour behind with my office appointments today.”
“Yes, Doctor.” She straightened her scrubs and held her head high. She might’ve been a combative old bat, but she knew I was right. And she knew that shutting up was best, lest I decided to continue to humiliate her in front of the interns.
“The interns will accompany you,” I stated flatly. “Explain to them that I do not tolerate laziness from my nurses while you apologize for being late in bringing Ms. Davis to her new room for care.”
She stomped off, the young interns looking unsure of how to act after my tirade. Fuck this shit. I did not tolerate laziness or power nurse shit in the slightest. Now a charge nurse who acts like it’s her family—not mine—who funded the entire cardiac wing of this hospital is calling me out, more than likely because three of the interns were cute and she wanted to act like she pulls strings? Fuck that noise.
Old-bat Nurse Jackie was convinced I’d fucked an intern once, and the money-hungry intern I turned down saw an opportunity to cash in on my family’s money, so she didn’t hesitate to play along with that narrative. My family lawyers backed my ass up on that fiasco—sadly, it didn’t result in Jackie’s termination too. Only Selene’s.
Fuck. What a way to start my morning.
“Dr. Mitchell,” the voice of Dr. King was humored when he called my name softly. “I know you’re pissed, but you realize she doesn’t work for you, a doctor, right?”
I smirked. “Of course, I know that. She didn’t argue because she knows she fucked up and got caught. Perhaps there’s more she doesn’t want to be exposed about her practically taking the night off last night?” I arched my eyebrow at the cardiologist.
“Well, there are rumors.”
“That shit is my brother’s problem. He can uncover the HR issues she’s getting herself tangled up in because she wants to mess around with Dr. Daniels in ER,” I said as Dr. King and I walked farther down the hall, away from the nurses’ station.
“Your brother sees her as an asset to this floor. She is a good nurse,” King answered.
“Jim may see her that way, but I see her as an ass.”
“Calling her out because she has no respect for a doctor in his late thirties?”
“Isn’t that what it’s all about?” I shook my head. “I need to call up to CICU. They might be a little shocked to see a CCU charge nurse doing a transport.” I laughed at how stupid the woman was, yet she was so damn smart at the same time. King was right, though. The nurses didn’t work for me, but I intentionally gave her an order to see how she would respond. Her response to following my request as if I were her boss only told me she was guilty of screwing the ER doc last night and didn’t want any further questioning.
Dr. King left with the rest of the nurses who were starting their shifts, and I had to handle the BS of Jackie doing a transport now. I exhaled my frustration as I reached for the phone, sincerely concerned about my patient, who was left on the floor that I’d cleared her to leave.
“Yeah,” I said when the nurse answered, “this is Dr. Mitchell. I have a charge nurse heading up to retrieve Ms. Davis. The patient has been cleared on my orders to be in CCU.”
“A charge nurse?” she asked in confusion.
“Jackie?”
“Got it,” the lady answered. “And, yes, we received your orders last night and expected transport hours ago. Jackie declined our transfer, but we’ll sort it out now. I’ll have Ms. Davis ready.”
“There are four interns with Jackie. Please ensure that Ms. Davis is informed that I’ll be sure to visit her after-hours today personally.”
“Dr. Mitchell,” the woman said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “It’s Jai,” she chuckled. “You sound pretty upset.”
Jai floated to the SICU?
“Hey, Jai.” I relaxed some. The only woman to have ever tempted me in this place was this brunette with bright green eyes when she was floated to work my floor a couple of times. “Yeah, I’m a bit upset that my patient was left on that floor. I want her in CCU so she can at least see one family member. Jesus.”
“Jackie was on one last night,” Jai said. “As I said, she refused the transfer. Said it could wait until the next shift. She stated that CCU was full and understaffed last night.”
Goddammit, you old fucking hag.
Jai laughed at my silence, probably well aware that I was internally cursing out the old bat.
My thoughts diverted to Jai’s appearance that matched her contagious laugh. Why? Most likely because my brain was melting down at this point and short-circuiting because I couldn’t throw something. The thought of Jai’s hair color did a brain switch on me right then and there. And now I was thinking about Ash—again. Fuck me, Ash, you will be the death of me, I thought, pissed at the girl who haunted me and turned me into some desperate fool, wishing I’d never lost her. How could I not shake this chick after a solid year already? Goddammit! I had to stay focused and steer clear of thinking about the best sex I’d ever had over a year ago.
“You there?” Jai asked. “Oh, hey, Jackie’s here—and pissed off.” She laughed again. “I’ll make sure we get your patient ready to be transported down. Jackie might have to help if she doesn’t want to be here for an hour, though.”
“The whole point I sent her up. And thank you,” I managed and hung up.
I proceeded through the rooms, checking in on my patients, and ensuring they were recovering well or answering any post-op questions. I slid the curtain back and nodded to the respiratory therapist, who was fighting with Gilbert Jefferson. I smirked at the seventy-year-old whose last words as he was going under anesthesia were, “You’d better not kill me, you son of a bitch!” I looked at the veteran’s Navy tattoo and had nothing but respect for this man. But he was as salty as hell, and I wasn’t surprised he was giving Jenny a hard time over not wanting to do his breathing exercises.
“Doc,” he said in his raspy voice, “tell her to get on out of here.”
I smiled at Jenny, then looked at Gilbert. “If I tell her to leave you alone, then your last words before I put you to sleep might just come true.”
He squinted and grumbled, mustering the most dangerous glare he could at me. “You’re an asshole, Doc.”
“I’ve been called worse,” I countered. “You need to do the breathing exercises, or those strong lungs won’t be able to cuss any of us out anymore. You and I discussed this.”
He waved me off. “You can go.”
“I’m not leaving until you take a few puffs off that machine.” I arched a brow at him.
“Good grief,” he said, looking at Jenny for help.
“Doctor’s orders.” She smiled at him.
“He’s too young to be a doctor anyway,” the old sailor started in with his insults on me.
“Tell that to your heart that’s thanking me for the quadruple bypass.” I looked at Jenny. “Jackie will be down with a new patient, Ms. Davis. I’ll make sure she doesn’t leave until she confirms that Gilbert here is properly doing his breathing work for you.”
I finished with my rounds and called Jackie out and away from the patients and the interns. “If you ever speak to me or call me out in front of patients, nurses, interns, or even the fucking janitor again, you will be working another floor. Am I clear?” I should call her ass out on why exactly she refused the transfer after learning we were overstaffed, and Ms. Davis’s room was left empty all night. I didn’t have time for this petty shit. King was right. She was Jim’s problem once I had my forty-eight off.
“That wasn’t my intent, Jake,” she stammered.
“Well, it most definitely made me look like an ass on the first day for these interns. You need to stay in your lane. Don’t treat me like the piece of shit you believe me to be.”
“I have nothing but respect for you, Dr. Mitchell.”
“Yeah.” I shook my head in disgust. “Right.”
“You’re the best—”
“Just stop.” I held my hand up. “Consider yourself scolded. When I send a patient down to my floor or give orders to move them to another, do your goddamn job. I don’t act like an egotistical dick of a doctor, but I can make sure you’re sent to the floor where one is.”
She sighed. “It won’t happen again. I’m sorry.”
“You have four or five interns to get introduced to the CCU, and it’s probably going to hold you over until noon.”
“Heather is on now as the charge nurse. She can take over.” Her eyes grew severe.
“True,” I said, eying the day-shift charge. “She can do rounds with them, and you can leave after you find a way to apologize to Ms. Davis for not bringing her down. I need to go. My patients are already in the office. I’m stacked in after two surgeries yesterday.”
“Thank you, Jake,” she said and then stormed off to make sure Ms. Davis’s room was ready.
Shit. What a fucking good morning. I had to shake all of this off. Tomorrow I was on call all day, and if I was going to be dealing with any bullshit, the old bat was going to be on call with me. I needed to be in a good working mood with the woman, or I’d strangle her before the twenty-four-hour on-call was over.
The next day I was able to catch up on a shitload of backed-up work. I sat in the nurses’ station and sipped on my coffee while thumbing through the evening shift-change paperwork. The interns were annoying as hell, but shit, I was in their shoes once too. In truth, it was a slow day, so they were floating through the floor like disheveled messes, trying to find stuff to do.
I should have known that once I took a bite of the sandwich that it took Jackie an hour to bring me, the call that the interns had been praying for all day would come in.
I flipped through the man’s chart who was being rushed into my OR, looking at everything in his medical history. CPR was being used to keep the sixty-five-year-old alive, and now it was my job to open him up and do what I did best.
With the stealth and the supreme skill of my staff, all hands were on deck as I went to work, saving the man from the heart attack that was desperately trying to steal him from the world.
I performed the bypass as effortlessly as most people would tie their shoes. Three of his arteries were blocked, but still allowing proper blood flow. The culprit was the plaque that blocked one of his arteries entirely. After bypassing that, his body and heart fell into a sound rhythm. Unfortunately, after three hours with this patient, I knew blocked arteries weren’t the man’s primary issue.
“Well done, Dr. Mitchell,” my attending physician acknowledged while we worked to close up the wound in his chest. “I will take it from here.”
I stepped back, knowing the patient was in good care with Dr. Chi. “I’ll inform the family of his stability and what the future holds for the patient.” I looked at the interns. “Two of you may join me. As you already know, his family is out in the waiting room, and they are in distress. They don’t need the audience of too many interns.”
I pulled off the glasses, mask, gloves, and the rest of my protective gear and tossed them in the hazmat can, and I walked out with two interns trailing me. I hated greeting patients in my scrubs and scrub hat like this—something about it was too sterile and intimidating for people who were waiting to hear if their loved one was alive or dead. I suppose there was no appropriate attire to receive such news, though.
I hit the auto-open button with my elbow that opened the doors to the visitors’ waiting room of the ER-wing to the hospital. The family stood, and my eyes widened when I could have sworn the ghost of my Ash stood amongst the two older men and a woman in the family room. I had to blink a few times—nope, it was her, in the flesh.
“Good evening.” I smiled, peeling my eyes from Ash and looking at the man who seemed to command the room. “I assume you’re the family of Mark Taylor?”
“He’s my dad, yes.” Ash pried her way up between the two men who stood like bodyguards in front of her. “Please, God.” She covered her mouth with her hands, and tears poured out of her puffy eyes.
If only I could bring her into my arms and tell her he’s going to be okay…for now.
“The surgery went well. He’s now in recovery.” I pulled my brain out of Jake-Mitch mode and into supremely focused surgeon mode…the mode that I was in before I saw her stunning bronze eyes. “He’s going to be fine. A nurse will be out shortly to go over the details with all of you. Can any of you tell me who his current cardiologist is? There was nothing filled in on his charts or paperwork,” I said, thumbing through the papers I had and then looking up at the family again.
“He hasn’t seen a doctor since before my mother—” Ash’s voice cracked, and she turned into the embrace of the strong man she clung too.
I brought my attention to his red-rimmed eyes, eyes that were glassy and hardened from holding back tears of fear. “The nurse will set up an appointment with a cardiologist if he doesn’t have one. She will go over the details as to why he must be seen soon after he’s released and recovering from this surgery.”
“What does that mean, Dr. Mitchell?” the man asked.
“He will need further evaluation. He is stable, but it is crucial that he be seen by a cardiologist much sooner than most of our patients after they’re released to recover at home.”
Shit. Ash needed to know her dad had a very critical situation with his enlarged heart, and the only way to fix it would be a transplant. I would need to inform Jackie that Mark Taylor must be my future patient. Being that Mark Taylor was my Ash’s dad, I didn’t trust him in anyone’s care but mine.
After seeing Ash’s reaction to almost losing her father, I internally prayed I could convince both of them of a heart transplant as soon as a donor was available. I had the best record in the nation on transplants—the media was interviewing me about that next week. Ash would lose her dad if we didn’t get him a new heart. He had multiple issues, but the main problem from what I saw without the machines was that his tricuspid valve was not functioning correctly, otherwise known as Epstein’s anomaly.
I’d learn more once he was my patient. Right now, I had to hope he’d accept me as his doctor, the idea of a transplant, and then, of course, the donor heart.
I left the room, Ash watching me through tear-stained eyes, and me not being able to do a damn thing about that. I was some fucking idiot flirt who’d fucked her all night in my room. How the fucking hell was she supposed to take me seriously a year later, walking into a room in scrubs, announcing her dad was fine, and doing my usual doctor routine of leaving the rest to the nurse to go over with the family?
I walked back to where Mr. Taylor was being transported out of the OR and up to the SICU wing of the hospital until he was recovered enough to be admitted to my floor.
I ran my hand over my scrub hat, pulling the navy-blue material from my head and ran the back of my hand over my forehead. I had to see Ash again. I had to help her and her dad. Call it doctor instincts—or just part of this crazy world of being stuck wishing I’d never let her walk out of the room that morning.
I’d forgotten how beautiful this woman was. How she mysteriously did what none other could do: capture my attention solely for her. Hell, we had to be meant for something. These crazy run-ins had to have meant more than I knew.
