Josie wasn’t going anywhere. They were together. He was breaking every rule he had, starting a relationship with a coworker, but what the hell. He was tired of being alone, and he’d found that his life could alter at any given moment. It was better just to enjoy what he had while he could and worry about the future later.
As he went past Tim Sheinberg’s office, he glanced in and saw Tim flagging him down. “Hey, Houston, do you have a minute?”
He was on his way to several patient appointments, but he was early. His eyes had snapped open at dawn, and after a while he’dgotten up and come to the hospital, leaving Josie sleeping in his bed.
“Sure, Tim. What’s up?” He propped himself on the door frame.
“How’s Dr. Adkins doing in the OR?”
Dr. Sheinberg was sitting back in his chair, casual, but the question wasn’t innocent. Houston sensed that.
He also knew he hesitated a fraction of a second too long. “Fine.”
That was probably a slight exaggeration. Josie had the skills—she did—but she moved too slow, her decisions weighed and mulled over too long. He knew why now, but he was in an awkward position.
Protect Josie, hoping she came around eventually, or tell the truth and possibly protect the patient.
“Come in here and close the door.” Tim sat up straighter.
Shit.
Houston followed the directive and sank into a chair across from Tim, forcing himself to stay relaxed. “Is something wrong, Tim?”
Clearly there was. Tim’s fingers drummed on his desk and he fussed with his tie. “Look, Houston, we’ve known each other a long time, and you’re a damn good surgeon. By the book. And we’re friends, right? We’ve hit the bars together a few times, hung out.”
Houston’s concern deepened. He did like Tim, and he respected him professionally, but he had no idea what this was about. “Sure, we’re friends. And I came to Acadia Inlet based on your recommendation.”
Tim nodded, studying him carefully. “Tell me straight, Houston. Are you screwing around with one of my residents?”
His face went hot. Words of denial were on his lips. And indignation that anyone could refer to what he shared with Josie as screwing around. He clamped his mouth shut and said nothing.
Tim sighed. “Look, normally what you do with your dick is none of my business, but we’ve got a problem here. We’ve got a second-year resident who already has a strike or two against her on her record. She’s a great doctor, with an incredible rapport with the patients. They trust her, and she delivers the kind of personal care I haven’t seen in a long time. But you and I both know her surgical skills are average at best.”
Houston wasn’t sure he knew that, or maybe he did and didn’t want to admit it. Or hear it out loud.
Either way he didn’t like that all his thoughts, all his concerns about getting involved with Josie, were suddenly rearing up, just when he’d convinced himself they wouldn’t.
“She just needs experience.”
Pinning him with a hard stare, Tim snorted. “What she needs is to prove she’s capable. And she needs to not be having an affair with you. Look, if this blows up, you’ll get singed a little, but it’s Josie who will burn. You know how that shit goes down. Even if she’s just a bit of fun for you, do you want that on your conscience?”
Houston raked his hand through his hair and tapped his foot, frustrated and furious with himself. “She’s not just a bit of fun. She’s more than that, and I don’t want her to suffer for this, Tim.”
Then Tim smiled, an approving grin on his tan, rugged face. “Glad to hear it.” He swiveled his chair and faced his computer screen. “So, we’ll just fix it, all right? If you’re not working together, there’s nothing inappropriate about you seeing each other. So as of today, we’re transferring Dr. Adkins to St. John’s up the road.”
“What the hell is this?” Josie read the words in front of her again, as if somehow they were going to mysteriously change into something more palatable.
Sara stopped chewing her sandwich long enough to ask, “What?”
Josie bit the cherry tomato from her salad, wishing it were Dr. Houston Hayes’s head. God, she had trusted him. She had told him that she loved him. She had let him have sex with her on asurfboard.She had told him her fears, and he had turned her in. The sharks were biting, and not in the water.
Damn it, she felt tears forming right in the hospital cafeteria. “I’ve been transferred to St. John’s.”
“Transferred? Why? Can they do that without asking you?”
Josie’s hand shook as it held the paper with the damning words on it. “I didn’t think so. But listen to this. Just listen.”
There was a pit in her stomach and it took everything in her to not cry out of anger and frustration. This was Houston’s doing.