34
Mia
I’d taken another two days off of work when I was released from the hospital. I said it was because I was still sore from the fall, but the truth was, I was heartbroken. I’d known I’d fallen for Nick again, but I hadn’t realized I was head over heels. His absence was made worse by the fact he hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye. I was told he called the hospital a few times to check on me, but why hadn’t he asked to speak to me? I couldn’t blame him for hitting his limit with the whole situation, but I was so hurt and angry at how he responded. Had he just cut us all out of his life?
With Nick away, it had been nice to be with my family. I’d been home for a while, but hadn’t really connected with them. Now, my life was back to normal. I was working during the day, and spending time with my dad, and Eli in the evenings, except when Eli worked late or was taking Dana out. I told myself, life was good, even though there was a glaring hole that I was pretty sure only Nick could fill in my heart and life.
I’d just come back to my office from having lunch when my phone rang.
“This is Victoria Manning. I represent Dr. Nick Foster.”
“Yes, Ms. Manning. How are you?” I couldn’t help but imagine her and Nick together even though I’d been told he was visiting his family, indefinitely.
“I’m fine, thank you. Nick asked that I give you some information that might help the hospital’s case regarding the death of Ms. Mason.”
“Oh.” My gut burned with anger and resentment that he couldn’t be bothered to tell me himself.
“If you review the EMR notes, you’ll see that he documented her report that she’d woken that morning not feeling well, and a little bit later asked her son to bring her in. Her arrival time is several hours after that. There’s enough in the record to show that, but Nick did tell me that she’d said her son asked her grandson to bring her in, and that he’d had to finish playing a video game and then brought her with him to visit a girlfriend before taking her to the hospital.”
I pulled up the EMR notes on Ms. Mason and could see where Nick had made timeline notes and indeed it appeared that it was several hours from when she indicated she wanted to go to the hospital before she arrived.
“I just received a report from an expert pathologist I asked to review the case, and he indicates that even if the tests were done right away, chances were good that it was too late by the time she arrived. In that case, it puts the issue of negligence on Ms. Mason’s son and grandson.”
“Nick is going to blame them?” That didn’t sound like Nick. Then again, why should he take the blame for something he didn’t do?
She made a sighing sound. “He doesn’t want to. He just wants to clear his name, but as you know, my job is to defend my client, as is your job.”
It definitely was compelling information.
“Of course, it’s difficult to prove that the tests would have been too late since they weren’t done. Any news on the IT person looking at your system?”
“I’m reviewing the report.” I wasn’t going to tell her the request for the chest x-ray had gone to the wrong department. If the family didn’t drop Nick from the lawsuit, then she’d eventually get the information as the case continued.
“I’ll be talking with the Mason family lawyer today and expect them to drop the charges on my client,” she said.
She sounded sure of herself. I pushed my annoyance at her aside, because in fact, this was good news. It meant that Nick would be free to come home. Maybe he could get his job back, although that would mean we couldn’t be together.
“I’m not sure that will be enough for the hospital, but it could help, and Nick wanted you to know.”
“I appreciate that, thank you.”
I sat back in my chair, processing what I’d heard. Legally, this could help the hospital case, but all I could think about was what it meant for Nick. And me. Would he come home? We’d had sex on my desk before all hell broke loose. We’d admitted that what was between us was more than just sex, although no words of love were said. Had he just been caught up in the moment? Or had the incident made him give up on us, and decide to leave to start over somewhere else? And why the hell wouldn’t he talk to me? The pain and anger from that made me want to throw something.
Instead, I rose from my chair and went to Dick’s office to let him know about Victoria Manning’s call.
“So, he’s getting out of it, huh?”
“He’s not getting out of anything. He’s not to blame.” I studied Dick wondering if he had a personal vendetta against Nick or just wanted a scapegoat.
“Can we use the same defense?” he asked.
“We can, but I’d be careful. For one, we wouldn’t want to come off as blaming her grandson. I’m not a PR person, but it seems to me telling a young man he killed his grandmother is harsh—”
“And yet true.”
“It will make the hospital look like assholes, excuse my language. And there’s still the issue of the EMR not sending the chest x-ray order to the right place.”
He shook his head dismissing the error. “The pathology report suggests it wouldn’t have mattered.”