Chapter 10
Work as a Distraction
To my surprise, things were better after our near-miss. Hector remained respectful of me and all our interactions were nothing but professional, but his good mood was back. He stopped ignoring me, and it felt almost how it had when he’d first joined Heartland Metro.
Now that Dr. Keach had planted that seed of doubt, however, I was once again the main target for his jabbing. I hadn’t pieced together why Dr. Keach had backed off, but my bliss had only lasted while Hector ignored me. Now that I featured back on Hector’s radar, Dr. Keach gravitated back to pestering me, taking any opportunity to put me down in the presence of Dr. Medina.
He found me at the nurses’ station going over my next patient’s chart. “I see all is well in paradise again,” he said.
My eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?” I didn’t look up from the screen.
“You and Dr. Medina. You’re back in his good graces, I see.”
“You should be careful what you insinuate, Dr. Keach. Your daddy’s name can only protect you from so much. You sure you want to antagonize someone like Dr. Medina?” I raised an eyebrow.
That’s right, Dr. Keach, I thought.The mom and baby wing may be named after your father, but even your last name plastered on the hospital’s wall is laughable.
There was simply no way he would have gotten matched to this hospital without some serious money being involved. His father was a physician here before his retirement and was a regular—and generous—donor to the hospital. But Dr. Keach was not worth more than the research funding Hector could bring in.
Dr. Keach’s lips thinned and his nostrils flared. No one had ever called him out on his bullshit. I’d been tempted many times before, and I wasn’t exactly sure why I’d finally done it after all this time. Probably because before, his attention only affected me, but now he was also soiling the name of a mentor I valued. I refused to acknowledge any other feelings for Hector—even to myself.
“You really are clueless, aren’t you?” asked Dr. Keach.
“Please, enlighten me,” I taunted.
“Dr. Medina will be selecting the recipient of the fellowship in two years. The chief wanted fresh eyes on the graduating residents next year.”
I shifted in my seat. Of course Dr. Keach would have this information. The Chief of Oncology kissed his ass constantly. It came as no surprise that he would give him the advantage. It also stung a little that Hector hadn't offered me the same upper hand by telling me his role in selecting the winner.
Hector wasn’t witness to any part of this exchange. Dr. Keach was tactical in his attacks on me, and I knew that taking it to HR would only result in his word against mine. It chafed knowing that at this moment, his word would be worth a heck of a lot more than mine.
I didn’t see Hector until the next day when I had to work out his schedule with his assistant. We managed to free up the latter half of the day so we could go over the statistical report we had been neglecting.
Hector hadn’t changed much in his office in the few months since he’d joined Heartland Metro. From what I could tell, the only change was the appearance of a solitary picture frame on his desk. Once I sat down, I turned the photograph over to see what could be the only thing in his life important enough to look at every day. The simple black frame contained a black and white photograph of Hector and an older, shorter woman standing next to him. “Who is this?” I asked.
“That is Marisela Medina.” He smiled, and I put the frame back to its original spot on his desk.
“Your mom?”
He nodded. “Ready?”
We were going over the numbers together. We made a promise to open the email at the same time—he hadn’t gotten that far before we’d fought about it. He read one line, and I read the next.
An excitement very close—though also very different—to what I had felt at his house two nights ago crept up. My heart began racing.
“Are you seeing this?” Hector asked.
I couldn’t look up from my screen. My mouth dried up, rendering words inaccessible. I only nodded.
“What did I tell you?”
I looked up at him then, the question clear on my face. “Is this real?”
“Carolina, you are amazing. It’s going in the right direction.”
I nodded, too stunned to speak.
The results were what I was expecting—eventually.