Page 40 of Dr. Brandt

It was Cameron.

“I think God answered my prayers or something. That’s why you’re calling,” I said without thinking.

“I could argue that I’m not the answer to anyone’s prayers, but then we’d both know I would be lying.” I could hear the smile in his voice, but I wasn’t in the mood for Cameron’s charms.

“Yeah, okay.”

“Jessa, you don’t sound too hot, and that’s why I’m calling. Forgive me for not calling yesterday evening, but I had a bit of a rough morning after being called in for an emergency assist on a surgery.”

“Yeah, well, maybe you should’ve called. If you had, I might know what to say or do when it comes to my son, who has to deal with the mental fuckery of losing movement in his arm.” There it was. I officially snapped, and Cameron was the poor man who would be on the receiving end of the fear-based vitriol poised to spew out of my mouth. “Perhaps it was that you failed to mention that you would be performing other surgeries instead of following through with the ones you’ve set appointments for. Do you do this to all your patients? You know, bail on them when they need you most. I guess some things never change. You must have this scale of importance where you rank things in your arrogant brain. I mean, I felt the brunt of that when the importance of going to your fucking dream college versus staying with the used up, throwaway college girlfriend—”

“I never said—”

“Ah, ah-ah,” I interrupted him. “I’m not done yet, Dr. Brandt.” I exhaled, my rage giving birth to some demon that had apparently been growing in me since Cameron left me years ago. My voice changed into some diabolical tone like I was possessed, and now, Cameron was about to hear everything I never knew I needed to say. “If running off to the next best thing is more important than helping my son, then I don’t give a fuck if you’re God’s gift to surgery, you have the most successful cases, or even if you have the mother fucking cure to cancer, I will not allow you to perform this life-altering surgery on my son.” The demonic voice that’d taken over me seemed to fade, but my anger wasn’t gone. “I’d like to offer you a suggestion: when you say you’re going to be there for a patient, be fucking there. It’ll serve you well to know that you can’t play with your patients’ minds like that and hurt them like you’re the very type to do.”

“Anything else?” he said as if he were taking notes.

“Yes, you’re an asshole,” I finished, feeling my heart pounding in my throbbing head.

“May I speak?” he questioned meekly.

“Yes. Yes, you may speak, Cameron.”

“First,” he spoke carefully so as not to wake the demon in me again, “it was rude of me to miss our appointment yesterday, and no, it is not something I do to all of my new patients.”

“Just my kid, right?” I said, annoyed at the excuses I knew were about to be delivered.

“No,” he said. “This was a rare case. I was not happy the surgery was moving forward, and given that there are laws that prevent me from disclosing too much to you, I can say that, despite my best efforts, we lost the patient. Otherwise, I would’ve most definitely followed up with you last evening. I’m sorry it took me until this morning to do so. I can tell that, due to my lack of effort, I’ve evoked your hatred of me leaving you once again. Unfortunately—”

“Did you just say you lost the patient yesterday?” I questioned, my rational brain seizing control again in this demonic tug-of-war.

“Yes, and even so, I am sorry I did not call you. I didn’t expect it would affect me as it did, which is no excuse. I deeply apologize.”

“Oh, Jesus, Cameron. Don’t you dare apologize for that. I’m the one who should be apologizing. I was wrong to go off like that. I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”

“Hey,” I heard his smile through the phone, “if that’s how you handle doctors who are negligent in their duties towards your son, I’ll take it all day long. Trust me, I know I was wrong in this situation. I could’ve had my secretary text you or done something more than not saying anything at all. Nevertheless, I learned a little something from this phone call, and I feel I must repay the favor now.”

“How so?” I still wasn’t in the mood for games, but I would do anything to get Jackson feeling better, and I needed a better understanding of how to be a solid support system for my son.

“What are you two up to tonight?”

“Um, I don’t know. Jackson was going to use a fake I.D. to sneak into a strip club, and I figured I’d go to a singles bar and find myself a new boyfriend,” I said sarcastically.

“New boyfriend? I didn’t know you and your fiancé were into that sort of thing,” he said humorously.

“Warren and I ended things last week,” I announced and regretted it the moment I did. “And I’m not looking to get into another relationship, so you can forget about being excited.”

“Excited?” he said, rightfully confused by my assumption.

“Shit,” I said, closing my eyes in embarrassment. “I’m sorry. You most likely have a girlfriend, or a wife, or who knows. You’re gorgeous and probably exploring the idea of men these days. Why not? Everyone is beautiful in this town. Why limit yourself, right?”

Nice, Jessa. Keep it up. As if you haven’t embarrassed yourself enough for one conversation.

The silence on the other end of the phone would’ve been deafening if I hadn’t heard Cameron restraining himself from bursting into laughter.

“Nothing seems to have changed with the woman I never stopped loving, let me tell you. You’re still able to talk out of control and make wild and very false assumptions when you’re pissed off.”

“So, you’re not into dudes?”

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