Page 65 of From Rivals to I Do

“Yes, I’m Darla from the ICU,” I say. “I’m here to see Doctor Harrison about an important matter.”

“Do you have an appointment?” she asks as she sifts through the paperwork on her desk.

“It’s an emergency situation so, no, I can’t say that I do,” I reply.

“Well then you’ll have to try to make an appointment,” she says. “I’m sure we have some openings next week—”

“I don’t think I made myself clear enough,” I say, taking some of the syrupy sweetness out of my voice. “It’s urgent.”

“So are all of the other staff’s problems Ms.. . .”

“Darla Middleton,” I reply dryly, getting irritated with her attitude. “And I don’t think that their problems are the intentional switching of two patients under the director’s name, are they?”

The lady at the desk gets really quiet. I can tell she’s shocked but trying hard not to show it. “Have a seat, Ms. Middleton, I’ll let him know you’re here.”

I do just that, flopping down in the armchair closest to me, if you could call it that. It feels like I’m sitting on the floor, and the minutes that tick by seem to drag on until a man comes out in a suit and smiles at me.

Immediately, I recognize him, and it takes me back a bit when I realize that I recognize him from Moonshine and Music. He’d been hanging with Joseph, my ex, the night that Eli had told him off.

“You’re Ms. Darla, I take it?” he asks, his hands shaking a bit as he adjusts his tie.

“Yes sir,” I reply as I stand up. Much to my surprise, he doesn’t waste time, strolling over to shake my hand. His palm is surprisingly clammy with perspiration.

It’s obvious he’s just as nervous as I am, which makes me feel a lot better about coming to him. It’s possible he’s just as in the dark as I am about the whole thing. I’m just hoping that I won’t be seen as a troublemaker.

“Shall we step into my office?” he says as he waves me toward the door he came out of, and I file in after him.

“Have a seat,” he says, motioning to the chairs in front of his gigantic, cherry-wood desk.

“Thank you,” I reply.

“Now, Tessa tells me that you’re here about the Garcia debacle,” Doctor Harrison says as he takes a seat in his high-backed, cushioned seat.

“Yes actually, I am,” I say as I sit up straight in my seat, hoping that I am exuding the confidence my voice feigns. “Something is truly bothering me about this situation.”

“Same here,” Doctor Harrison says with a sigh. “I’ve been investigating the situation all day, and I’ve done all I can to figure out who accessed my credentials. I even brought in the technician, and we are all stumped.”

“When I looked, you were the only login,” I say, and I half expect him to ask how I know that.

“Well, I can assure you I certainly wouldn’t do anything like that,” Doctor Harrison insists, surprising me when he doesn’t question what I know. “This is my career we are talking about. If Elijah’s family decides to sue, I’m in a heap of trouble. I really feel terrible for them, no one should be put through that.”

I can sense from the panic and sorrow in his voice that he’s being sincere. It wouldn’t make sense for him to do something so foolish. But he is friends with Joseph. . .

“How long have you known Joseph Middleton?” I ask.

“Joe? You related?” he asks.

“You could say that,” I say as I force a smile.

“Since college, actually,” he says. “We used to be very close, but once I moved down here, we lost touch.”

I don’t remember him from college, but I suppose that doesn’t mean much. I mean, I thought I knew the man I married, and I clearly didn’t. So, it’s not too farfetched that I’d never met him.

“I see,” I say. “He’s my ex-husband.”“He had a wife?” Doctor Harrison says, seeming to be genuinely shocked. “News to me. I remember a girlfriend, but I never met her.”

“That would be me,” I say, trying to be careful of what I reveal. I can’t entirely trust this man, not yet. “But we are divorced now.”

“So weird,” he says, and we sit there for a moment in awkward, uncomfortable silence. Until finally, another idea wafts through my head. A horrible realization. Joseph had said that he would make me regret not taking him back. . . Would he be capable of doing something to the records?

---