Page 92 of Dr. Fellow

She pulls back, her reddened lips quirking into a humored smirk. “I hate to burst your bubble, but you know that tattoo isn’t on your heart, right?”

I bark out a laugh, not expecting her comment. “It’s not? Guess I should just cover it up then.”

She starts to protest, her eyes widening in alarm, but I cut her off. “Relax—it’s here to stay. However, if you had paid attention in anatomy class, you would understand the significance of the location.”

“Listen, C’s get degrees.”

I roll my eyes and gently adjust her arm to better illustrate my point.

“The basilic vein,” I explain, tracing a finger up her smooth skin, “is located on the medial side of the arm. It’s the preferred location for PICC lines because of its size and close proximity to the surface.”

“Okay . . .” she says, drawing out the word like she’s unsure where this is going.

“It also has a direct line to the heart.”

Morgan snorts, her smirk transforming to a wicked grin. “And here I thought you ortho bros only knew about bones.”

Chapter 36

Walker

“Istill can’t believe you skipped the rotationplasty,” Beau says for the tenth time today, twisting his oversized body toward me in the ortho lounge.

I shoot him a glare, beginning to regret my decision to study here. Board exams are less than a month away at the end of June. And while I feel prepared, I also don’t need to be interrupted every five minutes by the boasting of an intern, no matter how much I happen to like him.

He doesn’t catch on, continuing his soliloquy. “I mean, I appreciate you giving me the call-up to the big leagues. But damn. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. You missed out.”

“There will always be more surgeries,” I comment, providing the same response that I’ve given to all of my other coworkers who said the same thing.

“Not like this one,” he retorts, drumming his fingers excitedly on his knee. “You essentially said no to going to the moon. Or Mount Everest. Or the Titanic.”

“These days I don’t think anyone wants to go to the Titanic.”

I sigh and close my book because he clearly has no plans of letting this go. We haven’t seen each other in weeks because he’s been on his surgical ICU rotation and busy as fuck. I can tell he’s been busting at the seams to give me the play-by-play of the case.

Beau laughs and reaches for his protein shake. “True. But you get the point.”

“I don’t actually.”

If he’s trying to equate the surgery I turned down, to a once-in-a-lifetime experience, he’s not going to convince me, no matter what he says. He could tell me that the patient magically grew their legs back, and I still wouldn’t care. The only thing that’s once in a lifetime is being married to Morgan.

“Just that it must have been a hard decision.”

“Truthfully, it was the easiest decision I’ve ever made.” I turn in my chair to face him. “And one day it will be for you too.”

Beau takes a sip, letting out a dismissive sound after he swallows. “Nah, I’d give my left nut to be able to do that again.”

I understand where he’s coming from because for so long, surgery was the most important thing in my life. If there was another case, I would take it. If there was another patient, I would see them. The entire length of my residency, there wasn’t a single thing I would say no to because I thought giving in would make me weak or less of a surgeon.

But the reality of the situation is that the hospital will give you lots of things, but it will take even more. It will provide you with education, growth, and a career to be proud of. But it will also demand that you trade those things for your time, your money, your friendships, and your family—until you’re left with no life outside of the thing that didn’t actually give you that much at all. Because at the end of the day, your career isn’t going to be there for you when you’re celebrating at the peaks of the mountains, and it’s definitely not going to be there for you when you’re in the depths of the valleys—people will be.

“Let’s say you had important plans with Claire that day,” I say, trying to impart some wisdom on my friend so that he can learn from my mistakes. “Would you have taken the case then?”

“Obviously,” he scoffs, not hesitating for a second. “She would understand.”

“What if she didn’t?”

Beau knits his furry brows as he considers my question.

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