Page 15 of Drake Eternal

I extended my hand and first shook Sam’s hand and then Paul’s.

“Nice to meet you. Just getting a fresh cup so I can get caught up on cases. I guess I’ll see you both around.”

“We should have lunch and catch up,” Sam said and smiled.

“Of course,” I said, not wanting to be rude. “I’m in my office.”

I walked off, nodding to Paul and then made my way down the hallway, glad to be out of the break room.

The last thing I wanted was Sam pestering me. Although she’d never tempt me no matter what, I didn’t want anything to happen between us besides a casual hello in the hallway or a congenial patient consult. If I could, I’d avoid her as much as possible.

I went back to my office and coffee in hand, spent the next half hour catching up, waiting for Michael to arrive so we could have a formal meeting and get up to speed with what the hospital needed and what cases we had to deal with first. Our priority would be getting the most critical cases dealt with. Michael and I would take those, using our expertise to deal with them, and then we’d divide up the remaining cases among the junior staff, based on their level of expertise and experience.

We also had to spend time searching for two new staff members, and so that would take time. I knew Michael would have already sent feelers out to the various teaching hospitals around the world where he had connections, in search of talented recently graduated neurosurgeons.

We would do everything we could to find and recruit new neurosurgeons as quickly as possible. While I was happy to help Michael out, I wanted to return to New York and to my family without delay.

I knew my first day in Nairobi would be busy, and I would still be a bit strung out because of the time difference and jet lag, but I also knew that my first night alone without Kate and Sophie would be hard.

CHAPTER 5

My first full day alone without Drake was normal except for Drake’s absence. Sophie and I did our usual routine of walking along the boardwalk, eating lunch, and she played while I did work in my office. I checked my watch and saw that it was already three o’clock and time for Drake to call and say goodnight.

“Sophie, come and play in my office. Daddy’s going to call soon to say goodnight.”

“Okay, Mommy,” she called up from her playroom.

She appeared in a few moments, her coloring book and markers in her hands.

“Come and sit on the sofa and you can color on the coffee table. Daddy should call any time now.”

Sophie went to the coffee table and knelt beside it and was soon immersed in whatever picture she was coloring. I wrapped my iPad and got it set up next to her on the coffee table and then sent Drake a text.

KATE: We’re here waiting breathlessly for your Skype.

There was a pause before I saw that he’d seen my message. He typed back.

DRAKE: Sorry, was just going up the elevator to my room. Michael and I had a late dinner and spent some time talking about work. I’ll be in my room in 5 and we can Skype then.

KATE: Okay. We’ll be waiting.

“Daddy says he’ll be calling in five minutes,” I told Sophie, who looked up from her coloring book and nodded.

“Is he getting ready for bed?” she asked, laughing as she said it like it was too preposterous to believe.

“Yes, he is. He spent some time with Uncle Michael having dinner but will be ready for bed and to say goodnight to us.”

She nodded and continued coloring, unconcerned.

I glanced down at her coloring book and saw that she was coloring none other than one of the Disney characters from her favorite movie. Frozen… I didn’t think that anything would ever replace it in her heart.

Soon enough, my cell and iPad both rang with the tell-tale sound of an incoming Skype request. I tapped the icon on the iPad and a video image of Drake appeared on screen, and in the small corner, one of Sophie and me behind her. I’d arranged the iPad so that it could capture us both so Drake could see us together.

“There’s my two girls,” Drake said, a big smile on his very handsome but very tired- and jet-lagged looking face. “You both look beautiful.”

“Hi, Daddy,” Sophie said and then held up her coloring book. “Look what I’m coloring. Do you know what it is?”

Drake squinted his eyes dramatically. “I have no idea who that could be. Is that Olaf?”

---