Page 19 of Drake Eternal

Sam glanced out the door and saw me, and I could tell she was angry by the frown on her face. Paul was leaning against the counter and looked morose.

I sighed and made my way to the front entrance to wait for Michael, certain that what I had done was right, if not upsetting. When two people are in love — or lust as the case may be — it was very difficult for them to see reason. It would be very hard for them to stop the relationship, which was why I suggested that Paul transfer to another neurosurgeon for his rotation. It could be me, or it could be Michael. Maybe that was what Michael wanted to talk to me about over drinks.

Whatever the case, Sam had to stop being his supervisor. It would be wisest to hold off on the affair until Paul was done his neurosurgery rotation so there would be no question of preferential treatment. Once he was somewhere else, she could do whatever she wanted with her life, but until then, she had to follow the rules and ethics — for her own good, for Paul’s sake and for the hospital.

That said nothing about her infidelity to her relatively new husband, but since I had no personal insight into their relationship, I couldn’t really say whether her husband accepted her infidelity. I didn’t think there were many husbands who would be okay with their spouses screwing around, but there were open marriages. There were swinger couples. As someone who played in the BDSM crowd, I could not judge them if they had an agreement about extramarital affairs.

But I didn’t know. That wasn’t my business or that of the hospital. What was my business — the hospital’s business — was whether she followed the hospital’s code of conduct for medical staff and especially those with powers of oversight for the residents.

A supervisor was not permitted to have a sexual relationship with a resident.

Period.

I met Michael at the front entrance, and he smiled at me ruefully and shook his head as we walked down the steps to the parking lot.

“What’s up?” I asked, wondering about the expression on his face.

“When I came here, it was to help ensure that patients in need of care got it, not to police the medical staff and residents.”

“What happened?”

“Sam made a complaint about you.”

I stopped in my tracks. “What?”

“She said you made sexually suggestive comments to her, and she wanted to file a complaint about you. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I can’t believe it’s true.”

“It isn’t,” I said, barely able to contain my anger. “In fact, it’s retaliatory because I told her that she had to stop having a sexual relationship with Paul, her resident. I never made any sexually suggestive comments to her about anything except to ask her to stop having a relationship with Paul or I’d have to talk to you. This is Sam cutting me off at the pass, so to speak.”

Michael exhaled heavily, and we kept walking to the limo. “I thought that maybe they looked a little too friendly, but no one said anything when I asked the staff. Of course, they wouldn’t want to rock the boat.”

“I know. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you. I asked her to stop so I wouldn’t have to, but apparently, she wants war. I’ll show you the text I sent her, so you know.”

“No, no,” Michael said, making a slashing motion with his hand. “I’m glad you told me. This can’t be taking place. I know the hospital and I know how they view this. You did the right thing, and now I have too as well. I’ll talk to Sam and tell her that she had to stop being Paul’s supervisor. What they do on their own time is their business, but she will no longer supervise his rotation. I’ll assign him to Fischer.”

Fischer was an older neurosurgeon who worked with the hospital. He was a good choice. Paul would be lucky to have him, vs. Sam who was only a junior medical staff member. It made me wonder about why Sam was assigned Paul in the first place.

I sighed and got into the limo, which took Michael and I to my hotel. Once there, we walked to the bar and ordered our first of many drinks.

Both of us needed it after the day we’d had…

“To us,” Michael said, raising his glass once we were seated and had our drinks. “We deserve it. Both of us upended our lives to come here and help. For that, we should be free to indulge a little after a long day at work.”

“Hear! Hear!” I said and clinked my glass against his.

We spent the next hour talking about the time that passed since I left Southampton, and I talked about my time at NYP. Finally, I glanced at my watch and saw that it was getting close to eleven.

“Sorry, but I have to call it a night,” I said and finished my drink. “I have a date with my wife and daughter, who call each night to put me to bed.”

Michael laughed and nodded. “I won’t keep you, then. Go. I’ll finish my drink and watch the rest of the game on the telly.”

He pointed to the widescreen television on the wall on which was playing some soccer game. Not being a big fan, I didn’t recognize the teams, but Michael did.

“I’ll leave you to it and see you tomorrow. Say about noon?” I winked at him, and he laughed again.

“Drink some water and take Tylenol. We both deserve the morning off.”

I patted him on the back and left the bar, taking the hallway to the elevator. On the way up to my room, I sent Kate a text, explaining that I had been having a drink with Michael and would be ready for our nightly Skype session in a few minutes.

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