Page 12 of Dr. Grump's Surprise Baby

“I was here when they signed up,” Jonathan said. “Or rather, Emily and Sara signed up. Cassidy’s father put her name down.”

“Right,” Dominic said. “What’s the betting Cassidy doesn’t show up to the conference at all?”

Jonathan shrugged. “Not our problem,” he said. “That’s between her and her father. But what do you think of the other two names on the list?”

“You said you saw them sign up?”

“I did.”

“Whose idea was it?”

“Emily’s, of course. She had her work cut out for her talking Sara into it. Had to promise to go to some concert or other with Sara in exchange, but I’m guessing she’ll try to get out of it.”

“Do you think Emily understood that she didn’t have to go to the conference?” Dominic asked.

“Of course she did. Why would she fight so hard to sign up for something mandatory? You’re not making sense.”

“I don’t know,” Dominic said. “I’m just struggling to understand it. Why she would want to do this.”

“You told them it would be good for their professional development, didn’t you?” Jonathan asked reasonably. “Maybe she cares about her professional development.”

“No, I’m sure she does, but… I don’t know,” Dominic said. “I wasn’t expecting anyone at all to sign up for the conference. I told them as a courtesy, but I didn’t think anything would come of it.”

“You’ve underestimated that woman from the get-go,” Jonathan said. “I’m telling you, she’s going to make through the internship program. I think her chances are great.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Dominic said.

“I don’t understand why you’ve fixated on her, to be honest,” Jonathan said.

“Fixated? I haven’t fixated on her.”

“You have, though. It’s not unusual for you to tell me what a mess a group of interns is as a whole, but she’s getting more than her share of your criticism, and I’m not sure why that is.”

“Well, you know she made a bad impression by arriving late on the first day.”

“Yeah, I know. I also know that was three weeks ago. She must have done something between now and then to make some sort of impression on you right? I mean, this isn’t all because she was late on the very first day.”

“You’re reading too much into it,” Dominic said.

“I don’t think I am. You’re paying more attention to her than you are to any of the other interns, and I really think you should ask yourself why that is.”

“Why do you think it is?”

“I don’t know,” Jonathan admitted. “Maybe you think she’s the best of them, and that bothers you for some reason.”

“Why would that bother me? Someone has to be the best.”

“But you’re not denying that you think it’s her?”

“I haven’t thought about it,” Dominic said honestly. “I’ve been thinking about who’s at the bottom of the list, but I haven’t given any thought to who would be number one if I had to rank them.”

“Well, for me, it would be her,” Jonathan said. “She’s been a real breath of fresh air.”

“She’s naive, is what she is,” Dominic said. “She thinks this job is going to be full of sunshine and happiness.”

“What makes you think that?”

“It’s something about the way she is with the patients. She always has something positive to say to them.”

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