Page 31 of How to Walk Away

“Yes.”

“I’ve made several notes in the chart that she should have someone else.”

“I saw those notes.”

“And you just ignored them?”

“Look, Ian’s wide open right now.”

“Yeah. There’s a reason for that.”

“Are you saying Ian is incompetent to work with this patient?”

“I’m saying he’s not a good match for her. And I think you know it. I’m wondering if you might be kind of hoping it’ll blow up in everybody’s face.”

“What are you saying, Nina?”

“Exactly what you think I’m saying, Myles.”

Sheesh. This guy Myles was a wiener.

“You think I’m trying to bring Ian down? You think I’m sacrificing this patient’s well-being so we can all watch him self-destruct?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I don’t have to. The man’s a time bomb. He’s going to self-destruct all on his own.”

Nina wasn’t having it. “Not with my patient, he isn’t. She’s right on the edge. She’d just gottenengaged. She just lost everything. You need to pair her with somebody kind and encouraging—April, or even Rob.”

“I’m not redoing the entire schedule for one patient.”

Nina’s voice tightened. “She needs someone else.”

“Everyone else is full.”

“So switch somebody out.”

But Myles—some kind of supervisor, maybe—apparently didn’t like being told what to do. In the silence that followed, I could hear him bristle. “It’s not your call. It’s my call. And if you make trouble for me, I promise I’ll make trouble for you. The schedule stays as it is.”

He must have walked off then, because after a few seconds of silence, several nurses, including Nina, started talking trash about him, using words like “jealous” and “control freak” and “little Napoleon.” I might even have found it funny, if I could find anything funny anymore. If it weren’t so clear that the patient she’d been talking about—the one who had just losteverything that mattered—was me.

That’s when I heard a Scottish voice out at the station. “I tried to switch, if it’s any consolation. I talked to Myles yesterday.”

“You didn’t try hard enough.”

“He never gives me anything I want.”

“You never used to let him push you around like that.”

“He never used to be the boss.”

Nina’s voice was all business. “You’d better be nice to her, Ian.”

Ian’s voice was, too. “Nice doesn’t make you strong.”

Two seconds later, the door to my room pushed open.

“Time for PT, Maggie Jacobsen,” Ian said, not meeting my eye. He wheeled my chair close to the bed.

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