Page 45 of Operation Annulment
Dakota nods. “Close. Woman of Medicine is my official title. Now, I was pulled off the tennis courts and told to get up here—I don’t like wasting my time. Roderick is strict with my lessons and takes my leaving very seriously.”
My eyes are streaming at this point. I don’t know what medical shows she’s been watching, but I’ve never met a doctor that talked like that. It’s like a cross betweenLittle House on the PrairieandDownton Abbey.
I can’t take it anymore. “What are you doing up here, Nancy Drew?”
Monica checks the computer and interrupts before Dakota can answer. “Dr. Davis, your patient is in pre-op.”
Dakota’s face turns bright red. “Y-you’re a doctor?”
I wrap my arm around her shoulder and steer her away from the nurse’s station. “So are you, Dr. Quinn, Woman of Medicine.”
She laughs weakly. “I had to say something so they’d take me seriously. Why does that sound so familiar?”
I shake my head. “It was a television show, way before your time.”
She bites her lip and glances back at the nurse’s station. “Did they catch on, you think?”
“Nah. I think you fooled them. So, are you stalking me?”
Her smile returns. “No, well, yes. It’s complicated. I was here to get paperwork from my new doctor.” She pats her stomach.
“Are you—” I don’t know how to finish the question and ensure that my balls remain attached to my body.
She cocks her head to the side. “Kate didn’t tell you? Yeah, I’m about six weeks along. I expected she would’ve told you. Congrats onthe marriage, by the way. I can’t see any way that could fail. How dumb do you have to be to get married in Vegas?”
I resist the urge to call security and smile instead. “About as dumb as someone who gets knocked up at twenty-two. You do know how that happens, right?”
She clenches her teeth, looking a lot like Kate as she does it. “Yes, I know how that happens. I don’t understand how you tricked Kate into going to Vegas to marry you. And if you two are so happy, why didn’t you know I was pregnant?”
I glance down at my watch. “Sorry to cut our little reunion short, but I have to be in surgery. Also, I didn’t know you were pregnant because Kate’s been pretty broken up over stuff with your dad. Nice talking to you.”
I’ve made it three feet when she responds. “Yeah, finding out your dad’s alive is pretty nerve-wracking. And just so you know, Jeremy is the one my sister should be with. He was there comforting her when she found out. Where were you?”
My teeth are going to crack under the pressure I’m putting on them.
Her dad’s alive.
Why wouldn’t she say something? Why would she lie?
And just how the fuck was Jeremy comforting her?
I pass Monica on my way into pre-op. “Call security.”
I grab my bag and toss it over my shoulder. My last case ran over—I went in for a routine gallbladder removal. I could do this surgery in my sleep, but I was off. I nicked the mesenteric artery and had to reopen him, repair the artery, and then sew until my motherfucking hand wanted to fall off. I almost lost the patient because my head wasn’t where it needed to be.
And now, I’ll be about an hour late for dinner.
“Nate.”
I’m so lost in thought that I almost miss the voice.
Almost.
I turn, and there’s Jess, curled up in a chair in the ED waiting room. She looks like a shadow of her former self. Her eyes are rimmed in dark blue circles, and she’s lost a lot of weight since I last saw her.
When was that?
The last time I saw her had to have been the night I picked her up from the hospital and let her stay with me. It was just over a month ago, but it might as well have been years.
