Page 53 of Just One Chance
“Hi,” she said to the nurse. “I’m hoping I might be able to see Dr. Daniels. Is he available?”
The woman gave her a tight smile. “That’s not exactly how the ER works. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on and we’ll get you checked in. Whatever doctor is available will be able to take care of you today.”
“Oh no, I’m not sick,” Avery clarified. “He’s a friend, actually. A good friend. I just, really need to talk to him.”
The woman lowered her glasses and studied Avery. “While he’s working? Saving lives?”
Avery’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I definitely don’t want to interfere with any life-saving. Can you just tell me if he’s working right now?”
“If he’s such a good friend, wouldn’t you know whether or not he’s working right now?”
Avery sighed. This woman was not making things easy for her. “You’re right. But, you see, we had a little bit of an argument and . . .” Avery paused when a familiar face floated into view. She couldn’t quite remember her name, but it was the woman David had been on a date with when the entire movie theater fiasco had happened. “Oh!” Avery said. “Her! She knows me. Can I talk to her?”
The woman must have heard Avery’s words because she approached the desk, giving Avery a questioning smile. Her nametag readHaley.“Can I help you?”
“Hi. Sorry. You maybe don’t remember me. I’m Avery? David’s—I mean, Dr. Daniels’s—friend?”
“Ohh, right. How I could forget?” the woman said, her tone a little less friendly than Avery would have preferred. But it wasn’t like she could blame the woman.
“I know you probably don’t have a lot of reason to want to help me, but can you tell me if David is working right now? I really,reallyneed to talk to him.”
“Talk to him in a ‘I’m going to make him even more miserable than he is now’ kind of way? Or in a ‘maybe I can snap him out of this funk he’s been in for the past month’ kind of way?”
Avery’s heart jumped. “That one. The last one. At least, I hope.”
Haley took a deep breath. “Give me a minute. He’s here. Let me just see if he can talk to you.”
Avery walked back to the lobby and perched on the edge of a chair, too anxious to really sit and relax. Everything—all of her emotions—made such perfect sense now, she couldn’t believe it had taken her so long to figure things out. Now that she had, she felt ready to explode.
Fifteen minutes later, a woman in scrubs and a lab coat came through the large double doors that led into the ER. She looked right at Avery. “Hi. Are you Avery?”
Avery nodded.
“I’m Lucy, David’s friend. Come with me.”
Avery followed Lucy back through the double doors and through a number of confusing turns she hoped she didn’t have to repeat on her own before they finally stopped in a curtained exam area. Lucy pulled the curtain all the way closed around them and turned to look at Avery, her arms folded across her chest.
“I’ve known David a long time,” Lucy said. “Since residency. I care about him a lot, and I don’t like to see him hurting.”
“Okay,” Avery said with a nod, unable to manage much else. The woman was intimidating as all get out.
“He’s been hurting a lot the past few weeks.”
Avery dropped her gaze to the floor. “I know.”
“I get that his feelings can be a little intense sometimes,” Lucy said. “There’s not a lot of middle ground with David which sometimes makes it hard for him to navigate relationships.”
Avery offered a wobbly smile. “I get that, too.”
“But Avery, he’s the best there is. He is loyal and trustworthy and good all the way to his core. There’s no one in this world that will treat you better or love you more.”
At that, Avery smiled again, wide and true, the stupid tears that had kept her company off and on all morning filling her eyesagain.“I know. That’s why I’m here.”
Lucy finally smiled. “You know, I told him he should give up on you.”
Avery sniffed. “I probablywouldhave given up on me. But I’m really glad he didn’t.”
Lucy nodded, apparently satisfied with Avery’s answers. “Let me go get him. He’s with a patient now so you might have to wait a few minutes, but no one should bother you in here.”
