Page 37 of Remembering You
“What?No. What makes you even ask that?”
Marty sighed, feeling herself relax. “Hospital gossip. Apparently, Allison said that you were asking about her plans tonight…” her voice faded because it was oddly familiar to how he had started asking Marty out for tonight. “She thought you were fishing for a date.”
Chris winced. “I was just making conversation,” he said. “Some of those surgeries are long and Allison is still so new that she gets squeamish. I was hoping that by talking, she wouldn’t focus on the fact that our patient’s colostomy bag was filling up near her shin.”
“Well, shethoughtyou were asking her out.”
Chris grunted and thrust a hand into his dark hair. “Dammit. I swear I wasn’t.”
“What about the teas you bring her after surgery?”
“I do that for all my scrub nurses.” Chris’s hand fell to Marty’s arm and her eyes drifted closed against the heat of his touch. It zipped up her arm, warming the trembles and shivers that were wracking her body. “I bringyoucoffee after our procedures. I bring Yolanda chai lattes. I figure it’s the least I can do as a thank you to my scrub nurses.”
Marty could feel her muscles easing, the tension melting away. “That’s what I was hoping,” she said honestly.
Chris smiled, taking a step toward her. He squeezed her arm gently and bent to lower to her height. “Is that all?”
“One more thing. There wasanotherrumor. From your previous hospital that you were asked to resign for dating a surgical intern.”
His face drained of color, turning paler than the white paper cup Marty held clenched in her fist. The muscles in his jaw ticked and his gaze drifted from hers, dropping to the floor. “That’s… that’s not a rumor, unfortunately. It wasn’t my best judgment call. But I was newly divorced. My wife had just left me for the man she’d been having an affair with and, admittedly, I wasn’t thinking all that clearly.”
The tightness was back in her chest. Heat flushed her face and Marty blinked back tears that sprang to her eyes. Which was a stupid thing to cry about, right? This was before he ever met her. But there was something about him dating a younger woman… a much younger woman… right before Marty that left her itchy. Uneasy. Even if he knew and admitted it was a mistake.
Chris sighed and met Marty’s eyes once more. “Please tell me this isn’t a deal breaker for you,” he said. “It was stupid. And reckless to date her. I know that now. I did everything I could to save face after that. I resigned, started fresh here in Maple Grove. The chief knows all about my ‘scandal’,” he threw air quotes around the word.
Marty pressed her palm to her chest. “You are technically my boss too, you know. This is the same scandal… just without the age gap.”
Chris shook his head and held up a hand. “No, it’s not. I checked. I’m not your supervisor, I’m not above you in any way and I can’t get you fired or promoted. It’s not the same at all.”
“You checked?” Marty whispered, her eyes widening. “When?How?”
“Uh…” Chris seemed stunned at her reaction and took a step back as though she had struck him. “I checked in with the chief after we talked this morning at Elsa’s. I wanted to disclose the dinner and make sure it was okay—”
“So you did so without talking to mefirst?”
“I-I didn’t think you’d want to join me on that meeting—”
“Is that why? Or did you not want to tell me the truth about your history yet? Because inviting me in on that meeting would have brought your resignation up to me.”
“No. Marty, listen—”
The door behind them swung open and Cam popped his head out. “Mom, Ronnie’s ready for you.”
Marty sent a glare to Chris before taking a deep breath. She needed to think. And she needed to be there for her daughter. This? This was drama she certainly didn’t need at the moment. “Let’s talk later,” Marty said. “It’s late. I’m tired. You’re tired.”
Chris nodded and with a quick glance at Cam, leaned into Marty. “Just… please tell me the conversation isn’t over. I don’t want…thisto be over yet.”
Marty inhaled deeply. “I promise the conversation isn’t over… yet. And thank you for coming in tonight. For keeping my daughter and grandchildren safe.”
His expression darkened into something melancholy. “That’s my job, Marty.”
“I know. But it doesn’t make my gratitude any less.”
With that, Marty turned and crossed into the double doors, heading to give her daughter a quick kiss goodnight just like she used to do when Ronnie was a kid.
