Page 84 of Anatomy of a Meet Cute
“Every day before I leave the house.” Sam wrinkled her nose as her friend snort-laughed. “But not first thing when I get up, so I’m slowly unlearning the habit.”
“Right,” Kaiya said as if she didn’t believe a word of it. Which was fair, since Sam had no intention of giving up the habit.
“Anyway, before the event starts, I just want to say thanks. Thank you for being my partner in building this. I know I came to you with nothing but enthusiasm and the promise of building something thatcould maybe help others someday.” Sam stretched outmaybeto drive the point home.
“That’s not true,” Kaiya said, reaching out to squeeze Sam’s shoulder. “You also came to me with grit—I mean, I dead tried to scare you away with that coffee rag, and you weren’t having it. And you brought an understanding of my work. I’ve had plenty of people offer me partnerships or shares in their business before. But you”—Kaiya let go of her shoulder and pointed at her—“you were the first one who I thought,She might actually do something,and look. You did!”
Sam smiled at her shoes, unsure of what to do with the flattery. In truth, she had done a lot of this, but she’d also had a ton of help, not just from her roommates and the other doctors in the pilot program but from Grant too. She remembered him driving her home from the interview with Anjo, pretending to be casual despite his carefully studied application materials. The thought of him made Sam’s eyes sting. Looking back up at Kaiya, she said, “I had a lot of help building this, especially from you.”
The two women stood there blinking at each other, both looking like they might cry. Instead, they burst into giggles as Kaiya held her arms out. “Come here and give me a hug before you make me smear my makeup.”
Wrapping her arms around her friend, Sam marveled at how lucky she had been. In medical school, people talked about the profession as lonely, but so far, it had been anything but, because of people like Kaiya. Sam released her friend and smiled.
She was just about to suggest they grab a drink when Dr.Franklin’s voice interrupted them. “Oh, good. You two are together.”
“Hello, Dr.Franklin,” Kaiya said, clearly less startled than Sam was by his sudden appearance.
“Hello. I wanted to give you both a heads-up that a couple of reporters are here from theSan Francisco Tribuneand the ChannelEighteen news. The hospital’s media team contacted them, and it looks like they will want to talk to both of you at some point.” Dr.Franklin nodded toward two people talking to Duesa and the hospital employee hovering nearby.
“Thanks, Dr.Franklin.” Sam thought it was generous to call the hospital’s media personnel a team, since she was pretty sure it was just one overworked admin, but she let it slide. “Are you enjoying the party?”
“I sure am. And I have to say, Samantha, when you came to me with this idea, I thought it was nuts and it wouldn’t go anywhere—sorry to be so candid,” Dr.Franklin said as if the truth might surprise Sam or Kaiya, which it most certainly did not. When he continued, his expression was stone-cold serious. “After looking at the patient-retention and response numbers from your early assessment and then hearing from my own patients, about how they have come to lean on Earnest, plus seeing you and Kaiya in action, making a call that saved lives ...”
Dr.Franklin stopped and shook his head, and Sam realized that the traditional hospital administrator that she had come to think of as her knowledgeable nemesis was getting emotional. Under his hardened exterior was a man as squishy as a stuffed panda toy. Something about it made Sam’s heart soften, and she found herself smiling at him.
Clearing his throat, he tried again. “Anyway, I have to say, I feel truly lucky to have this program at our hospital. SF Central may not have the big dollars or a fancy name, but we have practitioners like you two, and I’m damn proud of that.”
And now Sam wanted to cry too. Dr.Franklin had dedicated his career to a hospital and a community that the city frequently tried to forget. He’d probably seen thousands of short-lived programs designed to help him and his clients come and go over the years. Sure, he was cranky and at times paternalistic, but deep down, he cared. Drawing a shaky breath, Sam held out her hand and said, “Thanks, Dr.Franklin. That means a lot coming from you.”
Smiling, Dr.Franklin shook her hand as Kaiya watched with a mixture of disbelief andthis is adorableon her face. When Dr.Franklin let go of Sam’s hand, he extended his to Kaiya, who looked at Sam’s watery eyes and then back at the administrator and shook his hand before saying, “Since I have you here, I’d love to talk to you about what Sam and I could do for the community classes with just a smidge extra budget.”
“Oh boy. I’m in trouble with you two around, aren’t I?” Dr.Franklin rolled his eyes.
“You sure are. Shall we grab our drinks and talk before the program gets going?” Kaiya winked back at Sam as she steered Dr.Franklin toward the beverage table, leaving Sam to compose herself before the event started.
Taking three deep breaths, Sam fanned her face with her hand, hoping to dry her makeup before her tears did any real damage. She was just thinking about grabbing her notes from the desk drawer she had hidden them in so she didn’t forget to thank anyone, when she spotted Duke and Jehan making their way toward her. While Duke maintained his usual relaxed stride, Jehan’s eyes were wide, so Sam knew something was up.
Walking quickly to close the gap between herself and her friends, she whispered, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Jehan squeaked. “Why would you say that?”
“You look like you just saw a poltergeist or something.”
“Man, I knew you couldn’t keep a secret. I shouldn’t have told you.” Duke shook his head and ducked a little so his height wouldn’t have him broadcasting what he was about to say to the whole room. “It’s about the Anjo report.”
“Did they reject the extension?” Terror seized Sam’s heart. She had seen Duesa enjoying the party, and Duke had said everything was okay. She kicked herself for not forcing Duke to text the details or at leastgoing over to grovel at Duesa’s feet. If she hadn’t been avoiding the cameras—
“What? No.” Duke shook his head, putting a stop to her panic spiral.
“Then what’s the problem?” Sam’s whisper had more bite to it than she intended, but Duke had scared the hell out of her.
“We didn’t need one at all.” Jehan’s eyes were wide, as if the look alone could communicate something.
“Like Anjo doesn’t require progress reports?” Sam wasn’t understanding something that both Duke and Jehan did not want to say.
Duke looked over his shoulder, as if checking to make sure there wasn’t even the slightest chance they could be overheard. The gesture was so obvious that Sam was sure it would catch the attention of whoever they didn’t want to hear. Finally, he turned his attention back to the group and huddled forward a few inches more before saying, “Sherilynn said she wasn’t supposed to tell me this, but someone turned it in for you.”
“Who would do that? Is there some kind of fairy that just goes around writing out data-driven progress reports for fun? I don’t get it.”
