Page 82 of Give Me Forever

"Interesting choices," I replied.

"Come on. I can't take the suspense anymore," Reese said. "I can't believe you didn't give us a heads-up. You've never asked for a family council, so this has to be big."

"Okay. So I told you I spoke to the hospital’s CEO about doing a pro bono clinic," I started.

"Yes," Reese said. "Don't tell me they said no."

"Not exactly. They're opening a new hospital in Maine and say they could build the clinic there."

Tate looked at me with a stern expression. Declan cocked an eyebrow.

"You're not moving to fucking Maine." Surprisingly, that came from Kimberly.

I looked at her. "Yeah, I don't particularly like that option either. I told the CEO I could talk to the board and convince them to do things my way. He didn’t appreciate it."

Reese laughed, running a hand through her hair. "Oh, cousin. Every man in this family seems to feel the need to show everyone how big their balls are."

I almost choked at my cousin’s description of me and my brothers.

"You know you have a problem respecting authority," Kimberly added.

"No, I don't," I said. Oh yes, I fucking did. She had a point.

"I swear to God, if you leave again, I'm going to..." Reese pressed her lips together. "Okay, I don't know yet what I'm going to do, but I'll definitely do something to stop it. What does Avery have to say about this?"

"Yeah, what does she say?" Kimberly asked.

"I haven't talked to her yet. I had literally just spoken to the CEO before calling you, Kim."

"Why the hell don't you build your own hospital?" Tate asked. "You certainly have the money, and if you need more, we all have untouched trust funds."

I cleared my throat. "I've never used the trust fund."

"This seems like a worthy cause," Declan said.

I looked at Tyler, who was staring intently at me, but he didn't say anything. He was the one who understood me most because we both chose professions where the Maxwell legacy didn't help. Quite the contrary. Most people in med school thought I only got there because of my last name. He'd had similar issues when he was drafted to his NHL team.

“I've always liked keeping my work separate from the Maxwell legacy,” I finally replied.

“It's almost like he's ashamed of us,” Travis said. "I hope that's not the case or I'm going to take a page out of Reese's book, only not to keep you here, but to get back at you. You know I'm good at that."

I smiled lazily. "You used to be better. You didn't need time to think about it before."

"Dude, I have a newborn. I don't sleep. I'm slower these days."

"There's also another problem," I said. "I'm a doctor, not a businessman, and I don't want to deal with everything that opening a clinic involves."

Travis looked around the table. "If only you had a gazillion Maxwells who were businesspeople to help you out, you know? We havea lotof connections."

Reese and Kimberly both straightened in their seats. Tate nodded.

Declan spoke first. "I can help with anything regarding legal stuff. There will be a lot of it when you start, but I'm definitely up for it.”

“We each have different skills," Tate said. "We all started our businesses from the ground up."

I shook my head. "True, but you don't have time for this."

"We can make time," Tate replied instantly.

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