CHAPTER SEVEN
Justin
Well, that little game I played with Terri may have been fun for her, but it left me frustrated for quite a while afterwards. I should’ve stayed on the phone and just driven over to her place. But no, I wanted to respect her wishes. I was being the considerate guy. I wouldn’t be seeing her tonight either because I was on call. Maybe she would be pulling JJ out on her own then. I had to laugh at the way I named her vibe, JJ. I was going to get her a new one though. That thing sounded like a damn chain saw cutting through a pine tree.
Forcing my mind back on track, I looked at my schedule and groaned out loud. One of the nurses heard me and laughed. “Your whole week is like that Dr. Middleton.”
“Thanks for rubbing it in Destiny.” She smiled. She’d been flirting with me for months now. Blond and blue eyed, she was attractive, I supposed. Nothing compared to Terri though.
“Sorry. You’re really booked up though. I don’t know who did the scheduling, but you need to talk to them. I’m not sure how you’re going to handle it. And you have call tomorrow too.”
Now that’s weird. How would she know I have call? Is she hacking into my schedule or something?
“Thanks for your concern, but I can handle it. This is nothing compared to my days as a fellow.”
“So I hear. I’d love for you to tell me sometime. Over some drinks maybe?”
I smiled and said, “Oh. I thought you knew. I’m dating someone.”
She got this weird look on her face and her eyes darkened.
“Oh no. I didn’t. Anyone I know?”
“I doubt it. Thanks anyway though.” I moved along to the locker room. I had a bad feeling about her. I don’t know why. I would ask Jackson and Robert if they knew anything. I changed into my scrubs and headed over to the OR.
My first case wouldn’t be bad. I was assisting in a hip replacement. It was a redo. The first one had gone bad...resulted in a splintered femur neck. It was a mess from beginning to end. The patient was a forty year old female leukemia survivor. She’d had the disease when she was a kid, but all the drugs had pretty much destroyed her bone density. Now she was on her second set of hips. Anyway, I was helping to reconstruct the neck of her femur. When I finished here, I was going to change all my passwords in my computer here.
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I headed to my computer as quickly as my feet would get me there. Something was troubling me about what Destiny said. I logged in and went directly to my account and changed my password. Then I went to my activity log and checked it and noticed that my account had been accessed several times that morning while I had been in surgery.
I called security and had them flag my account. I wanted to find out what was going on. I had my suspicions but I wanted confirmation.
When I finished giving them all the information they needed, I made my way back to the OR for my next case. I passed Destiny on the way and she gave me an odd look. It may have been my suspicions, but I thought it was funny nevertheless.
My next case was a nineteen year old male that reminded me of Terri. He was a College of Charleston student that had been out late partying and had decided he’d wanted to get something to eat. He’d crossed a busy road and had been hit by a drunk driver. His leg had been crushed in the resulting accident and we were going to piece him back together today. We were on round three.
Jackson was assisting me and we would be tied up here for several hours.
“Are you busy after we’re through here,” I asked him.
“No, I was planning on grabbing a quick bite.”
“Can I stop by your office for a second?”
He looked up at me and our eyes connected. “Everything okay?” he wanted to know.
“I don’t know yet, but I’ll let you know.”
“Family?”
I knew he was worried about me and I didn’t want to give him a false impression. I’d gone through a rough patch. Hell, I’d almost ruined my career after the accident last spring.
“No! All’s great where it counts Jackson. This is something totally different.”
“Okay. Don’t give an old man a scare, kid.”
He always called me that, even though he was only in his early fifties. He treated me like a son and he had my complete respect. He was a master of an orthopedist and the guy was brilliant.
“Right. You’d give me a run for my money any day. You’ll never be old Jackson. By the way, thank Alice for me for getting Terri in today. Man, you should see her eyes. That waterproof mascara really did a number on her.”
We bantered like that until we had the puzzle of bones back in place and then we plated and screwed the patient back together. When Jackson closed, he remarked, “You have a gift Justin. I mean that. You’re remarkable. You know exactly where and when to move and place. I don’t know...in all my years doing this, I’ve never seen anything like it.”