Been There Done That (Leffersbee #1) - Hope Ellis Page 0,22

from her voice. “His company—”

“It’s Nick,” I interjected, feeling irritated that she’d called me Mr. Rossi. Reaching out to shake Sarah’s hand, I added, “We go way back, Zora and I. We’re friends. Were friends.”

Zora cleared her throat, not looking at me. “Mr. Rossi’s company is working with the School of Medicine and the hospital to introduce a telemedicine app. They are interested in the communication training we do with our docs.”

“Well, hiya, Nick.” Sarah didn’t seem to know whether to smile or frown, her gaze moving between Zora and me. “Let us know if you need any help.”

“Thanks, Sarah.” Zora gave the nurse a bright smile and they traded another glance I couldn’t quite decipher before she peered down the hallway ahead of us. “Six open?”

“Yep, clinic’s light today.”

Zora made a motion over her shoulder, gesturing for me to follow as she advanced down the hallway.

“Thanks, Sarah.” I nodded and Sarah nodded right back, crossing her arms with a smirk.

Down the corridor, turning into the second doorway, I found Zora standing in front of a paper-sheeted examination table. I hesitated as I crossed the threshold to the examination room, suddenly on alert. Were those . . . stirrups?

“So . . . this is . . .”

“What it looks like.” She pasted a thin smile on her face, then set her bag on the computer monitor-topped desk.

“Nellie says she told you about the curriculum and the video recordings we do to help coach our docs. I know Legal is addressing the implications of sharing the curriculum with you. Once that’s all worked out, I’ll provide you with a copy.”

I nodded, took a cautious step toward her. “Sounds good. So . . . this is your lab? This is . . . interesting.”

Her expression didn’t change, but I didn’t miss the small step backwards she took. One of her shoulders lifted as she gave a seemingly dismissive wave. “I don’t know about interesting. It’s not much of a tour. Just these two cameras.”

I took a breath. She was finally speaking to me, face-to-face. The two of us were alone. Here was an opening, an entry point. Everything, all that had happened, all that was unspoken between us, weighted my next words.

“Zora.”

She didn’t look at me.

“Zora, please. We need to talk.”

Her mouth twisted. “What do you want to talk about?”

“When I . . . when I left—”

“Let me rephrase that. What would you like to discuss that is appropriate for work acquaintances?”

Acquaintances. Considering all we once were, “acquaintance” had an ugly ring to it. But I’d been the one to create the distance that separated us now. Wasn’t it my fault we were practically strangers? I’d walked away, and in those early years I’d stayed away, reasoning that I hadn’t wanted to hurt her by being who I was, or who I wasn’t, or because of what I didn’t have to offer.

And then she’d sent back the ring and told me to stay gone . . .

Admittedly, my sudden reappearance in her office yesterday had been sloppy, rushed—a rookie move. You’d think a twelve-year separation would have given me some impulse control where she was concerned. It hadn’t. I hadn’t been able to stop myself.

“Acquaintances? Not colleagues?” I asked quietly.

She stepped farther away, now at the head of the examining table while I stood at the foot. She didn’t look at me; she kept her head craned at the opposite wall. “There’s the camera.”

Ignoring the tightness in my chest, I followed her pointing finger to an upper corner of the ceiling. The continuity of the crown molding was broken by a flat, silver panel with a darkened screen. I walked over to inspect it.

I swallowed around the mass in my throat. “I wouldn’t have noticed it.”

“That’s the point. There’s the other one.” I turned in time to see her nod toward a twin panel on the opposite wall.

I was almost certain they were exactly the same, but I walked over anyway, wanting to reduce the distance between us.

“I’m sorry about the way things happened yesterday. It wasn’t my intent to surprise you.”

“There’s a capture station down the hall. I can get you a copy of the protocol for the study. It details all the nuts and bolts. We educate both the doctor and patient on the purpose of the research and how we’re using their data. Then we get consent. Our team can view the interaction between the patient and doctor as it happens. We record it all and turn the camera’s