desk. Even when Dex provided most of his services pro bono, he still pulled in an incredible salary. Just having a couple patients pay in full made his bank account fat. It made me realize that other surgeons who didn’t care to do so much volunteer work were really rolling in the dough, but Dex didn’t care about that.
He glanced at the paper and kept eating. “Okay.”
His paycheck was almost a million dollars, and he didn’t seem to care. “If everything looks okay, I’ll have the accountant initiate the direct deposits.”
“That’s fine.” He pushed the papers back toward me.
“You know, you don’t seem that excited about this…”
“Because I’m still broke.” He cut into his burrito then stabbed a few veggies with his fork. “Every check goes to paying for this place until my debt is repaid.” He continued to eat.
“I’m sure your parents don’t expect you to reimburse them as quickly as possible.”
“I’m sure they don’t expect me to pay them back at all, but I just want to be done with it. I don’t need much money anyway. My apartment is paid off, so I don’t have a mortgage anymore.”
It wasn’t my place to give him advice about his finances, so I let it be. While other surgeons were driving their fancy cars and going on big vacations, Dex was working nonstop, indifferent to the money he could be spending on himself. “Alright. I’ll talk to the accountant.”
His hand went back to his mouse, and he shifted it so the screen would light up again. He glanced at his food to take a bite, but most of his attention was on whatever he was reading.
“I have your schedule for tomorrow.” I put the papers on his desk. “You have a heart valve replacement scheduled with the residents. It’s scheduled at ten, so you can sleep in a bit. I’ll have your breakfast delivered at eight thirty, so you can get a good meal before you have to scrub in. Any requests?”
He shook his head. “Everything you pick out is good.”
“Great.” I gave a slight smile, still enjoying his positive feedback even when I should just be angry with him. It was the weirdest thing. I wasn’t really angry with him at all. I was just sad, sad that I’d lost this man, lost the best thing that had ever happened to me…even if that relationship only lasted a few weeks. It felt like a lifetime. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
“Good night.” He continued to look at his computer and then started to type. “I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this, but your notes have dropped my charting time by like seventy percent. It’s really helpful.”
Maybe he was just trying to smooth things over by kissing my ass, but it was still nice to get a compliment about my work anyway. “I’m glad I can be of service to you.” I grabbed my things then departed his office. “See you tomorrow.”
His voice followed me as I stepped out. “Yeah, see you tomorrow.”
I went to the Trinity Building on my way home to check in with Cleo. She was my unofficial boss, still helping and giving me advice because I’d only been working with Dex for three months. Her husband ran his own company, so she’d taught me so much about running the office and how to address Dex’s needs as efficiently as possible.
But when I approached her desk and took a seat, it was obvious she knew everything about what happened with Dex and me because of the look she gave me.
Our relationship was over so quickly that I hadn’t even had the chance to tell her we were together in the first place. I sat in the chair and stared at her, feeling like I was with my own mother, a woman who loved me and hurt when I hurt.
She moved her hand to my arm and gave me an affectionate squeeze. “I’m so sorry, honey…”
It hurt even more that she talked to me the way she talked to Dex, like she had the same affection for me that she did for her own children, like I was part of the family. “I’m okay…”
She moved her hand to my back and rubbed me gently. “It’s okay not to be okay, Sicily.”
“We were only together for a couple weeks… It’s stupid to be that sad about it.”
“Length of time is irrelevant when it comes to falling in love. I loved my husband within the first week, and I