One More Time - Louisa George Page 0,65
tools and courage to make them happen.
And now he’d let her go. But it had been the only sane thing to do. He just had to believe it.
After a passable dinner and a couple glasses of red wine, Max stretched his legs under the table and watched his brother and Jodi chat together.
The Jodi thing was definitely a pale memory. Just seeing them finish each other’s sentences, the genuine warmth between them convinced him that what they had was forever. With Jamie well on the way to recovery and their relationship on track, he couldn’t help admit that he was jealous. But, then, they’d gone through hell to get here, and Mitch had fought for his family every step of the way. Max didn’t know if he’d have the strength to do that.
The MC called for silence and a few awards were dished out. Hating the phoney reverence and the limelight, Max cringed at the prospect of having to receive his. Was it too late to leave?
He didn’t deserve an award for doing a job he loved. He just liked being able to give patients a second chance—surely everyone deserved one of those. He liked the satisfaction from a good day’s work and coming home to... Damn, there was that reminder again. An empty flat.
‘I’d now like to call upon the nominator of the award for delivering excellence, Mitchell Maitland, to say a few words.’
‘What?’ Max stared at his brother. ‘You nominated me? What the hell?’
‘You saved my boy’s life. Got to get my own back somehow.’ Mitch stood and squeezed past, his grin broadening.
‘God, no, Mitch—don’t you say anything. They’ll throw rotten tomatoes at me.’
‘Ach, so you see through my dastardly plan.’ Mitchell took to the stage, his tie perfectly straight, courtesy of his girlfriend. He cleared his throat and began his speech, his eyes fixed on Max.
‘Max Maitland has brought many changes to the transplant service over the years. He’s
shaken it up, modernised it and even ruffled a few beaurocratic feathers, in true Maitland style. But now we have a service second to none in the OCD. Full credit to him. And, yes, I admit, we’ve had a few professional differences in our lives and a few personal ones, so some of you may be surprised I’m up here at all.’
He paused until the laughter died down. Looking around the room, Max realised how much their feuding had resonated across the hospital as a few of his colleagues nodded, but raised their glasses to Max and smiled. Seemed the whole staff body felt the effects of this Maitland thaw.
Mitch continued, ‘As most of you are aware, things haven’t been easy between us. But despite personal setbacks and challenges, Max has never been afraid to chase a dream, however hard it may seem, to do the right thing, to make countless people’s lives better. Including my son’s. And mine. And for that I can’t thank him enough. In all my life I’ve never known a better man. So there is no more deserving recipient of this award, and I’m proud to call him my brother. I give you Max Maitland, recipient of the Auckland General Hospital Delivering Excellence Award.’
After collecting the award, Max returned to the table and sat next to Mitchell. ‘Whoa. That was unexpected. Thanks. Nice speech—if you can see through the bull.’
‘Yeah, well, don’t let it go to your head. And I expect at least three nominations in return from you next year. Between the two of us we could take this whole awards dinner out. What do you think—a Maitland coup?’
Max laughed. ‘Think big, my boy. Next stop world domination. But we won’t achieve that without working together. So how about we finally put the past behind us and look forward?’ Mitchell’s jaw tightened as he thought about it, running his hand across his chin. ‘We’ve been through a lot, you and me. What they did was wrong. No one asked us what we wanted, no one thought about what was best for us. We were too young to be heard.’
And neither of them had really recovered. At least, Max knew he hadn’t. He was still stuck in the emotional wringer. Hence his accusations of selfishness and God knew what to Gabby. It suddenly became clear. He’d seen her actions through the tarnished lens of his own experiences, mixed up his issues with hers, and had come out of it the poorer. Judged her. Lost her. ‘How did you get over it?’
Mitchell breathed out and