showed up demanding we go through with the surgery because they already put a deposit down or something that didn’t even make sense. She was screaming, like literally screaming at the poor intake nurse.”
“Gotta love when family members get involved like that,” I say with a laugh.
“They’re the best.” Rory rolls her eyes. “So Dr. Jones came out and tried to talk some sense into them, explaining why he won’t operate on someone who was clearly drinking right before surgery due to safety concerns, and the woman lost it even more. She threw a decorative vase from the end table in the waiting room at Dr. Jones, and we had to get security to escort her out. The drunk patient—who really needs his gallbladder removed—stumbled along behind her and then threw up all over the hallway right outside the OR waiting room.”
“Lovely,” Mom says with a grimace. “God bless you two for going into your line of work. You know I don’t even like the sight of blood.”
“You’d hate my job then,” Mason quips. He’s can’t say much about his current case, but we know he’s dealing with some sort of child sex trafficking ring. It takes a lot to unnerve me, but things dealing with violence against children gets to me, just like the two children we treated whose own parents were responsible for what happened.
“What about you?” Rory asks me. “You don’t get too many crazy people anymore, do you?”
I shake my head. “A good majority of the people brought into the trauma center aren’t even conscious. Family members can be irate, but it’s usually because they’re in shock and don’t want to accept what happened to their loved one. Their misplaced anger is understood. We had an older man a few weeks ago lose it when we said he had to respect the wishes of his wife’s advanced directive, which had DNR orders.”
“That’s tragic,” Mom says, shaking her head.
“And you wonder why I chose to work with animals,” Jacob grumbles.
“You’ve had some interesting owners to deal with, haven’t you?” Dean asks. “Rory told me about someone getting pissed you couldn’t reverse-neuter their dog.”
Dad laughs. “That crazy lady still leaves one-star reviews all over Facebook.” We all laugh and continue laughing over stories of difficult or just plain stupid people we’ve dealt with over the years, but my mind shifts back to Chloe.
I should have asked Rory what else she heard, but it’s too late now to bring her back up into the conversation without it being obvious. Is Chloe in town with anyone? She was reportedly dating Charles Baldwin, a famous actor who stars as the main character in Chloe’s book-to-TV-show series.
And why is she here? To get away from the flashing cameras and prying eyes in LA? To bring home a guy to meet her father? But more importantly…why the fuck does that last question make me feel uncomfortable?
I don’t care. Not anymore. Chloe isn’t mine. She never was. I’m happy with how things are going in my life, and now that Stacey and I are officially over, I was looking forward to casual sex with a different woman every night. No strings, no obligation, no chance of getting involved and ultimately hurt.
And the best part is then I won’t hurt anyone. I’ve been upfront with anyone I take home, making sure they have no expectations. I won’t leave them broken and alone, too naive to admit I was running from myself and my own insecurities at the time.
But that was the past, and I doubt Chloe has even paid me even the smallest thought. She’s probably changed now, and running into her again would be a disappointment. I miss the old Chloe, and there’s no way years of living in LA, walking red carpets, and signing seven-figure book deals wouldn’t change a person.
“Are you guys going out on the lake again tomorrow?” Rory asks.
“In the morning,” Jacob tells her. “It’s supposed to storm later in the afternoon, though, so we’ll have to wait and see. You want to come?”
“I do!”
“Are you bringing Adam?” Mason asks with his mouth full, and Mom glares at him.
“No,” Rory rushes out and looks at Dean. “We’d love a few baby-free hours together.”
“So you can work on baby number two?” Mason teases.
“Let’s hope not in the boat,” Dad says with a grimace.
“If you’re so eager to have another baby in the family, you have a kid,” Rory says pointedly, and right on cue, Adam starts crying. Rory makes a move