Page 108 of The Doctors Will See You Now

Thatch laughed outright. “Well, you’ve got balls.”

Kline smirked and leaned his elbows on the table. “And what’s the purpose of this free clinic? If we’re guaranteed to lose money, what’s the draw here?”

“You’d be helping women, especially pregnant women, who can’t afford medical care, get it.”

“Does this have anything to do with your girlfriend?” Thatch asked.

I tried to look innocent, but with the way he hooted into laughter, I knew I’d failed.

“I was wrong. She’s got you by the balls.”

Kline smacked him, but he didn’t look like he disagreed. I jumped to explain.

“Yes, this kind of patient outreach is Melody’s passion. You should fucking see her with these women. But regardless of that, the city could really use one. There’s a whole population of women out there who are underserved. I approached the hospital board, but they shot it down pretty quickly.”

“Of course they did,” Wes said with a chuckle. “It’s a money pit.”

Kline nodded. “Yep. All they saw was a love-sick idiot.”

“They don’t know about my relationship with Melody,” I corrected.

“Sorry, dude,” Wes apologized. “It’s written all over you.”

Disheartened, I stood up from the table and reached out to shake all of their hands. I couldn’t say I blamed them. They hadn’t gotten the kind of money they had by going around blowing it on dead-end investments.

They smiled and said their goodbyes, but none of them jumped up and shouted they’d be happy to give me their money.

I’d have to figure out another way.

Spending the night in a hotel was fun and even a nice little reprieve from the real world when you were on vacation. But enduring a night in a hotel room after you’d watched—well, mostly heard—your boyfriend bang a coworker on his television, inside his apartment, with God knows how many other viewers? Yeah, that experience was fucking awful.

I’d spent most of the night tossing and turning, and when I’d finally managed to fall asleep, my dreams consisted of weird mashups of what I’d witnessed on The Doctor Is In.

My mind had played some seriously evil tricks on me, and I’d found myself wide awake and ready to escape the nightmares that hotel bed had brought before my alarm went off.

Which explained why, for once in my always tardy life, I was on time to work.

Groggy-eyed and numb from experiencing too many emotions in a twelve-hour period, I shuffled into the office after I’d made a quick stop at my parents’ apartment for fresh scrubs and a trip to Starbucks for a coffee with three shots of espresso.

Considering my dog-tired state, I’d contemplated four shots, but I honestly wasn’t sure if my heart could manage any additional stress. It’d already taken quite the fucking beating last night.

Once I set my stuff in my locker, I did my best to focus my brainpower on getting the office ready for a full day’s worth of appointments. But as I set up each exam room with fresh paper and medical supplies, I couldn’t stop my racing thoughts. I couldn’t stop thinking about that episode. I couldn’t stop hearing the sounds Will had made behind the on-call room door. I couldn’t stop remembering how easily he’d lied to me. “Never,” he’d said, and God had those words flowed off his tongue without any hesitation.

By the time the clock struck 9 a.m., and the rest of the staff—besides Will—had filled the office, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep my composure. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could physically stay at work. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if I could successfully do my job—a job that I technically didn’t even really want to do anymore. For the past month or so, I’d been struggling over the fact that I knew my passion wasn’t working in a medical office. Sure, I enjoyed it, I loved taking care of women during pregnancy, but deep down, I wanted to make it so that all of my time was focused on those women who really needed assistance and advice and someone to support them. Women like Carmen and Syreeta and Bethany and…yeah, it was truly an endless list, and that was only in New York. But I’d stayed for Will. I loved seeing him all day long, watching him in action and thriving underneath his steady assurance.

Well, that’s well and truly fucked now, isn’t it?

No, really. Isn’t it? Someone help me out here. I fucking hate feeling like this.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have a chance to find a way out of my internal hell.

Will walked through the reception doors with his briefcase in his hand while I was working on a computer in the hall, and the instant his reserved blue eyes met mine, a rush of emotions hit me all at once. Anger. Sadness. Heartbreak. I felt like the floor had dropped out from beneath me.

God, just the mere sight of him hurts like a knife to my already mangled heart.

Quickly, I averted my eyes and tried to switch my focus back toward the computer screen in front of me, but he didn’t give me a reprieve. Out of my periphery, I watched as his feet moved in my direction, until they stopped directly beside me.

“Mel?” he asked quietly, concern etching his voice.