Page 111 of The Doctors Will See You Now

And fifteen minutes later, I was sitting on the subway, heading home to my parents’ apartment, jobless, Will-less, and feeling more lost than I’d ever felt in my entire life.

One week.

It’d been one week since Melody had left my office after quitting her job and ending our relationship in one painful as fuck swoop.

She’d seen an episode where I’d hooked up with a hospital nurse named Emily, and like a goddamn tic burrowing under a human’s skin, the show from hell had succeeded in planting a seed of doubt into Mel’s head.

She thought I was dishonest with her. No, that made it sound too nice. Like an honest mistake—which it was.

But what she thought was that I’d lied to her. Willfully and with intent.

Knowing she could think that of me burned deep inside, singeing my organs enough that I was in constant pain with absolutely no chance of respite from actual death.

But the worst accusation of all was that I’d been careless with her feelings. Again, willfully and with intent, as though I was the kind of person who couldn’t see beyond himself.

And that fucking hurt.

If there was one thing I never wanted to do, would never on my life do intentionally, it was hurt her. In my world, the sun rose and set over Melody’s smiles and laughs and anything else that made up the woman I’d honestly thought was the woman for me. The one I’d settled down with. The one I’d marry. The one I’d spend the rest of my life with.

God, how in the hell did things go so wrong?

I’d spent the early part of this week trying to call her, trying to talk to her, trying to somehow get her to give me time to explain. But it was all to no avail. She either didn’t answer or the calls went straight to voice mail.

Once, I’d even tried to ambush her at Janet and Bill’s, but her mom had said she wasn’t home. She’d had sad eyes as she said it, but I was still the enemy. No one fucks with a mama’s little girl.

Basically, Melody was avoiding me, and I didn’t know how in the fuck to fix this situation.

I wanted to—days without Mel were absolute hell. I just couldn’t figure out how.

Fucking Dr. Obscene. I was really starting to hate that guy.

Too bad that guy is you…

“Congratulations!” Marlene cheered as I entered the office. “The show is finally over, and all of our new patient positions are filled. Thank God.”

I attempted a half of a smile, but it didn’t feel like the result was anything resembling happiness at all. Yes, the show was finally over. Yes, the focus would be shifting to Scott Shepard next week as episodes of the Dr. ER version of The Doctor Is In would start to air.

But I’d had a taste of everything I wanted—everything I really hadn’t been sure I’d find out of life—and now I’d never have it again. Melody officially wasn’t my nurse anymore, and even more officially, she wasn’t my girlfriend either.

Fuck everyone and everything.

“Thanks. I…yeah. Thanks.”

I shook my head and moved down the hall, but Betty didn’t talk quietly enough to keep me from hearing the moment the gossip started up.

“God, he looks miserable.”

“I knew that Load-y chick was bad news,” Melissa chirped happily, like she’d won a prize or something. Goddamn rotten bitch.

“The whole reason I hired her on the spot was because she hadn’t heard of the show. She wasn’t lusting after him like all the other little tarts I met with. Clearly, that backfired.”

“She probably wanted him from the beginning. Lied about not knowing about the show,” Melissa proposed just because, without Melody here to defend herself, she could.

Going crazy from the comments but having literally zero energy to deal with them, I ducked inside the break room instead of going all the way to my office, tossed my briefcase down on a chair and sank my face into my hands.

Fucking shit, I don’t want to live like this anymore.

Up and down, I scrubbed at the skin as if it could erase every miserable thing that had happened in the last week.