Page 213 of The Doctors Will See You Now

“Okay, then. What’s up, Deb?”

“They just announced this as the most efficient ER in New York City! You’re getting an award!”

Me?

“Why am I getting an award?” I asked dumbly, and she rolled her eyes.

“You run this ER!”

Now it was my turn to roll mine. “Not really, Deb. I do some shit, but we all know you’re the one who really runs everything around here. This is your award.”

“Yeah, well. They don’t give this award to nurses. They give it to doctors, and you’re the doctor. So just suck it up and accept it. Though, I won’t mind if you mention me in your acceptance speech.”

“Acceptance speech?”

She slapped at my arm. “Yes. There’s a ceremony. Next week. You get a key to the city from the mayor and everything.”

Jesus Christmas, that was ridiculous.

“Yeah, I think I’ll be busy. Schedule me for a shift then, would you?”

“No. You will go there, you will do this, I will murder you.”

“In what order, exactly?” I teased. “It’ll be kind of hard for me to show up to the ceremony if I’m dead.”

She hit me again just as my phone pinged in my pocket. I held up a finger for her to hold that thought, but she just rolled her eyes and walked away. I guess she’s done with me.

I swiped the screen to read the new message, noticing at the last second it was from Pam. Goddammit. Pam.

Fingers crossed she was just texting about another meeting or the award or something.

Pam: Schedule freeing up? We should get together this weekend.

Or maybe not. Fucking shit sticks.

Me: Still really busy. Sorry.

I mean, fuck. What was I supposed to say? She’d seen me with Harlow, but I’d pretty clearly introduced her as a friend. And although Low wasn’t out graffitiing the city with proclamations of our budding relationship, she’d agreed to be open-minded, and more than that, even asked about whether or not we’d be sleeping with other people. Which it was decided that we weren’t. Obviously, we were getting there, albeit at the speed of a fucking school zone, but we were definitely getting there.

Which left me to wonder if I should just tell Pam I was seeing someone? Or would she get the hint on her own eventually?

God, this was definitely new territory. Normally, I didn’t have to maintain any contact at all, so I just didn’t. But with her working in the mayor’s office and my whole fucked-up messy involvement in that shitshow, I didn’t have the luxury.

Maybe Harlow will know what to do.

Switching over to my messages with her, I started to type out a message when Deb yelled from the other side of the room again.

Fuck. This is why dating and being a doctor never mixed.

Preconditioned to respond to her voice, I looked up immediately.

This time, though, she had her hand on a bleeding chest and a demand that I get the fuck over there immediately in her eyes.

Quick as a flash, I dropped my phone in my pocket and did just that.

“We, the city of New York, pride ourselves on being the best in every category, every profession, every park and skyscraper…”

I rolled my eyes as Brent, the mayor, prattled on about what a goddamn messiah New York City was a week later at the ceremony for my farce of an award.