Page 18 of Healing Her

“I’ll make sure of that,” Ashley promised, swallowing hard.

On the other side of the bed, there was what might have been a tiny, derisive scoff as Jen moved forward to pull Maria’s hand back from the mask. “Keep that on, Maria. You need every breath,” Jen said, clasping Maria’s slender hand in both of her own. “So cold. I’ll bring you some warm mittens, too. No fingers, so you can use your phone to listen to books.”

There was a book open face-down on Maria’s bedside table, she’d clearly been reading when her heart gave out. She reached for it. “I have books,querida.” But as she tried to pick it back up, she frowned, and her struggle was obvious. “Oh, don’t tell me I can’t evenreadnow.”

“I’ll give you my Audible login, there’s lots of books on there,” Jen told her. She looked closely at the book on the table. “I have this one in my library! Of course I do. You recommended it to me. How many times have you read it?”

“As many as I like,” Maria whispered, her mouth turning up in a faint smile. Her eyes weren’t as sparkling as they usually did, but there was still a special affection in them as she looked up at Jen. Ashley’s gut twisted with jealousy. No one had ever looked at her like that, and that it was her teenage crush looking at the object of her current obsession just made it ten times worse.

There was a sigh from the bed. “I’m so tired,” Maria whispered, her eyelids drooping shut. Jen shot an alarmed glance at the Chief, who shook his head.

“I’m not surprised you’re tired, Ms. Rivera. It’s been a hell of a morning.” He beckoned to Ashley and Jen as he backed towards the door. “We’ll let you sleep while we discuss our next steps. Then one of us will be back with you to update you when you’re feeling a little better.” Indicating that the women should precede him out of the room, Chief Sundstrom followed them and shut the door firmly behind them.

Before he or Ashley could get a word out, Jen pointed a finger up at Ashley. “I am going to contact UNOS and put Maria on the transplant listtoday.”

The vehemence in the statement made Ashley step back, but the tone of it also got her back right up. “You’ll do no such thing. I’m the doctor in charge of her care, I’ll be the one making that call.”

“I have no confidence in your care, your judgment has been too conservative?—”

“You’re too close to Ms. Rivera,yourjudgment is clouded. My judgment has been in cooperation withmy patientand her wishes for her healthcare?—”

“She is not a doctor! You are! You’re supposed to give her the best course of action for her whole life, and your reluctance to act radically has cost her more of the time you keep saying you want to save for her?—”

“Doctor Proctor! Doctor Colton!” Chief Sundstrom’s voice cut through their escalating quarrel, and they both fell silent. Ashley glanced around the VIP floor and was mortified to see nurses, orderlies, and cleaning staff all hastily looking away from her.

There were so many people. How on God’s green earth did this keephappening?

Chief Sundstrom took both of them gently by an elbow and steered them towards a conference room. The motion-activated lights flickered on overhead as he closed the door and pulled down all the blinds. Only then did he turn to the two of them, mouth tight and blue eyes alight with controlled fury. “First off, I am more than tired of hearing two of my most esteemed surgeons at each other’s throats. This is not how medical professionals, especially ones at your levels, should be acting.”

Jen looked as abashed as Ashley felt. “I’m so sorry, Chief,” she said, twisting her fingers together. She looked like she was going to say more, but he held up a hand to stop her and turned his gaze onto Ashley.

“I’m also sorry, Chief Sundstrom,” she said, her face still warm with embarrassment.

“Apologies accepted. Andpleasework out whatever this thing between you two is.” He waved a hand between them, and Ashley blushed hot for a split second before she realized he could have no way of knowing of their sexual tryst. He was only referring to the professional tension between them. “I am not removing either of you from Ms. Rivera’s care, so you’ve got to make it work.”

Ashley cleared her throat, and carefully avoided looking at Jen. “With respect, I do think Doctor Colton’s personal closeness to Ms. Rivera is hampering her ability to provide objective care and solutions.”

“She’s our director of transplants and organ procuring,” Sundstrom replied, clearly exasperated. “What would you have me do? She is, in fact, the physician who should be contacting UNOS. Which she’s going to have to do when we’re done here.” He pulled out a chair at the end of the conference table and sat down, gesturing for the two of them to do the same. “Time is really of the essence now. We’re going to hammer out an urgent, top priority treatment plan before we leave this room.”

Ashley sat down in the chair nearest to the door, watching as Jen sat down opposite her. She took in a breath. “I need to work with Sandra Ramsey to schedule an LVAD installation as soon as possible. And under normal circumstances I’d suggest then that we send Ms. Rivera home, but I really would prefer to keep her here so that we can monitor her very closely while we wait for a heart.”

“I’m going to press for her to be put at the top of the recipient list,” Jen advised. “I truly don’t believe she has much time, otherwise. Her heart is failing more rapidly than even I expected. She was reading a book when the infarct happened, for Christ’s sake. Just sitting in bed, it’s not even some kind of smutty romance or insanely violent action novel. She’s reading a biography of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

“I agree,” Chief Sundstrom nodded. “We have no more time to waste in arguing courses of action. At this point, Ms. Rivera needs her heart to be supported, and a new one on the way as soon as possible. Can the two of you agree on that?”

Ashley loathed not being able to be the one to call UNOS. It felt wrong that she wouldn’t be shepherding this new heart into Maria’s chest every step of the way. But there was nothing she could do. Policy-wise, she knew this was how it had to be. And she was nothing if not a stickler for policy, regardless of how she felt about Jennifer Colton. “I can agree on that. Can I go meet with Sandra now?”

“Absolutely. Get that LVAD procedure on the wall. Doctor Colton, you get on the horn to UNOS and make your case.” The Chief glanced between the two of them. “We’re not going to have any further problems. Right?”

“No, Chief,” they replied in unison, getting to their feet.

He left first, leaving the two of them in the room together. Jen gripped the back of her chair with both her hands and looked directly at Ashley. “Doctor Proctor,” she began, eyes steady, and Ashley’s heart dropped into her stomach like a lead weight as the woman went on, “Do you think we need to talk about what?—”

“I’ve got to go schedule that surgery with Sandra,” Ashley blurted, and fled the room, cheeks absolutely burning.

13

“Idon’t love these kinds of events,” Jen announced, swirling her champagne flute in her hand. She ran a hand down the close-fitting skirt of her pale blue dress. “I feel like I’m not getting anything valuable done here.”

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