Page 6 of Healing Her

“I see why it works for some countries, but I don’t necessarily support it,” Dr. Colton replied firmly, to Ashley’s surprise. “I don’t think it would ever even fly in America, anyway. Imagine what kind of field day some politicians would have if we tried to establish mandatory organ donation at a federal level. No, it’s not a great idea here, and I don’t have it on my road map. We have enough trouble with the government sticking their noses in healthcare already anyway.”

Grudgingly, Ashley was impressed by this mindset, which she shared. She didn’tlikethat she and this overly progressive, sales-shilling maverick of a surgeon agreed on anything, but if they had to, well, this was a good thing to agree upon.

“Eventually, I want to take our education efforts and expand them hospital wide, then into an active outreach program at universities and high schools. We’ll partner with other hospitals in the state to help them expand their education and outreach programs as well.” Her smile was back. “But that’s in the future.Right now, that future starts with us. With all of you. But I know that none of us went into the teaching field for a reason. Me included!” Doctor Colton’s eyes twinkled with a good humor that Ashley found alluring and aggravating by turns. “We’ll have weekly briefings where I give you the tips and tricks I’ve picked up over the years, or I’ll bring in people I consider to be specialists in the field of organ donation education. And of course, I’d like to take it in turn to sit in with patient sessions with each of you so I can help out.”

Ashley recoiled and dropped her bag of pepitas. Little green seeds scattered all over the auditorium floor in her row, and people turned, curiosity in their gazes, to see what was happening. She blushed as she ducked down and tried to pick up as many seeds as she could.

Absolutely not, she raged internally.That woman is not coming anywhere near my patients!

She sat back up and quietly tried to use her feet to sweep up any seeds she’d missed and kick them under her seat. There was no way she could pay attention as Dr. Colton wrapped up her preposterous lecture. If she didn’t distract herself, she might well explode.

Sit in on her patient sessions? To push them about organ donation like she wanted them to sign up for a credit card? Heart and lung patients were already anxious about their procedures, from simple stent insertions all the way to the delicate yet brutal task of a lung resection. It took a lot to get them to come to terms with the fact that Ashley would be cutting them open and handling their most vital organs. To talk about organ donation to a plastics patient was one thing; cardiothoracic patients already feared they were on the precipice of death. They didn’t need one more reminder of their delicate dance with mortality.

Around her, people began shuffling papers and getting to their feet. She joined them, stuffing her now half-empty bagof pepitas into her lab coat pocket. They all seemed excited, whispering and murmuring to each other about the donation program. Apparently only she was entirely opposed to Dr. Colton’s snake-oil saleswoman meddling.

“Penny for your thoughts,” a light voice said to her left. Startled, Ashley glanced at the doctor who had slipped up to join her as the flow of people exited the auditorium.

“Elaine,” she said, with a quick smile. Oakridge’s Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery had been the entire reason she came to this hospital. A giant in her field, Elaine Martin had taken an uncertain but determined young Ashley under her wing in the third year of her residency. It was through her guidance that Ashley had come to find her calling, and she’d been instrumental in leading Oakridge to hire Ashley once her programs and fellowships were complete. Though unspoken, Ashley felt it was understood that Elaine would be championing her to take over as cardio Chief in the next few years.

Quite apart from all of this, however, she considered Elaine to be one of her only friends apart from City, a very dear one, and a wholly valuable mentor. Her opinion meant everything to Ashley. And the topic of Jennifer Colton was one Ashley desperately wanted Elaine’s opinion on.

She considered her words carefully, wondering how to even begin to broach the subject in a civil, yet detached sort of way. Certainly, she didn’t want her absolute fury to spill out all over like her pepitas had done in the auditorium. And she didn’t want to come off as some idiot who hated the idea of organ transplants—obviously she supported them. Any cardio surgeon worth the salt they largely eliminated from their diets supported transplant surgeries. She just also supported not being pushy with patients, and she supported established, safe methods.

Rules, methods, policies, procedures—they all existed for a reason.

Feeling Elaine’s curious eyes on her, she took a deep breath and decided to start simply. “What do you think of this new donations and transplants director?”

Elaine’s eyes went from curious to shrewd, and she answered equally simply, but with candor. “Doctor Colton is a brilliant surgeon. She’s also a rule-breaker. I expect you don’t care for her much.”

A little cough escaped Ashley’s throat. “Well.”

“You’re not required to like everyone, Ashley.” Elaine chuckled. “It would surprise me more if you did. I’ve known Jen for decades. Well,knownis a strong way to put it. We’ve attended a number of conferences at the same time, and I do like her. She’s wickedly intelligent, and she’s got fire in her belly.” Her mouth tilted into a sly smile. “In many ways, she does remind me of you. Or rather, you remind me of her, I suppose.”

The very thought made Ashley slightly nauseous. “I would prefer that not be the case.”

“I bet you would.” Elaine took her arm and led her to the elevators. “Tough cookies, my friend. Women like the two of you are rare in the world of surgery. Bright, determined, but with real heart behind the work you do. As much as you try to convince the world that you don’t have a heart, I know the truth; I know how much you care about each and every patient that walks through your door.” She pressed the button for the basement level, where the cafeteria was. “You want to fix every broken heart and punctured lung you see. So does Jen, but she wants to do it by finding new ways to expand donation and transplant possibilities. In your own different ways, you’re both idealists.”

Unwillingly, Ashley saw her point. Even more unwillingly, this also made Dr. Colton more attractive to her. That made her shiver with distaste, and she shook her head. “No, Elaine.I’man idealist.She’sa mad scientist. I worry about how her crazy visions and ideas are going to change this hospital.”

“We’re due for a shakeup, I think,” Elaine said lightly. “And so are you, perhaps.”

“Me!” Ashley stared at her mentor. “No, thank you.”

The elevator doors slid open with a ding and Elaine stepped out, beckoning for Ashley to follow her. “Whatever comes next, I don’t think you’ll find that it’s something you can decline. The universe is funny like that.”

6

Jen watched as Dr. Proctor walked off with Elaine Martin after her presentation. They were an interesting mentor-mentee pairing, in her opinion. Not that she knew Elaine terribly well at all, but her experience with her was that Oakridge’s head cardio surgeon was a warm, generous physician with a mild penchant for boundary pushing. Not at all like a certain pedant for procedure with a stick so far up her backside, she should be producing some kind of fruit…

But after two weeks of covert observation, she did rather understand why Elaine had taken the younger surgeon under her wing. Doctor Proctor had a reputation for being no-nonsense, a real stickler for rules, and frankly rather unpleasant to deal with, according to several doctors. But of those doctors, the ones who had consulted on cases with her, or had worked on difficult surgeries with her, grudgingly agreed that her patients liked her. Were grateful to her, even. They appreciated her care and it made them feel safe that she was so rigid about her surgical methods. People did come from all over the state specifically for Ashley Proctor.

Clearly there was something there that Elaine saw worth nurturing and training despite their differences. It made Jen even more interested in working with her. She felt, however, that it was going to be an uphill battle to get in on any of the woman’s consults. There were a number of lobectomies, coronary angioplasties, and even a balloon valvuloplasty on her docket over the next couple of weeks. All prime opportunities for Jen to sit in and gently discuss organ donation education. But judging by the look she’d seen on Ashley’s face in the presentation, she wasn’t going to get a chance to talk to any of the patients involved.

Jen sighed as she entered her little office and closed the door behind her. Yes, she had been paying attention to the prickly cardio surgeon while making her presentation. In the past two weeks since she’d been at Oakridge, she’d been paying very close attention to Dr. Ashley Proctor.

She sat in her desk chair and spun to stare out over the suburb of Oakridge. It was time to admit that her close interest in Dr. Proctor went beyond the professional, and beyond the challenge of conquering an uptight rules fetishist. The woman was attractive. And, given where their first meeting had taken place, Jen guessed she was some flavor of queer. The woman was too rigid and uptight to be a straight woman hanging out at a sapphic bar for fun. She’d gone for some specific objective, Jen was sure. Which meant she was probably single, or at least in a flexible situation.

She was intelligent, well-spoken, good-looking, highly regarded in her field, probably single, and Jen just knew she was on the spicy, combative side if she ever let go the reins on her tight control. Everything that had always been absolute catnip for Jen in a woman. Nina had been all of these things.

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