Page 43 of Ellie 1

Normally, I had the most frustrating ones on the second and fourth Saturdays and then let Tommy take my stress away.

But that was over, and I was trying not to be too down on myself that I’d let it happen. All of it.

So my Saturday was light, and even a few of my staff agreed to switch days that week so we could get some “housekeeping” done. One just wanted the overtime and we were behind on invoicing and more. So it was justified.

Plus, the Clark pack was having a blowout blood drive as they promised. It wasn’t just their pack, but they were handling it for all of the shifters in London and surrounding areas. It was amazing and really great. They even had people from other hospitals and EMS donate their time to take blood, so it wasn’t all at a cost for us.

And like they had said, others followed suit. So there were three being held in Asia over the weekend, including Hong Kong and Moscow, which hopefully would be huge as well.

So while the reserves and our blood numbers were low, I had decided to take advantage of the situation and ordered a massive cleaning of everything. Like…Everything.Not just our normal cleaning. I wanted ceilings and everything done, repairs handled and any touchups.

All of that had been happening, and I started my Saturday early by inspecting everything and getting the updates. I was dressed casually since it was the weekend—something new I was trying—and it surprised people as well. I was known for always being pristine and professional.

Talking with Beth, I’d learned that I was a bit too rigid as well. Those who knew me well should be allowed to call me Ellie in passing and I didn’t have to call them doctor. The world had progressed past that and the assholes who didn’t behave would now be smacked.

I didn’t know if I was there yet, but she was right that we could relax a bit when it was the weekend or overtime.

Once I finished inspecting the blood facilities and giving the green light to get it all back on track once the donations came in, I had meetings with the cafeteria to approve all the menus for next month. The only complaint they’d received was that more meat needed to be mixed in the menus instead of always so focused on seafood.

That was fair, but we had a really good deal for seafood and bought direct from a company with a dozen ships. The quality of the seafood we received direct from New Orleans was fantastic, but even if great, things got redundant.

I left it as needing the numbers of what they were proposing to use instead so I could make it work.

“Adding the partnership with the bakery has increased breakfast service by thirty percent,” the cafeteria manager told me as he flipped through numbers. “The feedback we’re getting is the coffee carts are great—the quality, but people want morevariety.” He shrugged when I sighed. “Starbucks gets people through the door by offering new drinks. I even like it.”

I did too, so that was more than fair. It was just a headache. Everything was always a headache and needed to be adjusted.

Nothing was ever easy on me.

My meeting with Dr. James took a turn and he had some requests. I was a brat and threw down my pen and shot him a pissed look.

His eyes flashed shock but then understanding. “I know. I know, Ellie. Just hear me out because I’ve looked into this a bit and I think it’s what’s best for the hospital as well. You know I don’t bring you blind ideas.”

I nodded, mumbling an apology. “Okay, let’s go see the area so I can—I trust you if you say it’s needed. I just don’t know how to incorporate it.”

“I think I do with a bit of renovation.” He nodded when I sighed again.

We went over to the space and I frowned when it was next to Dr. Clark’s offices. The way the hospital was set up was that each senior attending had their own practice inside the hospital almost. We handled everything so they didn’t have to do individual billing and carry that overhead, but it was why we paid them out and the bonus structures.

So they weren’t in charge really like their own practice. Physically, the hospital was set up that way, and they were way more in charge of their offices than in other hospitals, but… I was still the boss.

“Yes, it’s for Clark,” Dr. James confirmed when I glanced at him… No, Sean. Enough. We’d known each other forever and he’d helped build this hospital with me.

He was Sean.

“We don’t use this lounge anymore,” he told me. “I checked. Now that you put in the massive spa basically for people who—there’s dust on some of the chairs and our janitorial staff is great. We’re really not using this space. If it was closed off and an entrance worked into his—it could work. I haven’t seen the actual floor plan.”

I nodded, knowing the floor plan in my mind. He wasn’t wrong. It could be a bit of a walk-around to get there once closed off, and patients would have to go past Clark’s private office, but… It could work.

Sean flinched, hearing something I missed and headed for Clark’s offices. I hurried after, curious what was going on and walked into something comical that I truly needed.

“This is a cartoon I’ve seen, right?” I asked trying not to laugh, but a chuckle slipping out.

Sean snickered. “Yeah, but it was a Chinese character.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, that was the offensive part not comparing the wolf with a chubby panda.”

Dr. Clark wasn’t able to say anything yet because he was trying to hurry to finish what was in his mouth. I burst out laughing when he swallowed loudly and his cheeks weren’t so puffy anymore.

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