“Again, you take me for someone who actually gives a shit about either of you. The patient deserves the best. If she can help me put that little girl back together again, then that’s all that matters. After that, I don’t ever have to deal with either of you again.”
“That’s impossible. We work together. I made a mistake. Don’t let one mistake ruin us.”
“You ruined us, and you decided there was no us the moment you started sleeping with someone else. You could have at least told me we weren’t exclusive so that I could have had other options too.” Sky looked down at her chart. “Both of their records are equally impressive.”
Frustrated, Noah began to pace. “Are you a robot or something?! We’ve been dating for months, and you’re acting like I didn’t mean anything to you!”
Sky hissed. “No, that would be you!” She pointed the metal chart at him. “Not me. So, stop confusing me with some twenty-two-year-old brain dead idiot, and quit trying to run your psycho-babble-bullshit game on me.”
“That’s not what I’m trying to do. I messed up. I’m sorry. I had a momentary lapse in judgment. You mean so much to me.”
He reached for Sky, but she backed away and glared at him. “If I were important, I would have never walked in on you playing tonsil hockey and about to do God only knows what else with that woman.”
“Are you that cold?”
“Cold? That’s rich.” Those words had been thrown at her before, but she refused to let them hurt her. REFUSED to allow him to hit her where she was vulnerable. She wasn’t cold or unfeeling, at least, not with the people who earned her trust. Even before tonight, Noah hadn’t earned it. But, after tonight, he’d failed just like all of the rest. “Look, we don’t have time for this. If you can’t tell me which one of the nurses is the best, I’ll flip a coin.”
He lashed out. “Maybe if you had shown me that you cared even a little,” He placed his thumb and forefinger together. “This incident would never have occurred.” His face was red with frustration. Nothing he said seemed to be breaking through.
This bastard is still trying to blame this on me? Sky was about to cut-up, then stopped herself. She wasn’t going to allow him to pull her into his circle of madness. “Wow. Dr. Bridges your ego has caused you to lose your mind as well as overestimate your importance to me.”
I’ll be scrubbed and ready for surgery in ten minutes. I hope you can get yourself together in that amount of time. You seem a little emotional, and Charlie Kneeland needs you at the top of your game.” Sky started to walk away.
Noah knew that Sky had intimacy issues, and this situation wouldn’t help that. She had emotionally walled him off and was not going to allow him back into her space—at least—not yet. He’d messed up. Smooth words and charm were not going to fix things. He saw it in her eyes. Reluctantly, he answered the question. “Meadows.”
Sky stopped walking, and without turning around, she responded. “Meadows it is.” She refused to give him, or anyone else for that matter, the satisfaction of knowing they could hurt her. Fortunately, the O.R. was a place she could focus on what really mattered, and that was saving lives and not on her latest disappointment. It was her place of Zen and probably saved her thousands in therapy costs.
Sky left his office and quickly went over toward the nurse’s station where she came face to face with Jazlyn again. The woman shrank back from her gaze as if attempting to disappear. There was no need for that, but Sky understood why she would. Jazlyn Farrow had to know that Sky could end her career with the snap of a finger. Even though Sky could, she wouldn’t. Decisions based on emotions never worked out in the end. And no man was worth throwing an entire career away. However, she hated women who thought they could climb the ladder of success by laying on their backs. If Jazlyn continued on the path she was on, she would end her own career.
Sky stopped and turned her attention toward the other woman. “Cassie, right?”
“Yes, Dr. Kirby?” She couldn’t believe the woman remembered her name.
“Can you be scrubbed up and ready for surgery in the next ten minutes?”
Cassie was about to levitate off the ground. “Absolutely. I can be ready in five.”
“Good. I hope you’ve eaten your Wheaties because this procedure is going to be a marathon.”
“I have my running shoes ready and have been preparing my whole life for this.”
That was the kind of enthusiasm Sky liked to hear. She lifted a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “If you can be ready in five, then I’ll see you in three.” Seeing the excitement on Cassie’s face, as Sky walked away helped to distract from Noah’s lying and cheating.
It wasn’t until she was alone in the physician’s locker room and changing into her scrubs that Sky allowed herself a moment to take a deep breath. She had hoped Noah would be different. On paper, he was perfect, and she had thought maybe he could be the one. Instead, he lived up to her low expectations of men.
She tucked her mass of dark, wiry curls underneath her surgical cap. How many times am I going to do this dance?
