He rocked his head side to side, like it was no big deal. “It’s the truth. Gina talked about Dr. Hood like he was some kind of bratty nuisance, but he’s more than that. He’s a damn good doctor. I just… I didn’t like it.”
“I appreciate you telling me. You know I have to tell him, right?”
“I know. I think you need to.” He stood up and looked down at me. “Just keep my name out of it.”
“I promise.”
He nodded once, then walked away, disappearing back inside.
I looked at my salad and put it down where he’d been sitting a second ago. Suddenly my appetite was gone, replaced with a smoldering anger, and an even more intense uncertainty.
I believed in Piers. I knew he had a bad reputation, but not because he was a bad doctor. He refused to play the game, refused to be a political entity. In his mind, the only thing that mattered was the job, and everyone else was only an ancillary issue.
He didn’t understand that it was all one and the same. He couldn’t be a doctor without dealing with the administration—he couldn’t be an employee without having a boss. It was the way of things, for better or worse.
I stood, threw out the rest of my food, and started toward the elevators. I wasn’t thinking as I hit the button for the third floor, and it was only when I stood in the hall outside of Gina’s office that I realized what I wanted to do.
It was stupid and impulsive, and I was supposed to meet with Piers in a few minutes anyway, but I knocked. I heard her voice from inside, and I cracked the door slightly, stepping onto the threshold.
Her office was different from Piers’s. She had more color, more personal items: photographs of her family, a toy rabbit that must’ve been from her kids, a mug from the Virgin Islands. Piers’s office was austere and orderly, and while Gina’s was well organized, it felt more like a home.
“Lori,” she said, smiling a little. She looked tired. Bags hung under her eyes, and her normally sharp, straight dark hair was frizzy and fried. “What can I do for you?”
“I wanted to talk to you about Dr. Hood.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I started to second-guess myself. Maybe I should’ve turned and walked away right then and there. It probably would have been better for me—there was no reason to throw myself into the middle of this. I had it bad enough with Piers himself and our little deal, but this was going above and beyond anything I promised him.
Gina smiled a little and gestured at the chair against the wall on the left. I didn’t take it, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “I know Dr. Hood can be a little difficult—”
“That’s not it,” I said. “He’s been really good, actually.”
She arched a disbelieving eyebrow. “Has he?”
“I’ve stood in on every procedure he’s done, and we spend a lot of time before and after prepping for it. He’s taking the whole training thing seriously, although he didn’t really at first.”
“I’m surprised,” she said, leaning back. “I won’t lie to you, I thought you wouldn’t last a week with him, but here you are.”
“I heard something today.” I chewed on my lip, not sure how to say this. Gina was Piers’s boss, and by extension, she was mine as well—but then again, I had Rees to fall back on if something bad happened. I’d be fine if this didn’t go well, he could get me some other residency, maybe it wouldn’t be quite as good, but whatever, I’d survive it. Piers wouldn’t though, not if his own boss was dead set on destroying him.
“It’s okay,” she said. “You can tell me. Did Dr. Hood say something?”
“No, no, it’s not him, actually, it’s you.”
That surprised her. Her eyes went wide. “Me? I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean.”
“Someone overheard you talking about Dr. Hood. Talking about wanting to get rid of him because he’s such a pain. But I wanted to come here and tell you he’s like that with the administration and the staff, and with you I guess, but he’s been a great teacher, and he’s incredible with the patients. If you went with him on rounds, you’d see.”
Gina stared at me, disbelieving, before shaking her head. “What are you talking about?”
I stammered something, not sure what to say. “A person… overheard you… I mean, he didn’t mean to, it’s just…”
She sighed and rubbed at her temples. “I’m sorry, Lori. I don’t know what you think you heard, but believe me, you’ve got it wrong.”
“You don’t want Dr. Hood to go then?”
She hesitated, glancing toward the window that gave her a great view of the building across the street. “I’ll admit, working with Dr. Hood is very difficult,” she said. “But he’s a gifted surgeon. Maybe the best I’ve ever seen.”
“Believe me, he’s better than you think. I’ve stood in on his procedures this whole time, and it’s astonishing.”
“I’ll admit that I didn’t think he’d train you at all. I figured you’d be a mess by the end of this and we’d have to get you up to speed ourselves.”
“He’s been really good.”
She sucked on her teeth. “Fact is, Dr. Hood is a liability. I know you don’t think so, and I understand he’s been teaching you, but believe me, Lori. I’ve known a lot of doctors in my career, and more than a few have been like Dr. Hood. It’s never a good situation.”
“It’s wrong, you know.” I took a single step closer. “You wanting to kick him out like this, it’s wrong. You’re his boss. You should be on his side, not plotting behind his back.”
“Maybe if he tried to be diplomatic—”
“He doesn’t need to be diplomatic,” I said, getting frustrated, and letting it show. “He’s too good to be diplomatic. This whole thing with the Tippett
