Author's Note: Another flashback!
Chapter Seven
Neil got that raincheck on his and Claire's coffee meeting six months later. He'd been summoned to San Diego for a meeting as a member of the California Medical Standards and Practices Committee. Specifically, he'd be spending two days at her hospital as part of an in-person task force on state surgical protocols.
He hadn't called her right away, a little uncomfortable about contacting her after her dying friend Kayla's request. Then it seemed silly to feel weird about having one innocent coffee with a former colleague. It didn't have to mean anything if he didn't want it to. And he honestly looked forward to seeing Claire and check in on how things were going in San Diego.
So, he'd emailed her about getting coffee before his meeting started, and she'd agreed. One might say she sounded excited to see him, as much as multiple exclamation points in an email could indicate that.
After his flight got in, he checked into his hotel and walked the five minutes to the hospital. Since he'd get there about an hour earlier than planned, he considered finding a comfortable spot where he could wait for her, maybe get the meeting materials early and spend the time going over the proposals they'd have to start discussing among the group. Sure enough, they'd had the meeting packets already set up and didn't grumble too much about giving him his materials early. On a whim, he asked where he could find Dr. Claire Browne and the receptionist directed him to the 8th floor. Maybe if he ran into her, they could meet up earlier and he wouldn't take too much time out of her morning.
Strolling out of the elevator, he hadn't sufficiently prepared himself to see her standing at the nurse's station looking over something on her tablet, completely engrossed in whatever medical mystery she needed to solve. He stood in the lobby area, observing her.
He hadn't seen her in person for a while and although she looked as familiar as ever, there was definitely a different air about her, something more mature. Maybe it was her attire, a thick calf-length skirt that flared out at the bottom, matched with a turtleneck underneath her standard white doctor's coat and short-heeled suede boots. Her style seemed warm and a little scholarly as opposed to the crisp trousers and bright blouses to which he'd become accustomed. She had her hair mostly down rather than braided back, her curls tamed loosely down her back and framing her face. A glossy coral shade covered her lips, currently frowning at whatever she'd discovered on her tablet.
At this point, he figured it best to stop staring at her lest someone call security on him.
He walked toward her, a grin already pulling at his lips. "Dr. Browne." Her head snapped up in a cute expression of surprise. "Hard at work, I see."
Her surprise turned to pleasure as she smirked in return. "You're early, Dr. Melendez. Still trying to keep me on my toes?"
"Maybe," he admitted. "Actually my flight made good time in the air and I thought I'd head over early to check in on my meeting and see if you wanted to meet for coffee earlier. No pressure, if you're in the middle of things, of course."
Claire glanced down at her tablet and made a few notations before locking it. "Actually, I just need to finish the last of my rounds, and I'll be good to go."
"Your own consults already?" he asked, impressed.
She shrugged. "Just a handful of low-risk patients. Getting my feet wet, really, and it mixes things up while I get my dissertation going."
He'd forgotten that her program included a Ph.D. element. "How's that coming along?" If he'd had to do another graduate-level research project in the last years of his residency, it may have come close to breaking him. Claire, however, seemed unphased.
"It's actually not as brutal as I was expecting, thankfully. I get to piggyback on the research I'm doing in my current trial rotation, which helps a lot. Not to say that it's easy, but at least it's manageable given all of our regular surgical duties. You haven't—" When she noticed someone behind him, she raised a finger to pause their conversation and stopped a nurse to update her on a discharge. "Sorry about that," she said to him after the nurse turned back around and disappeared into a room down the hall; he waved off the interruption, used to the rhythms of a bustling hospital and enjoying seeing Claire in her element. "Anyway, you haven't turned Shaun and Morgan loose yet? I know Lim's loosened the reins on Alex a bit."
"Soon, but not yet. What can I say, I have a hard time letting go."
"So I've heard," she smirked. "Or should I say was warned by all your previous residents. 'Melendez is a great surgeon to work under, but he'll be breathing down your neck your entire residency.'"
"Is that what they say about me?" Neil asked, pretending to be shocked. "Pretty tame for the most part. I'll take it."
"It's one thing they say about you anyway." She chuckled when Neil narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't look at me like that. I'm not going to tell you what they say about you. That's how the rest of us keep that ego of yours in check."
"So, they say all amazing things about me? Nice." Claire shook her head at him as she checked her phone. "That's still not fair, though. Maybe coffee's on you then."
Locking her phone and dropping it in her coat pocket, she turned her attention back to him. "Fine. It's a small price to pay for my discretion. But I have a couple of patients to see before then." Narrowing her eyes, she waved her stylus at him as a new idea took form. "Actually, you interested in coming with? I could use your help."
"Now you want my help? Unbelievable." Switching his briefcase to his other hand, he leaned casually against the high desk to stand in front of her. He still got a kick out of challenging her, amused by how annoyed she got.
Unlike the old days, this time Claire shrugged it off, taking a few steps past him to the patient rooms down the hall. "Suit yourself then," she threw right back at him.
Neil straightened, watching her retreat without any signs of slowing. Gathering his wits, he trotted in her direction to catch up. "Fine, I'll help you. But don't be surprised when I quiz you." Her expression told him to bring it on.
It hit him then how much he missed her. The familiar regret returned, but he pushed it back down. No use for it now.
"First patient is Danny Ortiz. Fourteen year old that came in with an upset stomach that turned out to be appendicitis. We did an appendectomy and everything went fine. He should be set to go home later today.
Neil thought that sounded pretty straight forward. He wondered why she thought he'd be helpful.
When they walked in the room, the teen boy laying in the bed turned and smiled at Claire. He waved his hand shyly, probably a little smitten with his doctor. Like any teenager, he had his phone in one hand and a handheld game near the other on the bed next to him. A much older woman sat in the chair next to him reading a book.
Returning the smile, she walked up to the side of the bed, stethoscope already out to check his vitals. "Good morning, Danny." Then turning to greet the other woman in the room, she said, "Buenos dias, Senora Ortiz."
"Hola, Doctor Browne," the woman replied, smiling sweetly at Claire.
Claire began her brief exam on Danny as Neil watched on. "How are you feeling, Danny," she asked.
"All good, Doctor Browne. Just sore like you said."
"Sore we can deal with." She listened to his heart and lungs as a routine precaution and then put her stethoscope away. "This is my colleague Dr. Melendez. He's giving me a hand today." Neil nodded at Danny and at who he presumed was his grandmother sitting at his side.
Suspicious and probably annoyed at not having Claire to himself, Danny narrowed his eyes at Neil. That amused him, although he refrained from laughing at the boy outright.
"Okay, Danny, it looks like you'll get to go home in a few hours as long as you keep feeling fine. I'm going to need to you to rest for the next few days and take it easy for the next three weeks. That means no running around. No skateboarding. Nothing." She explained again how the surgery went and let him know he'd be fine, but that his body would need time to adjust from the trauma. "Be careful around your incision site—no baths or fiddling with that area. Just leave it alone. Your stomach might be a little upset for the next couple of days, but it should pass. If it doesn't, give me a call and we'll see what's wrong."
"Will you be checking on me?" he asked hopefully.
Claire smiled professionally. "I'll call tomorrow to see how you're doing. I promise." Danny nodded. He looked past her back to Neil.
"Is that like your assistant or something?"
Making a note on her tablet, Claire glanced back at Neil. "Dr. Melendez? Sure. For today he is." Neil raised an eyebrow at her as she flashed him a humorous look. "Actually, Dr. Melendez used to be my boss a long time ago. But today," she said, shutting off her tablet, "he's my backup translator."
Danny pouted. "I thought I was your backup translator."
Claire frowned apologetically. "You're right. I guess that makes Dr. Melendez my backup-backup translator."
Turning to Mrs. Ortiz, she began carefully explaining everything she'd said to Danny but in Spanish. Neil waited at her side, hands in his pocket, listening and approving her explanation. When she finished explaining about the surgery, she looked up at Neil to make sure it made sense. Nodding, she continued until she got to the term "incision site" and looked to Neil to ask for the best translation, which he provided confidently and with a warm smile. It felt kind of nice to be needed, he thought to himself.
"You want to explain what I told you about what happens if something seems wrong," Claire asked Danny as a way to include him and be assured that he understood her instructions. Excited for the attention, he gave his grandmother a good overview of what Claire had said.
"See you're a pro, Danny." The boy beamed at the praise. "I've gotta go, but I'll drop by later to check on you before you leave. Don't spend all morning on your phone. Get some rest." Tucking her tablet under her arm, she squeezed his hand and said goodbye to his grandmother as well, Neil in tow.
"Nice to meet you," Neil said to Danny, grinning at the boy's dislike of him. "Nice to meet you too," he called over to Danny's grandmother in Spanish. She wished him the same. Neil heard her quietly chastising her grandson for being rude to the doctor as he turned the corner.
Neil sped up to return to Claire's side. "Your assistant?"
Claire smiled but didn't look up from her tablet. "It's a good gig." He shook his head at her and looked over her shoulder at who they were visiting next.
"This is the only other patient I need to see. The rest are scheduled for tests this morning."
"Isn't that your job?" Neil teased.
"It would be." A bit of wickedness slipped into her expression, which he found delightful. "But seniority has its privileges. Like making junior residents do your lab work while the senior resident gets coffee with an old colleague." He couldn't disagree. "Next is Abraham Arturo," Claire continued. "A spry seventy-five. And by spry, I mean grumpy. Came in for a hip replacement. No complications, but a huge candidate for non-compliance once he gets to the rehab facility. He pretends not to understand my Spanish so you can be my secret weapon."
"Oooh, now there's an upgrade from assistant. I kinda like the idea of being a secret weapon." He grinned down at her before entering the room, noting her annoyed but accepting response.
True to form, Mr. Arturo proved to be a handful. As soon as Claire walked in, he started asking when he could go home since he'd already missed too many days at the senior center and his domino skills were going to get rusty. When he noticed Neil, he started ribbing Claire about bringing in reinforcements.
"I can see you're about to get serious with me, Dr. Claire, if you picked up a Mexican ringer to help you wrangle me," he joked in Spanish.
"A what? I didn't get that, Mr. Arturo," Claire responded, confused.
"A ringer," Neil answered in English. "He called you out on needing backup." He shrugged, grinning. "I've been called worse."
"No doubt," the both of them thinking that she'd certainly called him worse herself at times. "Well, then no need for a pretense."
They spent the next fifteen minutes together requesting, cajoling, and pleading with Mr. Arturo to follow all of his post-op instructions even after the week he had scheduled in rehab. Mr. Arturo tried to come up with every excuse in the book as to why he shouldn't be confined to his home, each of which they countered. Finally, they threatened that if he didn't behave himself, they'd put him on six weeks bed rest with strict instructions for his home healthcare worker to enforce. The idea of it seemed to annoy him enough to comply.
As they were leaving, Mr. Arturo took Claire's hand and thanked her, apologizing for being such a pain in the ass. She told him that she just wanted to make sure he got better so he could get back to beating his friends at dominoes. She promised to come see him before his discharge came through the next day.
"You can bring your friend too," Mr. Arturo said. "Not that I don't enjoy your company, but he doesn't sound like my old gringo Catholic school teacher when he speaks Spanish to me."
"Don't start with me Mr. Arturo," Claire said laughing. "If you mention that 'Sister Claire bit again, I'm going to have Marisela come in here and give you a talking to."
Mr. Arturo appeared legitimately terrified at the suggestion. "See, you have to come back to rescue me from these tough ladies, Doctor."
"Thankfully, you'll live," Claire joked. "And Dr. Melendez is very busy, so—"
"I'll be sure to stop by to wish you well, sir," Neil assured him."And if I can find some dominoes, we'll see which of us is the rustier on." Mr. Arturo looked overjoyed at the idea, even as Claire rolled her eyes at the both of them.
"Good," Mr. Arturo said, settling back into the bed. "And while you're at it, tell Dr. Claire not to work so hard. She's always lurking around here. It's not good for a young person to work that much."
Claire crossed her arms, clearly not pleased with their conversation. "I think I hear Marisela down the hall…" This time, he met her threat with a fixed stare until she backed down, a small grin at his concern. Seeing Claire in her element stoked a bit of pride for Neil. She'd become exactly the kind of doctor he'd envisioned she'd be. Smart, confident, and focused on the patient with a warmth you couldn't teach or mimic.
Risking her displeasure himself, Neil gave Mr. Arturo his most serious assurance. "I'll see what I can do." He winked at Claire as they turned to leave, him in the lead this time. Her annoyance had returned, but she followed him out.
"Not a bad secret weapon, huh?" They'd returned to the long hallway and he instinctively slowed so that Claire could move in front. He'd had fun. It felt a little like old times but also really different. In a good way. The role reversal had been … interesting.
Claire scoffed at him. "You're alright." A smile ghosted across her lips finally. They wound their way to Claire's office so she could drop off her tablet and grab her wallet. "Besides, good help is hard to find."
Neil glared down at her. "Oh, wow. Now coffee really is on you."
TBC…