Yesterday had been a long day of travel. The four-star hotel had had a two-star mattress. And she was still waiting on the bulk of her wardrobe to arrive. And, now, the day was stretching into forever as Madison tried to dig herself out of all the case files she’d just been assigned.
There was a backlog. Patient wait times for simple procedures were simply unacceptable. But that was nothing compared to a mile-long list of patients who needed more sophisticated procedures, which simply weren’t possible at this facility that was over fifty years old.
Still, Madison dug into the problem like the documents were a sickness that she was going to root out. By the time lunch hit, she had only come away with a series of paper cuts. But she was undaunted. There was a solution in there. She just needed more time to solve it.
Mercy General just needed better organization and a little less red tape. Too bad red was the favored color of the government. Madison had grown up playing with red tape. She knew where to cut and when. She knew ways around, above, and through. She could be of use here. She knew it.
Alongside notes on patient charts, she drafted a proposal for a new intake system and chart management. She looked over the budget and saw places to cut and expand.
By the time she was done, the sun had set. She hadn’t seen a single patient, but she felt like she had touched them all. Her eyes were bleary from going over all that ink, and her mind was full of numbers. She needed a break, preferably an eight-hour break. Her two-star mattress back at the hotel was looking good right about now.
“Dr. Gray?” one of the nurses called to her on her way out. “Major Hanson was asking for you.”
“Major Hanson?”
The moment Madison said his name, the image of his handsome face bloomed in her mind, shoving away all the numbers and other names. Which was odd for her because she always remembered a patient’s chart before she could recall their faces. That was what was most important; the data about what was happening inside, not their outside appearance.
Maybe she was just remembering this patient’s face because of the importance he meant to her career. If she could convince him to get the surgery that she was certain he needed, that would hold a lot of sway with Chief Pena and her winning the Chief of Orthopedic Surgery position that she’d come here for in the first place.
Madison took the chart the nurse handed her and went down to his floor. When she came up to Major Hanson’s room, she noted a group of people walking away from the door. They were a colorful and eclectic bunch, reminding her of her friends back in New York.
Not that she got to seen her friends a lot during her five-year surgical internship. She’d seen even less of them during her two-year residency. In fact, she wasn’t sure she had most of their numbers any longer since many had gotten married or moved. She hadn’t even had a going away party when she’s left New York, just a few social media posts that were met with hearts and confetti emojis.
The group in Major Hanson’s doorway looked like they were as thick as thieves and stuck together like glue. They probably left words on social media posts and not just a series of emojis. In fact, not a single phone was out. They blew kisses with fingers against lips, said goodbye with their actual mouths and waves of hands. With that much hand action, Madison doubted they would ever lose touch.
“Dr. Gray, you’re finally here.”
Madison recognized the brown-eyed man from earlier. He’d been the one to give the initial run down on Major Hanson’s condition. His expression was pinched as he looked down his nose at her, as though he was the parent of a child she’d just given a bad grade to.
“Dr. Lamb was here earlier. He said he didn’t think Paul needed surgery, but he wanted to run more tests.”
Madison pursed her lips at the mention of Doug. He said he would play fair, but here he was already overstepping his bounds. They’d agreed to run more tests and then present their findings to Pena. But, of course, Doug ignored the rules so he could get himself front and center.
Seriously, what had she ever seen in the man?
“Paul says he wanted to hear from you before making any decisions since you are his doctor. But I think he’s just stalling. He’s not a fan of surgery. The first one… and now this. Do you really think he needs surgery?”
“I can’t discuss that with you,” said Madison.
“I have power of attorney.”
Madison looked the man over again. Had she misread Major Hanson’s flirting the other day? This guy had been hovering over him like a nagging wife. And then she remembered Major Hanson’s eye-rolling retort from the other day.
“Oh? Now I get why he called you mom,” said Madison.
A bark of laughter came from the room. It was full and deep-bellied. The sound wrapped around her, inviting her to come inside and play.
“Marry me,” Major Hanson said when she went inside the room. “But, first, shut the door, so mom won’t walk in on us.”
Madison did as her patient asked. She shut out the male helicopter mom, who did not look at all amused. Well, there was no need for a power of attorney, as the patient was in possession of his full mental faculties. Though that impromptu marriage proposal gave Madison pause.
“Any woman—aside from his wife—who can shut Luke down like that deserves my undying devotion.”
“He cares about you,” she said. She watched as Luke’s friends tugged him down the hall toward the exit. Most people would’ve been thrilled to have such a large group of people surrounding and cheering for their recovery.
“He blames himself for this.” Major Hanson waved his hand up and down his prone body.
Madison looked Major Paul Hanson up and down. He looked every bit a virile man. A handsome, virile man. A handsome, virile man who knew it. As evidenced by the smirk on his face.
“You wanted to talk about your condition, Major Hanson?”
“Call me Paul.”
“You didn’t like your second opinion, Major Hanson?”
“That guy seems like an idiot.”
A litany of every wrong Doug had committed against her during their relationship came to mind. But then, so did the truth. “No,” she huffed the word. “He’s not an idiot. He’s brilliant, actually.”
“Any man who would let a woman like you slip through his fingers is an idiot.”
For the first time in her life as a medical professional, Madison blushed. She was alone in a room with a man reclining on a bed in nothing more than a slip of thin fabric. Major Hanson did not look like an invalid. He looked like a warrior having a rest before he went back to the business of conquering.
Madison gave her head a shake and looked down at his chart. “Your condition is serious, Major. My instinct tells me it may be a pinched nerve, but I need to do more tests.”
“You trust your instincts?”
“After I back them up with data, always.”
“I don’t believe that.” He shook his head. “I think your gut tells you the right answer. The data is so that other people will believe you.”
“Do you want me to just cut you open blind and poke around to feel for the right answer?”
He grinned like a lion toying with a mouse. He was mistaken to think of her as something so small. At the least, Madison was a gazelle, and she was going to outrun this predator.
She opened her mouth to cut him down to size. Only she didn’t feel in the least threatened by him. She didn’t feel leered at or patronized. Major Hanson’s gaze stayed strictly north, right on her eyes. Like he liked sparring with her, talking to her, seeing what she’d say next.
He’d asked her to marry him a moment ago. Sure, it had been a joke. But still, it had made her tingle.
“Let me help you, Paul.”
His breath caught at the use of his name. His gaze dipped then. Down to his legs, not hers.
“My gut says you need surgery. I want to be sure exactly what kind so that I give you exactly what you need.”
His gaze lifted and met hers. Madison had to resist the urge to gulp. His eyes were so wide, so open that she would’ve sworn she could see right into the heart of him.
Which was impossible. If she saw right into his eyes, she’d see first his ocular nerve, followed by brain matter. Not his heart.
“I’ll let you run some tests,” he said finally. “But I’m not agreeing to another surgery. Not yet.”
“Deal.” She held out her hand.
He took it. And when he did, electricity sparked across her wrist. Madison’s breath caught then. She couldn’t catch it in time to silence it.
That lion-like smile spread even wider across his handsome face. She’d thought she was fast, but she was a gazelle caught inside a lion’s paw. And then he let her go.
Madison felt her legs wobble as she turned on her heel. Even when she walked out of the room, she felt as though he was following her. Which was impossible, as he was confined to the bed.