Private Partners (Doctors in Training 2)

“He only wants what’s best for me, Liam.”

“So do I,” he returned evenly. “But you don’t see me piling more work on to you and expecting you to thank me for it.”

She sighed. “You just don’t understand how it is between me and my family.”

“No,” he said flatly. “I guess I don’t.”

Liam’s parents had split when Liam was young, and his alcoholic father had returned to his native Ireland not long afterward. Two years after that, Liam’s mother died, leaving Liam to be raised by his mother’s aging parents, now both gone. He’d been fond of his grandparents and had loosely reconnected with his father in the past five years, but he supposed it was true he’d never known the same kind of strong family ties Anne had with her family. Looking at the stress reflected in her eyes now, he figured he hadn’t missed much.

He squeezed the back of his neck with one hand. “I don’t want to fight with you about your father.”

“I don’t want to fight, either.” Avoiding his eyes, she turned to clear away the remains of her abruptly interrupted dinner. “I’ll just clear this stuff away and then I’d better go. You probably want to get back to your revisions, anyway.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, doubting he would accomplish much th

at evening. “I guess you’re right.”

The study group worked hard that evening, with even less small talk and foolishness than usual. Even Ron was uncharacteristically subdued and focused on the material. Anne had been warned by upper classmen that from February on, she would be inundated with material and tests, in addition to the rapidly approaching Step 1. One of her third-year acquaintances had particularly bemoaned the fate of Valentine’s Day in the second year; the romantic holiday was pretty much buried between test cycles, which made taking the whole evening off from studying both perilous and guilt inducing.

Since Valentine’s Day was over a week away, she had no idea if Liam would even still be with her by then. Even if he were, she would still have to devote at least part of the evening to her studies, which she was sure he would understand. They’d been half a world apart last Valentine’s Day. Yet he’d still sent her a lovely card and a beautiful hand-dyed scarf from India.

But she couldn’t think about Liam this evening, she reminded herself for perhaps the dozenth time in the past couple of hours. She had to focus on the physiology, pathology and pharmacology notes.

“The three types of plague are bubonic, septicemic and pneumonic,” Haley muttered, hands over her eyes as she committed the types to memory.

“Treatment for plague is antibiotics within the first twenty-four hours, ideally. First-line antibiotics are streptomycin or gentamicin,” Ron recited, speaking to himself.

“And chloramphenicol for critically ill patients,” Connor added.

James turned another page of his notes, silently internalizing the material. He glanced up to throw out a sample quiz question to the group. “Name two facultative anaerobes.”

“Yersinia is a facultative anaerobe,” Anne said, beating Haley to the punch. “As are Staphylococcus, E. coli and Listeria.”

“Very good,” James said with a smile. He licked his forefinger and marked the air, as if awarding points on an imaginary scoreboard.

“Question for Haley,” Connor tossed out, following their usual pattern of challenges and prompts. “Of Staphylococcus, E. coli, Corynebacterium and Listeria, which ones are gram positive and which gram negative?”

Haley groaned. “Wait, I know this. Only one is gram negative, right? E. coli?”

“Right. Twenty points to Haley.”

Following a recent joking tradition, everyone made a writing motion in the air with their index fingers. It was the first moment of silliness in the past intense hour of studying. Anne could feel some of the tension among them ease as they sat back in their chairs grouped around Connor’s dining table and stretched.

Judging it was a good time to interrupt, Connor’s seven-year-old daughter, Alexis, a towheaded cutie with charming dimples and a gap-toothed smile, bounced up to the table. Dressed in pink pajamas decorated with gray kittens, she was obviously ready for bed. She was followed more sedately by her stepmother, Mia, an attractive woman with light brown hair and kind blue eyes.

“I’m going to bed now,” Alexis announced to everyone as she paused by her father’s chair. “Good night.”

A chorus of smiling good-nights from the study group answered her. Connor gave her a hug and a smacking kiss. “Good night, princess. Sleep well.”

“I will. Study good, Daddy.”

He chuckled. “Yes, I will. Want me to come tuck you in? The group won’t mind if we take a little break.”

Alexis looked pleased by the offer. “Okay.” Taking her father’s hand when he stood, she waved again to the others. “Night.”

James yawned. “I think I’ll step outside for a minute to clear my head. Maybe the cold air will wake me up a little.”

“Hang on, I’ll come with you,” Ron said, reaching for his jacket. “I need to go out to my car, anyway. I need the cord to my laptop. The battery’s getting low.”