Grumpy Doctor

“Uh,” I said. “Thanks?”

“Right.” She pointed at the last door on the left. “That’s him. Go ahead and knock.”

“You’re really not coming with me?”

“Nope. Tell him you’re his new resident.” Monica moved past me and was already walking back the way we’d come. “Good luck! You’ll do great! Make sure you smile!”

She practically jogged off down the hall.

I watched her go and felt a very, very bad sinking feeling come over my chest. It wasn’t a good sign when the chief resident didn’t want to speak with your attending, and even took it upon herself to let me know that he might be a little tough to work with.

Whatever that meant.

I turned toward the office and took a deep, long breath. Now or never, I figured. No turning back and all that. I marched down to his door, raised my fist, and knocked.

I stood there for thirty seconds, and didn’t hear a peep.

I knocked again, a little harder, waited another thirty seconds, and began to wonder if the room was empty. If he wasn’t in there, then I had no clue what to do. I mean, I could go back down to the lobby, but if the other residents weren’t there, or if Monica sent me back or—

I knocked a third time, desperation leaking into my pounding.

“What?” a man snapped from inside. “Are you seriously still out there?”

The voice was deep and very annoyed. I turned the knob, cracking the door slightly, and poked my head inside.

The office was incredibly neat and orderly. Filing cabinets on the right, desk up ahead, small couch on the left. Generic black and white photos hung on the walls, and a small snake plant grew near the window.

“Uh, sorry to bother you, Dr. Hood, but my name is Lori Court, and, uh, I’m your resident? I think?”

Dr. Hood leaned back in his chair and looked at me like I was having a stroke.

He was young and handsome, with dark black hair, a bit long and wild, pushed back and to the side. His face was sculpted, chiseled almost, with that absurd movie-star stubble that never seemed to drift into clean-shaven or into beard. He wore scrubs that fit his muscular frame like angel’s wings, and I couldn’t help but stare at his husky-blue eyes, piercing and gorgeous and really, really terrifying.

Monica did not tell me that Dr. Hood was absolutely, incredibly good-looking, and I really resented her for that.

“Who?” he asked.

“Lori. Your resident? Monica brought me over, she said—”

He rolled his eyes. “You must have the wrong office. Dr. Baker’s on the other side.” He turned his back to me and bent over his computer, reading some article.

I didn’t move, shifting from foot to foot. “Sorry, actually, I was told that you’re my attending.”

He slowly turned back and looked like he wanted to lift me up off my feet and throw me through a window. “I don’t take residents.”

“Sorry, but I think you’re supposed to this time?”

He gave me a withering look. I felt my cheeks turn pink, and I wanted to run and hide, or maybe scream at him, or really do anything but stand there like an idiot—but Monica warned me about this. She knew it was going to happen, and she tried to prepare me, except she could’ve told me Dr. Hood was also model-sexy on top of being a huge asshole.

“What’s your name again?”

I clenched my jaw. “Lori.”

“All right, Lori. I don’t take residents. I’ve been an attending for six years now, I was the youngest attending ever at this hospital, and not once in all that time have I ever taken on a resident. I’m sorry, I don’t know what sort of prank they’re playing on you, but I’m not interested, so march off and complain to someone else because I’ve got work to do.”

He turned around again and I stood there, hands trembling, feeling like a moron. Maybe he hadn’t been told about me, but there was no reason to be a dick about this. Maybe in his brain, he thought I was the problem somehow, even though I was only doing what I was told, and I didn’t deserve this sort of treatment—nobody did.

“Actually,” I said, trying to keep the anger from my voice. “Monica brought me here, she specifically said I’ve been assigned to you, so why don’t we both go find your boss and get this straightened out?”

He turned and for a second, I thought he really was about to get up and hurl me bodily to my doom. Instead, his anger turned to confusion, as he crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head.

“You look familiar,” he said. “Do I know you from somewhere?”

Before I could answer and tell him to kiss my ass, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned as a woman with long brown hair approached. She had smooth, light brown skin, dark eyes, and a cheerful smile. She was pretty, in her early sixties, looked relatively fit, and wore a long white coat—which suggested she was high up in the doctor hierarchy.