Grumpy Doctor

I glanced over at Rees, and he looked up from his phone for the briefest of moments—and I saw a little smile, just for an instant. He knew what I was doing, and we didn’t need to talk about it. Lori’s mother wanted her taken care of, then I’ll take care of her. I’ll make sure she’s financially settled, and I’ll give her the best surgical training in the world.

And then I’ll marry her, if all goes to plan.

“This is all highly irregular,” Ms. Lumber said. “I don’t think that we can simply give you money.”

“You can,” I said. “Or else I’ll sue the fuck out of you, and I will win in court. You heard that recording, and you can read those documents. Caroline screwed you, and the hospital’s liable. You want to avoid a huge scandal, and a bigger payout? Write me a fat check, fire Caroline, and let me get back to work.”

Caroline pushed back from the table. “This is insane,” she said, her voice shaking. “You’re lying. He’s lying, of course. I wouldn’t— I couldn’t— make something up?” She laughed, her tone getting high-pitched and manic. She took a step toward the door. “You can’t be serious.”

“Caroline,” I said. “It’s done. There’s no reason to keep fighting. Give me what I want.”

“You want to ruin me,” she said. “You want to get me fired. And for what? For some horrible lie? It’s all a lie.”

Ms. Lumber rubbed at her face. “I’m sorry, guys, I need to talk with my client in private for a while. Thanks for coming out here, we’ll take this under advisement.”

“Do that,” I said. “And do it fast. I’ll give you a day before we file the paperwork with the courts.”

“That’ll be fine,” Ms. Lumber said.

“No,” Caroline hissed. “God, no. This is bullshit. He’s lying, can’t you all see that? It’s fake, I’ve been set up. I’ve been set up!” She lunged across Ms. Lumber and grabbed the tablet, ripping it from Mr. Hammond’s grasp. He grunted in surprise as she turned away and threw the tablet as hard as she could at the glass wall.

It shattered in a rain of glittering shards.

Caroline screamed. Everyone flinched away from the mayhem. Rees seemed to be paying attention—and seemed to be loving it. Lori moved toward me, and I turned her away from the destruction. Caroline stomped forward, glass crunching, cursing, screaming. She found the tablet and cut herself on the jagged edges as she retrieved it. Blood flowed wildly, dripping down her arms.

“It’s a lie,” she repeated, and stepped through the broken glass wall, and out into the hallway.

Silence fell again.

“That was incredible,” Rees said, sounding delighted. “I knew this would be fun, but that was unbelievable.” He laughed and looked over at Ms. Lumber, who seemed too shocked to do anything. “I assume we’ll have your settlement proposal in hand by tomorrow. Please don’t be stupid. Make it a good one.”

“Of course,” she whispered.

Rees pushed back and stood. His lawyers did the same, both of them glancing around like a bomb just went off. “It’s been a pleasure,” he said. “Lori, Piers, good luck with all this.” He laughed again, shaking his head, and went out after Caroline, stepping through the glass. His lawyers went after him, scuttling along like crabs.

I stared at the blood on the carpet, then looked over at Ms. Lumber. “Someone should find her,” I said. “Get her hand stitched.”

“I’ll get someone,” she said, standing. She seemed to gather herself a bit. She was a pretty woman, in her forties, and having a task seemed to steady her.

“And obviously someone has to clean all this up.” I gestured at the glass.

“Right, of course.” She grabbed her things and went to leave, but hesitated. “Dr. Hood, I’m sorry about all this. I genuinely had no clue what Caroline was doing.”

“I know that,” I said. “Do me a favor and make the hospital pay.”

She smiled slightly, nodded once, and left.

I turned to Lori, who stared at me with an open mouth. I grinned huge and took her hands between mine. “That was perfect,” I said.

“Are you kidding me? That was horrifying.”

“But it couldn’t have gone any better. I mean, Caroline losing it like that? And the lawyer here to see the whole thing go down? They’re going to pay out.”

She pulled her hands back from me. “What was that about, giving me half?”

“You deserve it,” I said. “I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”

“Piers—”

“They’re going to pay me an obscene amount of money,” I said. “And frankly, I don’t need it. You have med school debt still, you’re just starting a life. You deserve it.”

“I don’t need the money,” she said. “I didn’t do this to get paid.”

“I know you didn’t, but you’re getting paid anyway.” I took her hands again, and this time she leaned toward me. I kissed her, holding it for a long moment, then pulled back to stare into her eyes. “I love you, Lori. You’re the reason I’m doing this. You’re the reason I give a damn.”