Chapter 39
39
TESSA
Tessa: Got a minute to talk?
Emily: Of course, what’s up?
I hit the button to call her and was greeted with a breathless, “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “Is everything okay with you?”
Emily sighed. “You hate calling. I don’t think we’ve ever spoken on a phone.”
“Never? You think?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“Tess!” Emily snapped, and I smiled.
“Nothing’s wrong, Em, but I wanted to ask you about something that’s kind of wordy, and I felt too lazy to type it.”
“You could always voice text,” she offered.
“Do you hate phone calls? We could hang up and text if this is bothering you.”
“No! Of course not, no. What’s up? You’re back to work, right? Is everything okay? Have you been having any pain?”
“Jeez, Em. You’re worse than Grant,” I replied with a chuckle. “It’d be great if the two doctors in the family didn’t act like I might keel over at any minute.”
“Sorry. Mom says you’re healing really well.”
“Yep. I just went to see Dr. Gwynn last week and she gave me the all good to go back to work full days.”
“That’s great,” Em said. “I didn’t know you were seeing Dr. Gwynn. Is she in Cranberry Falls?”
“Chatham,” I said, referring to the small town that was sandwiched between Cranberry Falls and Bridgeport. “But she’s actually moving.”
“Oh,” Em said, doing a poor job of feigning interest. “Where to?”
“There’s open space next to Dupree Family Medicine, and Grant and Dr. Gwynn—Delia—are going into practice together.”
“Really?” Emily asked, and it was clear I had her attention once more. “Just the two of them?”
“Not sure yet. Grant has been talking to a friend from medical school, but nothing is set in stone yet.”
“Wow,” Emily said, the word more like a sigh than an exclamation.
“That’s kind of why I called you.”
“Because of Grant’s new practice?” she asked, her tone lifting.
“Sort of. You see, Grant decided he wanted to start the practice instead of going back into surgery, but I thought you might be interested. Have you heard about County?”
“Which county?” she asked.
“The hospital. Morris County.”
“In Cranberry Falls? What about it?”
“They were bought out by whoever owns Pine Valley and they’re going to become a Trauma II center—am I saying that right?”
“More or less, go on,” Emily prompted.
“Grant’s mentor, Colin Burns, is going to be Chief of Surgery there, and I was thinking maybe you’d want to interview—I’m sure Grant can put in a good word. It’d be nice to have you home.” I’m not sure when this idea came to me, but I’d been surprised at the time. My whole adult life I’d felt stressed every time Claire or Emily came to visit, but something about settling down with Grant made me feel like the pressure was off with my mom, and it would be nice to have all my sisters close again.
Emily sighed heavily. “Can I think on it?”
“Probably, yes, but it’s been a couple weeks since Dr. Burns reached out to Grant, so I don’t know where they’re at in the hiring process. You probably don’t want to wait too long, if it’s something you think you might want.”
“I appreciate this, Tess,” Emily said. “Part of me does want to be back home.”
“Good. We want you here, and you can be the one to drag Claire out to see us more often.”
Emily chuckled. “Claire is going to be a homebody no matter what.”
“Well, then, the three of us will go to her.”
“Yeah,” Emily said. “I’ll think about the job, okay? And I’ll get back to you in the next day or so.”
“Sounds good,” I replied. “Love you, Em.”
“Love you, too, Tess.”