10. Carter
10
CARTER
J oseph Pratt, the CEO of the pharmaceutical company that was woefully handed down to me by my father, stared at me in horror as I recounted how patients had been coming into the clinic asking about drug trials. The genuine reaction wasn’t something anyone could fake. His eyebrows were high, mouth agape for most of this discussion.
“It appears some of our clinics are worse than others, but all of them were affected in the past sixty days.” I ran a hand through my hair and tugged the cuffs of my shirt sleeves down onto my arms. It perturbed me that people were going behind my back and thinking they’d get away with it. If I wasn’t so determined to do the right thing, I’d have sold the company and washed my hands of the whole thing.
But hearing about Sunny’s friend made me feel obligated to stick around and clean up this mess. I knew that if people in positions of power did nothing or turned a blind eye to the corruption they saw, it made them just as bad as the people who were actively involved in the deceit.
“You’re telling me,” Joseph started, “that we have doctors encouraging sick, elderly, and financially unstable people to join drug trials just to make money?” The flash of anger I saw in his eyes again confirmed to me that he knew nothing about this before today’s meeting.
“Yes. Somewhere, somehow, our recruitment team has gone off the rails. Now, I can’t just go there and burst in with accusations. If we’re going to do this right and shut it down, we need to stop this at the source. Pinning this on the doctors at the clinics won’t work.” I’d already thought this through. I knew the doctors I had working for me, and many of them were doing their clinic hours as volunteers because they cared about people. Whoever orchestrated this likely played to that weakness, offering them money in exchange for this service, which they likely painted as something super helpful.
“This is awful, Carter. I won’t stand for it.” Joseph rose and tucked his tie into his suit coat, and I rose too. I had plans with Sunny this evening that I didn’t want to be late for, but I appreciated him taking the time to talk this out with me. It was a serious matter we really needed to address soon.
“We can’t let it keep happening. Baiting at-risk patients into these trials is risky. Not only could the ethics board remove every license of every doctor; they could shut down these clinics, and the community needs them.”
“I agree, it has to stop. I’m standing with you. We’ll get to the bottom of it.” Joseph stretched out his hand to shake mine and I took it, offering a firm grip. It was good to know I had him on my side.
As I strolled out of the sleek modern offices, I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed Jackson at the clinic. I’d taken the afternoon off to deal with this situation, and he was covering for me. His voice was stern when he answered.
“South Town Clinic, how can I help you?”
“Jacks, it’s me. How’d the day wind up?” I blinked into the bright sun and fished in my pocket for my key fob.
“Oh hey, Doc. Day went great. Just sent the last patient home. Oh, and Ms. Sunny Douglas waltzed out of here saying she has a hot date.” I heard the jest in his tone before he even said, “Not sure who that could be, could we?”
The grin spread on my face without my permission, but I let it. I was falling so hard for this girl, and we made dinner plans for this evening. Sure, she was still hesitant, and she spoke plainly when she said she wasn’t interested in a relationship in case she moved back to Tampa, but if all I could get was more time with her, I was going to cash in on that. It might just change her mind and coax her into staying.
“I don’t know who that could be.” I was, of course, lying. Jackson knew I had it bad for her. We talked about it this morning, how Liam Holmes couldn’t even steal her attention from me, how we had sex right there in the reception area of the clinic. He would keep my confidence, but he’d razz me about it the rest of my life.
“I hope you have a great time, Doc. You deserve this. You’ve been through so much.” The way the conversation shifted from happy to a tone of somberness stole my words. I didn’t know how to respond, but he continued when I didn’t. “No worries about the office. I’ve got it on lock. Have a good evening.”
“Thanks, Jackson. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I hung up and strolled to my car with a skip in my step. So far the day had proven productive and positive. With Joseph on my side in this, the investigation would go further. I knew we had to get down to the facts and let the board know what was happening before one of these people baited into joining our drug trials ended up like Sunny’s friend Kira. That would be devastating and lead to lawsuits and scandals.
I drove to Rick’s house, singing to songs on my satellite radio as I fought traffic. When I pulled up in front, I expected to walk to the door and collect Sunny, but she was perched on the front step waiting. She wore a short jean skirt and a bright yellow summery top. Her hair was tied up into a ponytail, but as usual she had a finger tangled in it, twirled along her slender digit.
I got out of the car and walked around the front, meeting her halfway up the drive.
She grinned at me, but I saw how nervous she was in her expression as I gently touched both of her elbows and kissed her cheek. “Don’t,” she hissed. “Not here.”
She continued walking hastily to the car so I scurried to keep up and open the door for her. Only when she was seated and the door closed behind her did I see her relax a bit. I climbed back in and started the engine, and she burst into a flurry of explanation.
“Sorry, but Dad’s home and he’s not happy with me going out for dinner. I think he had some scheme to have someone else over to the house tonight to set me up again, and I’m just tired of it. I don’t want him knowing we’re seeing each other right now because I don’t know how he’ll react.”
In all fairness Sunny had every right to feel that way. I nodded my acknowledgment as I pulled the car into traffic and rested one hand on her thigh.
“I wish it wasn’t that way for you, but I completely understand. Rick has a bit of a temper at times, and I’d hate to upset him.” As I drove, I pictured his angry face, red with fury and disappointment at the sight of me with Sunny. For her, it would feel even worse. I was just his friend. She was his blood.
“I’m sorry if that upsets you. It’s just that…”
“Not at all,” I told her, squeezing her thigh. “I think it’s wise to keep things on the down low for a while. Until we figure out what this is.” She shifted her gaze out the window and sighed. Her finger remained firmly lodged in her hair.
“I’m not sure what this is, Carter. I’m just having fun right now.” When she turned to me, I saw the melancholy way her eyes looked, though she had a smile on her face. “A lot of fun.”
“More fun than the far flung reaches of Tampa, Florida?” I chuckled. I wasn’t sure how to bring up the topic of the entire life she’d built across the country. If it weren’t for my clinics, I’d just follow her there where we could explore this without Rick’s hovering eyes. But I had a responsibility here, something I couldn’t turn my back on.
“Tampa is okay; it just won’t be the same without her.” There was a hint of sadness in that statement, but she continued as if it didn’t bother her. “I just have to figure it out. And right now I’m enjoying work at the clinics. And hooking up with an old friend from high school has been okay too.”
I remembered the other day when she insisted she had to check on a friend. I wondered if it was the same friend, if somehow Sunny was starting to reach out to her old life and find connections other than me that might help encourage her to stay here. It made me smile, but I didn’t pry.
“I’m glad you like working at the clinics. I love helping people so much. It’s the whole reason I got into medicine. I want to make a difference and ease suffering.” Traffic wasn’t quite as bad on this side of town, so it was easy to carry on a good conversation with her while I weaved in and out of the cars passing by. At one point, however, I did have to put both hands on the wheel which felt like severing a lifeline for some reason.
“Helping people is a life calling.” She rested her head on the head rest and said, “I think we’re all given a gift to help others in this life, but not everyone uses it. I’m glad you do. I like that about you. It’s noble or something.”
I chuckled and said, “Just call me Sir Carter Price, physician extraordinaire.”
“God, you make it sound cheesy but seriously, you’re a good man, Carter. I love that about you.”
Hearing those words felt like high praise coming from Sunny. We bantered about destiny and gifts. Before we parked at the restaurant, Sunny waxed spiritual, talking about how she was finding a deeper purpose in Kira’s death, which she didn’t go into detail about, but I admired how open she was with me.
After we were seated and had our orders placed, I scooted my chair closer to hers and brought her hand to my lips to press a kiss to her knuckles.
“Thank you for accepting my invitation to dinner. I can’t seem to get my mind off of you.”
Sunny batted her eyelashes and tried to hide behind a smile, but I was charming her out of her shell. “Dr. Price, you’re making me blush.”
“I know and I like it.” Kissing her knuckles again, I said, “I know whatever is going on right now wasn’t exactly on your schedule of life plans, but I do hope you’ll take your time deciding about me. I never expected you to come into my life either, but I feel like it was meant to happen.”
She brought her hand up to clasp around mine and we sat staring at each other for a moment. “Carter, there are so many things going on right now. I don’t know what the right choice is. It’s complicated. I don’t want to jump into something with you and you’d get your heart involved only to find out I can’t stay here for other reasons. I hope that doesn’t mean we can’t keep doing whatever this is, though.”
Her honesty was refreshing but a bit painful. “Of course we don’t have to stop.” When I lost my daughter, I lost all hope of life being good to me again. It made things in my life spiral out of control. I was desperate for anything good to come my way back then. Then my wife left me, and it only confirmed that life wasn’t going to be good to me. Sunny was changing that for me, but she didn’t seem to be on the same page as the universe that aligned our paths.
“You are an amazing, sweet man, Dr. Price.” Her radiant smile melted my heart.
“So when we’re all done eating, do you think you’d like to join me at my house for a few drinks? Or will Rick be waiting for you?” I was going to soak up every single second of time I could with her for as long as she was in town. As much as she’d give me. But I didn’t know if I was pushing her boundaries because the look on her face told me she wasn’t sure.
She was a ray of sunshine, but it appeared storm clouds were set to block out the light, at least judging by the look on her face.