Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
E lla
My heart rapidly beat as I shut the door and leaned against it. I could still feel his lips against mine as his soft, tender kiss riveted me. Placing my hand on my fluttering belly, I tried to calm it. Taking a deep breath, I walked to the kitchen and poured a glass of wine before heading to bed. The sliding door opened, and Willow and Nicholas walked in.
“We saw him leave.” Nicholas smiled.
“He’s really hot.” Willow grinned, taking the glass from my hand and sipping from it.
“You are not twenty-one yet,” I smiled, taking it from her.
“Dad said he seems nice,” Nicholas said, sitting on the stool at the island. “But?—”
“But what?” I narrowed my eye.
“He said he’s a lot older than you. He’s uncomfortable with it.”
“He’s eight years older than me. Big deal. That doesn’t matter at my age.”
“Just saying, sis. If things get hot and heavy with the doctor, Dad will have the talk with you.”
Rolling my eyes, I sighed.
“Okay, you two. I’m going to bed. I have to be in surgery tomorrow at six a.m.”
After they left, I locked up and headed up the stairs.
The following morning, I went to pre-op to see my patient before they took her to the O.R.
“Good morning, Mrs. Bentley.” I checked her vitals.
“Good morning, Dr. Kind.”
“Are you ready to get that valve replaced?” I asked, placing my hand on hers.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”
“Okay.” I smiled. “I’ll see you in the O.R.” I gently squeezed her hand. I glanced at Mr. Bentley, who sat in the chair next to his wife’s bed. “The surgery will take several hours. One of the nurses will take you to the surgical waiting room. As soon as the surgery is complete, I’ll come talk to you.”
“Thank you, Dr. Kind.” He smiled.
I went to the scrub room, and as I was scrubbing in, all I could think about was Graham and our date last night.
“Good morning,” My Uncle Christian walked in.
“Morning, Uncle Christian. You have surgery this morning?”
“Yeah. I’ll be in the O.R. next to you. So, I heard you and Dr. Malone had dinner last night.”
“Of course you did.” I smiled.
“I like him. Did he tell you that his father was a surgeon here?”
“No.” My brows furrowed.
“He was a surgical oncologist. I didn’t know him personally, but I’d heard of him. Apparently, he was one of the best. It’s a shame he had a heart attack at a young age.”
“Yeah. That’s too bad.” I finished scrubbing in. “Good luck with your surgery.”
“You too, sweetheart.”
I walked into the operating room and was gowned and gloved by Stacy, one of the surgical nurses.
“We’re going to put you to sleep now, Mrs. Bentley.” I smiled.
“Patient is out,” Marty, the anesthesiologist, said.
“Let’s get her connected to the machine,” I spoke.
Four hours later, the surgery was complete, and Mrs. Bentley was taken to recovery. Walking into the surgical waiting room, Mr. Bentley stood from his chair.
“The surgical procedure went great, and your wife is doing well.”
“Thank you, Dr. Kind.”
“You’re welcome. She’s in recovery now, and the nurse will come get you when she wakes up.”
After leaving the waiting room, I went up to the rooftop for a cup of coffee.
“Hey, you.” Karla smiled. “I heard you and Dr. Malone went on a date last night.”
“Does the entire hospital know?”
“Probably.” She laughed. “How was it?”
I grabbed my coffee, and we sat at a table.
“It was nice. We had dinner, went to get ice cream, and he drove me home.”
“And?” Her brow arched.
“That’s it.”
“You didn’t sleep with him?” Her brows furrowed.
“No. He was a perfect gentleman.”
Her pager went off. “I have to get back to the E.R. Aren’t you the least bit curious about what Dr. Malone has going on down south?” She stood up from her seat. “I know I am.” A smirk crossed her lips as she walked away.
The truth was that I was curious, and I would have let him spend the night. I heard the elevator doors open, and when I looked up, I saw my dad and Nicholas step out.
“Hey, sis.” Nicholas walked over.
“What are you doing here?”
“No school today, so Dad is letting me watch one of his surgeries.”
“Hi, sweetheart.” My dad walked over with his coffee and kissed the top of my head.
“Hi, Dad.” I smiled.
“How did your date go last night?” he asked.
“It went good. Graham is a really nice guy.”
“You know, Ella?—”
“Dad, don’t. If you’re going to comment about his age?—”
“I wasn’t?—”
“Sure, Dad. Leave her alone,” Nicholas said. “You know better than anyone that she’s more mature for her age than anyone else.”
“I know that, but?—”
“Dad, come on. Don’t you have surgery to scrub in for?” he asked.
My dad glanced at his watch. “Yes, son. I’ll talk to you later, sweetheart.”
“Bye, Dad. Thank you.” I mouthed to my brother.
He gave me a wink, and he and my dad stepped onto the elevator.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I had a text message from Riley.
“Don’t forget about your dress fitting at Jenni’s studio later.”
“I haven’t forgotten. I’ll see you there.”
G raham
I had just gotten out of surgery when I saw Dr. Christian Kind walking toward me.
“Dr. Malone.” He smiled. “How’s it going?”
“It’s going great, Dr. Kind.”
“I’m glad I ran into you. My family is having a big barbecue tomorrow, and I’d like you to come. That’s if you’re not working.”
“I have this weekend off,” I said.
“Excellent. I know you’re new here and really don’t know anyone. Say you’ll come. Sebastian is grilling. There will be volleyball, surfing, and music. It’s always a great time when the Kinds have a party.” He grinned.
“Thanks, Dr. Kind. I’ll be there.”
“I look forward to seeing you there. The party starts at one p.m.” He patted my back before walking away.
I wondered if Ella would be there or if she was working this weekend. I was going to ask her out on another date, but now, I didn’t have to. I was up all night thinking about her and our time together. As hard as I tried to put her out of my head, I couldn’t. I had some time before I needed to see a patient, so I went to her office to see if she was there.
“Hey.” I smiled, tapping on the doorframe.
“Hi. Come on in.” She grinned.
“Your Uncle Christian invited me to the family barbecue tomorrow. Are you going to be there?”
“Yeah. I am. I have the weekend off.”
“Me too.”
“I guess my uncle beat me to it. I was going to ask you if you wanted to come,” she said.
“And I was going to ask you if you wanted to go out.” A smirk crossed my lips. “A barbecue sounds great.”
“I promise you’ll have a blast.” She smiled.
My pager went off. Glancing at it, I was needed up in peds. “I have to go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“See you, Graham.”
I walked out of her office with a smile. My phone rang, and when I pulled it from my pocket, I saw my aunt was calling.
“Hello.”
“Graham, darling. How are you?”
“I’m good. How are you?”
“Doing well. Seriously, Graham. How are you?”
“Aunt Dorinda, I’m good. So far, everything is great here in Los Angeles.”
“Has anyone said anything about your father?”
“No. Don’t worry. The story is he died of a heart attack.”
“Good. Make sure you keep it that way. We don’t want to tarnish your father’s reputation.”
“I know. I have to go, Aunt Dorinda. I have patients to see.”
“Alright, darling. Keep in touch.”
“I will.”
Sighing, I put my phone in my pocket and entered my patient’s room.