Chapter 11
11
Aubrey bit back a snicker. The supposedly hottest doctor at Barratt County General Hospital surely couldn’t be that clueless. His best friend was after his sister, and Guthrie had completely missed it. That made her want to laugh, honestly. He had such a disgruntled look on his face. “So you’ve missed it.”
“Apparently. So… what are our reputations?”
“I don’t like rumors,” Aubrey said abruptly, as everything she’d been going through in the last few weeks came rushing back. “Mandy has been spreading them about me for weeks. They are getting worse.”
The words just came out. Aubrey bit back a curse. She hadn’t intended to tell anyone, unless she absolutely had to. Not even Genny knew the full extent of what Mandy was trying to do now. Aubrey was digging when she could; she was almost one hundred percent certain Mandy was behind the smear campaign. She just hadn’t found enough to prove it. Yet.
He frowned. His hand slid down her arm, so gently. To cup her hand in his. “I did not know that. No one tells me rumors. Or if they do, I don’t actually pay attention.”
“Those on the upper floors usually don’t hear. But down in the trenches… the ED especially… it can be a problem.”
“Does Alvaro know?”
She shook her head. “I’m not going to go running and tattling. I’m too old for that. She’s plotting something against me, though. I’m sure of it.” It sounded crazy even to say it, but it was the truth. She just couldn’t figure out what.
“And Mandy is too old to be a bully, but she still is.” His hand rose, to cup her cheek. It shocked her completely that she didn’t flinch away. She wasn’t used to a man touching her at all.
Did he realize that? His touch didn’t scare her, at least. That was… an improvement.
There was a man in her house, touching her, and she wasn’t backing away. It had taken Carlos months to accomplish that.
“She’s had problems with my family since Gene dumped her so spectacularly six years ago when he caught her talking to her friend about selling the ranch after she married him. She just wanted him for the money he was worth. She thought the entire ranch was his, as he was the eldest living there, and seemed to be the one in charge. There are dollar signs in that woman’s eyes.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. She’s been after Caine for months. And Dathan Carrington is a favorite target.” Dathan was probably one of the very few men besides Caine Alvaro she knew well enough to say she respected. “There are a few others. Including Chad. But she likes to cause trouble for me and Genny whenever she gets the chance. It doesn’t slide over to patient care, but she’s spread pretty vicious rumors with some of the staff in the last few weeks.”
“How can I help?”
Aubrey just stared at him. He meant it. That was the most perfect question a man had ever asked her. “I don’t know. I’m still figuring out how I want to deal with her now. Most of her issues with me are petty jealousy. She was my top competitor, apparently, when Caine was looking for someone to assist him.”
“No one really understood why he’d chosen you over some of the other department heads. It was a prime discussion for a few weeks. I hadn’t even heard of your name before that—seen you, of course, but I didn’t know your name then.”
“I know. When I put in for the position, Caine and I had a frank discussion about what would help the hospital better serve the community. I had already spoken with Genny and some of the nurses in every department, and others, to get ideas from the ones in the trenches. Caine and I spoke for two hours about ways we can implement certain policies. We just… clicked. From what I understand, no other candidate was aware of so many departmental issues throughout the hospital.”
“It sounds to me like he got a bargain. I know it’s a hard job, and you have my full admiration for being able to handle Caine Alvaro and run the ED. Hospitals need more people like you.”
She narrowed her gaze on him. Sometimes, she wasn’t very good at judging how sincere someone was. At least not when they were complimenting her, anyway. And when they wanted something from her, which she strongly suspected this man did .
“Well, not everyone feels that way, and she can be very, very vindictive.”
“Well, you don’t have to deal with her on your own. You have me and Genesis, and the asshole who is Chad Fields on your side.”