11. Megan
CHAPTER 11
MEGAN
T oday was a pediatrics rotation, and Megan could not have been more excited. She loved working with kids, and more than that, she loved watching Charlie work with kids. He was so hilariously bad at it, and watching him flounder still gave her such a thrill. Maybe it was immature of her, but she didn’t care. She was determined to get Charlie to stop taking himself so seriously. Anyway, she figured today, of all days, was the best day to be immature.
Pediatrics was on the third floor, which was decorated accordingly with checkered tiles and bright colors throughout. There were corkboards with little paper gifts tacked up — handmade cards to the doctors, stick figure artwork, and pictures with bright yellow suns that had smiling faces. These were the gifts of sick children to their caretakers, and Megan found it inspirational. These poor kids were often feeling about the lowest they’d ever felt in their short lives, but they still had room for smiling yellow suns, red brick houses, and families all holding hands.
If Charlie had his way, Megan would become as cynical as he was, but what good would that do for anyone? Even in high school, Megan had been one of those nerds who cared about things, had hobbies, and weren’t too cool for everything. It felt a bit like that was what Charlie was going for — being too cool for friendliness, as though being friendly was some kind of weakness. She never understood people like that.
Their first patient was a five-year-old boy who presented with cold symptoms, fever, watery eyes, lack of appetite, and lethargy. He looked a bit like how Megan imagined Charlie would have looked as a kid — light blond hair, blue eyes, and a very serious expression. In addition to his other symptoms, he had broken out in a blotchy rash across his neck and partway down his back.
“How are we feeling today?” Megan asked him.
“Not so good,” the boy answered.
His mother spoke up. “He’s been sick for a few days now. I can’t get him to eat, and he doesn’t sleep through the night. I mean, he’s been sick before, but I’ve never seen him this bad. I just thought I really should bring him in, you know?”
Charlie was already starting his questions, and the first one he asked had Megan fuming. “Say, kid, do you happen to know anything about dinosaurs? My partner here is just obsessed with them.” He turned to Megan with a wry smile. “Absolutely obsessed, aren’t you Bright? As in, convinced one conversation about dinosaurs will fix just about anything.”
Megan glared hard at him. His insult was not subtle. He was demonstrating how little a conversation about dinosaurs would do to diagnose and treat this boy. But Megan stood her ground. She still believed treating kids like real people would reduce stress, get them comfortable with doctors, and do a world of good for their overall future health. “I like hearing about lots of different things,” she said to the boy. “Not just dinosaurs.”
She was hoping the boy would pluck up his childish energy and really start talking. But the kid just shook his head and sighed. He was completely exhausted. Seconds before Charlie voiced his question, Megan thought of it herself.
“Has he been vaccinated for measles?” he asked.
The kid’s mother balked. “Oh, no. I didn’t think it was necessary.”
Charlie stood abruptly. “Get him a throat swab.” He turned his icy gaze onto the child’s mother. “You’re lucky we caught this quickly. Get the kid vaccinated.”
Megan watched as the mother’s shoulders dropped, and she curled in on herself. She looked close to tears.
Megan went to her side. “Don’t worry,” she said gently. “We’re going to take good care of him.”
“What happens now?” the woman asked Megan, who was apparently the only one in the room she now trusted, despite Charlie having been the one to provide a diagnosis. Megan shot him a meaningful look, hoping he could read it well. This was one of those cases where diagnosis was meaningless without trust.
“Well, we’ll have him drink plenty of liquids, get lots of rest, and stay home from school. He’ll also likely get a couple doses of vitamin A just to be safe.”
The woman stood and shook Megan’s hand. “Thank you, doctor. Thank you for understanding.”
Megan just smiled and squeezed her hand. “Take good care of your boy, now. Make sure he gets plenty of ice cream.” She winked down at the kid. “Doctor’s orders.”
The boy grinned at his mother. “See! I told you it was good for me, Mom. I told you!” Apparently that was the key to his stores of energy — promised ice cream.
“It’s been wonderful meeting you both,” Megan said, and she walked out of the exam room to inform the nurses with Charlie hot on her heels.
She knew she was getting to him when he said, “Don’t look so smug, Bright.”
She couldn’t help needling him a little. “Don’t take it personally just because patients like me better than they like you. It takes a special kind of natural talent to win the trust of difficult patients.”
“I am not concerned that I’m not liked by patients, as you know.”
“You should be,” she said walking quickly in front of him. “Especially when whether or not they like you will dictate whether or not they’re willing to follow your advice.”
“I think you want my concern to be whether or not I’m liked by you , Bright,” he said. Without even turning around, Megan could hear the smile in his voice. She wanted so badly to see it, but her pride wouldn’t let her. Despite how crazy he drove her, Megan had to admit that Charlie Sullivan probably had the most charming smile she had ever seen on a man. She was quickly becoming addicted to it. Why didn’t he smile more often? But maybe the fact that his smile was rare was part of what made it so appealing.
Their next patient was also assigned to both of them, although Megan would take the lead on this one. Dr. Ralter seemed determined to watch his two most contentious residents go at each other’s throats on a regular basis. Although, when Megan had asked him why they were paired together so frequently, he simply replied that the two of them had a healthy competition between them, and he felt they would fuel each other’s advancement. Megan suspected he just enjoyed the drama and tension. If only he knew how deep that tension went.
Their next patient was a girl of fifteen who had been dropped off by her parents. Every time a child came in alone, Megan felt a little pang of sympathy for them. She didn’t know what she would do if she didn’t have her mother to confide in.
The girl, Suzie, presented with intermittent light-headedness, shortness of breath, shaking and sweating. She also apparently passed out pretty frequently. Megan brought her stethoscope to her patient’s chest to listen to her heartbeat. It was overly fast and strong, even for someone who was nervous around doctors. “Do you ever have chest pain?” Megan asked.
“Sometimes,” the girl answered. “It feels better when I lay down.”
“And worse when you stand up?” Charlie asked, flipping the pages of her chart.
The girl nodded. “I’ve always felt a little bit like this, but it’s never been this bad before.”
Charlie leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. “We should get her up to the labs for a blood test.”
Megan cocked her head at him. “You think it’s POTS?”
He nodded. “I’d put money on it. She’s been here before. I just finished reading her files, and most everything else has already been ruled out.”
“What’s POTS?” Suzie asked.
Megan took the time to explain. “It stands for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.” She smiled reassuringly when Suzie made a confused face. “It just means your heart rate increases when you stand up.”
Suzie’s eyes went wide at that. “Am I going to die?”
“No, no,” Megan quickly answered. “Lots of people live with POTS.”
Then Charlie stepped in and did something Megan had never seen him do. He comforted the patient. “You’ll probably just need to go easy on the exercise. You know… sit out of gym class.”
For the first time since they’d walked in the room, Suzie cracked a real smile. “You promise?”
Charlie nodded. “We’ll make sure you have a note.”
Suzie laughed a little. “Almost worth it.”
And Charlie patted her on the shoulder. “You’re going to be just fine.”
On their way out, Megan repeated the gesture with Charlie. “Look at that! You do have a heart, after all.”
“Don’t you dare go spreading that rumor around, Bright. It’s a filthy lie.”
They passed Dr. Ralter in the hall. “What’s the diagnosis?” he asked them.
“Suspected POTS,” Megan answered. “She’s headed to the lab to confirm.”
Dr. Ralter arched an eyebrow. “Good catch, Megan. That’s an easy condition to miss.”
“Oh, thank you, but I can’t take the credit for it. Charlie was the one who caught it.”
“Well then, good catch, Charlie. You both deserve lunch.” Dr. Ralter paused and glanced back at them with a malicious glint in his eye. “I recommend you take it together… if you really want to impress me, that is.”
He left them both with their hands to their foreheads. Apparently, they’d been working together so long, they’d begun to mirror each other. When their attending was out of sight, Charlie turned to Megan. “I don’t need your charity,” he said with a scowl.
“It wasn’t charity — it was just the truth. I know this may be a foreign concept to you, but not everything I do revolves around our little rivalry.”
He grumbled, “Well, it should,” and that made her smile.
“Let’s go get lunch together. It’ll be a temporary truce, just to impress the attending.”
“Fine,” Charlie said. “Just to impress the attending.”
“There’s a little sandwich shop across the street. They make a mean tuna salad.”
Charlie rolled his eyes as they made their way to the locker rooms. “Only you would eat tuna on the job, Bright. It’s unseemly.”
“It’s delicious. Good brain food.” Megan slapped him on the shoulder again, noting how tall he was, and remembering that she had, in fact, gotten some of that. The memory made her blush. Here she was, fighting with Charlie Sullivan, and not all that long ago, she had been moaning beneath him. He had quite the mouth on him — that was for sure — in more ways than one. She tried to shake the memories by insulting him again. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll have some boring, rich-boy sandwich for you.”
“I don’t eat sandwiches. I’ll order a salad or stir fry, but I don’t eat sandwiches.”
“Sushi?” Megan offered.
“It’s a possibility,” he said.
“But I can’t afford sushi,” she admitted.
“It’s on me this time, Bright. I consider it the price I must pay to have a more nutritious lunch today.”
“Tuna is plenty nutritious,” Megan said, keeping the argument up as they packed up their things and headed to the garage, where Charlie’s driver George would presumably be waiting for them. “I eat it all the time, and I’m filled out rather nicely, if I do say so myself.”
Charlie gave her a quick once-over, from her head to her shoulders and back again. “Can’t argue with that. Well, you can still order tuna if you like. It’ll just be on rice instead of bread.”
“So is this like a date?”
“Absolutely not.” He spun on her with a severe expression. “Don’t you be getting ideas about us. We had a one-night fling, and that’s all it was. In the real world, I despise you.”
“Just a break in the war, then,” she said. “For the record, I don’t despise you.”
He turned to her, and she watched half of his mouth twitch up into a smile. She decided to take it as a good sign.