Chapter 2
After returning from the grocery store, his tiredness from work hit him.
Hard. Logan put away his groceries and chugged a protein shake standing up in his kitchen.
The earlier adrenaline from getting off work had dissipated, and exhaustion took over.
He turned on a basketball game, plopped on the couch and fell asleep within seconds.
Then he slept for seven hours fully clothed with his shoes still on.
An annoying ring woke him from his deep sleep. Groggily, he swiped his eyes and patted the couch for his cell phone. He eventually found it. The hospital’s number flashed across his screen.
He clicked accept, putting the phone to his ear. “This is Dr. Schofield.” Logan swung his legs over the side of the couch and sat up.
“Hey, Dr. Schofield. This is Tamara at the hospital.” She sped forward without taking a breath.
“We need you to come in for an emergency appendectomy. It’s an eleven-year-old boy.
I know you worked yesterday, but the hospital has been swamped with emergency surgeries.
And you’re the closest to the hospital.”
“No problem.” He ran a hand down the length of his face to further wake himself up. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” He hung up.
Logan made quick work of washing his face with cold water to wake himself up.
Then he changed into a clean pair of scrubs.
He headed out of his apartment to the hospital.
His apartment was located right on the Magnificent Mile, a few short blocks away.
After finishing his residency, he had then spent two more years in Boston specializing in pediatric general surgery.
This was the first job since starting medical school where he would make actual money, which felt foreign after living for so long off student loans and his meager residency salary.
Due to his fast walking pace, he breezed through the doors of the hospital twelve minutes later.
Being a general surgeon meant the surgeries he performed were often urgent.
A patient might come in with severe stomach pain and an hour later they might find themselves prepped for gallbladder removal.
With his on-call obligations, Logan purposely selected an apartment within walking distance of the hospital. Plus, he liked living in the city.
Chicago was home. He grew up in Naperville, a suburb thirty miles away from downtown Chicago.
His parents still lived there. His sister had married her high school sweetheart, and now they had twin baby girls and lived in the same neighborhood as his parents.
Being the youngest, he’d spent the past years in a never-ending state of FOMO but not anymore.
He joined his sister and her family at his parent’s house for the weekly Sunday dinners any time he wasn’t working.
As he rode the elevator up to the general surgery floor, Logan’s mind wandered to his brief encounter with the bread woman from the grocery store.
He wondered if the bread helped her bad day.
But then he entered the operating room, and his thoughts of Brooke dissipated.
His instincts and years of medical training took over.
Luckily, the appendectomy was straightforward. After he performed the surgery, he went to his office to finish the required paperwork. Then he decided to check on the patient’s recovery before going home. He knocked on the door of the patient’s room and announced his arrival.
He waited for the anticipated come in and entered once he heard it.
In the room, he found Dylan in the hospital bed with his parents by his side.
To his surprise, the anesthesiologist who administered the anesthesia was next to his bed side.
A nurse checked his vitals and pointed out something to Dr. Moreno on the computer screen.
This made his blood pressure rise a notch.
Dylan’s parents glanced over at his arrival.
“Hello, everyone.” Logan strode across the room to Dylan’s bedside. “I’m stopping by to check on Dylan before I head out.”
Dylan’s eyes were glazed. He appeared groggy.
He swiped Dylan’s medical file off the wall next to the door then leafed through the first few pages. Then he forced a smile at Dylan’s parents and came up next to Dr. Moreno and leaned in closer. “How’s he doing, Dr. Moreno?” he whispered.
Dylan mumbled some nonsensical words and rustled around in his bed.
Dylan’s mom gnawed on a fingernail. “Is he going to be, okay?”
“Anything we need to be worried about, doctor?” Dylan’s dad wrapped a comforting arm around Dylan’s mom’s shoulders.
Dr. Moreno exchanged a quiet look with Logan.
Then he spoke up loud enough for Dylan’s parents to hear.
“Oh, Dylan’s doing fine.” Dr. Moreno checked his blood pressure then uncuffed the sleeve from his bicep.
“He’s taking a little longer than normal to come out of the anesthesia, but he’s becoming more coherent with each minute. I’m checking his vitals a second time.”
Dr. Moreno asked Dylan a few questions. Dylan responded to half of them. The nurse assisted him as they continued through the necessary precautions to ensure Dylan was stable and recovering.
Time ticked by and Logan made himself useful by answering Dylan’s parents’ questions about their son.
He hoped to ease their nerves and keep their attention off Dr. Moreno and the nurse taking Dylan’s vitals.
Dylan’s condition improved. The grogginess in his eyes cleared, and his earlier slurring of his words disappeared.
According to his file, Dylan had a history of taking longer than normal to come out of anesthesia and had a similar incident when he had surgery to remove his tonsils.
Dr. Moreno made eye contact with Logan and nodded. Then he swiveled on his bedside chair to the computer and entered some information.
“Dylan, I put in a request for a pediatrician to check in on you too as an extra precaution.” Dr. Moreno wiggled the mouse at the computer and entered the vitals into it.
Then he closed out the program and stood.
“The pediatrician, Dr. O’Connor, will be by soon.
She’s one of our best.” He sidestepped around the hospital bed.
“Ok.” Dylan’s mom chewed on her thumb nail. “This has been an eventful day. We went to a movie last night, and we thought his stomachache this morning was due to him eating too much popcorn. Little did we know he’d have to have his appendix removed.”
“I’m glad you brought him in when you did.” Dr. Moreno glanced at Logan then the nurse. “And I hope the next few days for you all is a lot less eventful.”
“As for me,” Logan placed a hand on his chest, “I wanted to report that the surgery was straightforward with no complications.” He then squeezed Dylan’s shoulder. “And you earned your way out of school for at least a week.”
Dylan mustered up a half smile.
Dr. Moreno chuckled and moved toward the door to leave. A knock at the door sounded before he left, and Dr. Moreno opened it.
Then bread woman, Brooke, from last night breezed through the door. For a brief moment, she stalled. Then she straightened her back and lifted her chin. “Dr. Moreno.” She continued further into the room.
Logan paused thinking he might be seeing things.
Her appearance was completely different than the night before.
Today, she wore a lab coat over her black pencil skirt and a vibrant blue button-down blouse tucked into it.
Her brown hair was down and curled into loose beach waves that danced around her shoulder blades.
The sight of her all put together and in control made him suck in a breath and simply stare back in awe.
This couldn’t be the same woman from last night, could it?
The woman he met last night was vulnerable and down on her luck.
This version of Brooke knocked him off balance with her squared shoulders and confidence.
Then she stopped by the foot of Dylan’s hospital bed and peered around, and her gaze landed on Logan. Her eyes dilated a smidge, but she quickly regained her composure. “We meet again.” She stared back at him.
Logan grinned. “I guess so.”
Her lips twitched in the corners like she was fighting off the forming of a smile. “Is that the patient’s file?” She nodded toward the chart in Logan’s hand.
“Yes,” Logan stretched his arm out to offer it to her, “it’s all yours.”
“Thanks.” Brooke accepted the chart and opened to the first page.
“How—” Dr. Moreno wagged a finger between them. “How do you two know each other? He only started here a week ago.” He furrowed his brow.
Brooke’s back stiffened, and she continued to flip through the chart. “We go way back—” She snatched a pen out the top pocket of her lab coat and made a note on the chart. “Not that it is any of your business.” Rapidly, she snapped the file closed. It made Dr. Moreno flinch.
Oh, these two had history. Logan only hoped Dr. Moreno wasn’t the reason Brooke was eating bread and Oreos last night. But the inkling in his gut told him he was one hundred percent the guilty party.
“Can I talk to you for a minute outside, Dr. O’Connor?” Dr. Moreno asked.
“Nope.” Then Brooke strode across the room over to Dylan’s bedside completely ignoring Dr. Moreno’s request. “I’m Dr. O’Connor, a pediatrician here. I understand you had your appendix taken out,” she smiled warmly.
Dr. Moreno shuffled his feet then let out an audible huff. “Dylan, I’ll be sending a nurse in again in twenty minutes to check your vitals.”
“Thanks,” Dylan’s mom replied.
Brooke kept her back to him. Dr. Moreno rolled his eyes then left. With Dr. Moreno gone, Logan noticed how Brooke’s shoulders loosened.
Logan didn’t really need to stay, but he wanted to talk to Brooke again. This time he hoped to get her number. He lingered.
“So, I heard your appendix was giving you some trouble.” She smiled as she patted Dylan’s arm.