Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Two Weeks Later
Jamieson
I threw my pen at the computer, sighed, and leaned back in my chair. I was exhausted and frustrated. My life was shit. Ever since Grace came to town, my life has been turned upside down.
“There you are. I’ve been looking for you,” Logan spoke. “I sent you like a million text messages, and you haven’t responded.”
“Sorry. I’ve been really busy. Is there something you need?”
“No. We haven’t hung out in a while. I want to make sure you’re okay. How is it living with Grace?”
“Total hell. That’s how it is. We haven’t spoken a word to each other in two weeks at home, and she’s a total cock blocker. Not one nurse in this hospital will have sex with me because of her.”
“Have you actually asked them?”
“No. But I hear them whispering.”
“Then go out and find some chick to have sex with,” he spoke.
“It’s not that simple.”
“What are you talking about?” He laughed. “Sure, it is. Wait a minute. Would you feel guilty or something because you’re married?”
I looked away from him.
“Jamieson, come on. You and Grace are only married by signatures on a piece of paper. It’s not a real marriage.”
“I know that.”
“I don’t get it, bro. If the two of you are living in the same house, why aren’t you sleeping together? I know you’re pissed about this whole situation, but it’s just sex. She has needs too.”
“She won’t because I made it very clear after I found out we were married that our relationship will be strictly professional and there will be no sex.”
“Well, did you try to have sex with her?”
“Yeah. I kissed her that night I stitched up her arm. I really thought it was going to happen. I wanted it to happen, but she stopped it and reminded me of my words.”
“Ah, so she’s punishing you. You do realize that’s what she’s doing, right?”
“I guess. Who the fuck knows.”
He placed his hand on my shoulder.
“You’re going to get through this, buddy. To be honest. It doesn’t have to be this hard. It only is because the two of you are making it that way.” He walked out of the room.
My pager went off, and I was needed down in the ER.
As soon as I stepped off the elevator, I reached back and held the door open as a team of doctors raced a gurney toward it with Grace on top of the patient.
As they approached, I got a closer look.
She had her hand inside the patient’s chest. She stared at me with a somber look as they pushed the gurney into the elevator.
“You got this.” I winked at her.
The corners of her mouth slightly curved upward as the elevator doors closed.
Grace
“Time of death, 13:15,” I spoke as I forcefully removed my scrub cap and left the O.R.
It was a shit day already, and it wasn’t nearly over. I went up to the rooftop to grab a cup of coffee, and when I stepped off the elevator, I saw Jamieson over at the coffee station.
“Hey. How’s your patient?”
“Dead,” I spoke.
“I’m sorry. Do you have a few minutes so we can sit down and talk?” he asked. “This seems like the only place we can do that.”
“Talk about what, Jamieson?” I sighed.
“I think I might have found a way to help Justin walk again with the electrode implants.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No. Can we please sit down?”
“Yes, of course.”
We sat at one of the tables, and Jamieson explained his plan.
“Now, I’m going to need you to insert the electrode into the spine while I insert one in his brain. We have to do it at the exact same time. If we’re even off by a second, it will not work. We must put our differences aside and work as a team on this.”
“Of course. Thank you.” I smiled as I placed my hand on top of his. “Thank you, Jamieson. I knew you would figure it out.”
“Don’t thank me yet, Grace. There is still a chance it won’t work, and we need to prepare Justin for that possibility.”
“I know,” I spoke as my pager went off. “I’m needed in the ER. We’ll talk later?”
“Sure.” He nodded with a small smile.
When I got to the ER, Jackie told me the patient in room three was asking for me.
“Justine, what’s going on?” I asked as I stepped inside the room.
“Dr. Harper, I haven’t been feeling so good lately.”
Justine Kent was a patient I had treated two months ago. She came in when she was brutally beaten by her boyfriend.
“What symptoms are you experiencing?” I asked.
“I’ve been having severe headaches and —”
She stopped speaking and went into a full-blown seizure.
“She’s seizing,” I shouted as I quickly turned her on her side. “Push five milligrams of diazepam and page Dr. Finn stat!”
I held her down, as her seizure wasn’t stopping.
“Dr. Harper, she’s going into V-fib,” Sara spoke.
“Damn it. If we shock her during the seizure, it could kill her.”
“How long has she been seizing?” Jamieson asked as he rushed into the room.
“Over five minutes,” I spoke.
“How much diazepam did you give?”
“Five milligrams.”
“Push another five,” he spoke as he checked her eyes.
Suddenly, her seizure stopped, and all her stats started returning to normal. I let out a deep breath.
“Isn’t this the patient who was beaten by her boyfriend a couple of months ago?” he asked.
“Yes. Before she started seizing, she said she was having severe headaches.”
Suddenly, there was an overwhelming amount of commotion going on in the ER.
“What is going on out there?” I asked as I looked at Jamieson.
“I don’t know. I’ll go check. But we need to get her to CT. Wait here for a minute.”
“What’s going on out there?” Justine asked.
“I’m not sure. But don’t worry.” I placed my hand on her arm. “We’re going to take you up for a CT scan.”
I waited for Jamieson, but he didn’t come back. I looked at my watch, and I was starting to get pissed.
“Come on,” I spoke to Sara. “Let’s take her up.”
We started wheeling her out of the room, and Jackie stared at me with a frightened look on her face.
“What’s going on? Who is yelling?” I asked as I walked out of the room.
Suddenly, I looked over and saw a man standing there, pointing a gun, and telling everyone not to move. I froze as my heart rapidly beat. I knew him. He and his mom were brought in last week after they were involved in a car accident. I was the attending doctor.
“You!” His eyes locked on mine. “You were there that night. I remember you. You were the one who told me that my mom was dead.”
I swallowed hard. Everyone was standing perfectly still like statues, too scared to move for fear that he’d shoot them.
Memories started to flood my mind, and I was taken back to the night of my tenth birthday.
It was as if it was happening all over again.
I saw myself standing there outside the room where my father was and then outside the room where my mother was with tears stinging my eyes.
I was frightened and alone. I snapped back to reality as I saw Jamieson standing there, his eyes wide as the man pointed his gun at me.
“You’re right, and I’m sorry, Mr. Samson. We did everything we could to save her,” I calmly spoke.
“You didn’t!” he screamed as he waved his gun at me. “You could have done more! She was all I had, and now someone has to pay.”
I stood there for a moment while my heart pounded out of my chest, and suddenly, something fell over me that I couldn’t explain.
“Go ahead then. Shoot me. Why not?” I smiled as tears filled my eyes. “Maybe this is why I came back here to Los Angeles, to this very hospital. Maybe now it’s my turn to die here.”
“Grace!” Jamieson shouted.
“What the hell are you talking about?” the man asked.
“Twenty years ago, I was in a car accident with my parents, and we were brought to this hospital. I stood outside each of their rooms as the doctors called time of death for each one of them. I was ten years old, and they were all I had too. Maybe this is how my life is supposed to end. Here in this hospital, just like I wished it had twenty years ago. Hell, I’ve made some piss poor choices since then anyway.
I dated a man for over a year that I didn’t know was married.
I quit my job in New York, moved here, took a job at the place where I watched my parents die, and I married a man in Vegas I barely know.
” I laughed. “You’re not the crazy one here, Mr. Samson. I am. So do me the favor and end it.”
“You’re a doctor. You’re supposed to save lives,” he spoke. “You were supposed to save her.”
“I do save lives, and I also lose lives. Sometimes, the injuries are so bad that they can’t be fixed, no matter how hard we try.
Like with your mom and my parents. Mr. Samson, you don’t want to do this.
You don’t want to hurt anyone, and your mother certainly wouldn’t want you to.
You feel guilty because you were the one driving the car.
It’s easier to blame someone else to lessen our own pain and guilt. ”
“You’re either really brave or really stupid,” he spoke. “But you’re right. It was my fault she died. She kept telling me to stop texting, and I told her not to worry about it.” He gently put the gun on the floor, and security rushed over and grabbed him.
I let out a deep breath as I looked over at Jamieson, who was staring at me with fear in his eyes.
“Sara, get Justine to CT for a head scan,” I spoke as I turned and walked away.