She started moving, but Katie stopped her. “Now you’re just being ridiculous.”
“No, I’m being smart. Work has to take precedence. My residency is important to me. Plus, he’s a jock, and you know how I feel about that.”
“So, fuck him and don’t think about his occupation. Then you’ll feel better and he probably doesn’t want a girlfriend anyway. Not after what the last one did to him.”
Katie had a point. After his ex-girlfriend kneed him in the testicles, the last thing Tucker probably wanted was a girlfriend. And she wasn’t looking for a boyfriend.
So what was the harm in some . . . harmless sex?
“Dr. Ross. Dr. Murphy.”
She turned in the hallway to face Dr. Kenneth Chen, the attending physician in charge of emergency medicine.
Their boss.
“Hello, Dr. Chen,” Katie said, always unaffected by Dr. Chen, whereas for some reason he made Aubry a nervous wreck.
“We seem to have patients in this emergency room, yet the two of you are . . . doing what, exactly? Gossiping?”
“Actually, Dr. Chen, I was consulting with Dr. Ross about my diabetic patient in room six. Now that I’ve finished my consult, I’m about to head back.”
Dr. Chen nodded. “Carry on then, Dr. Murphy.”
Katie winked at her and headed off in the opposite direction.
“I noticed you treated Tucker Cassidy, Dr. Ross.”
Leave it to Dr. Chen to be on top of everything going on in his ER. “Yes, sir.”
“There’s no game today, so I assume it wasn’t a work-related injury.”
“No, Dr. Chen. He was playing football with his brothers and tripped over some rocks.”
“I assume you intend to follow up on his care, as well as report it to the team?”
“I do indeed. I’ll make a report to the team physician in the morning.”
“Make sure that you do. Our relationship with the Rivers is important to this hospital. They send all their injuries to us. We want to insure there’s follow-up.”
“There will be.”
“Is Mr. Cassidy still here?”
“I just left him a short while ago. Amy should be giving him discharge instructions.”
“I think I’ll stop in and see how he’s doing. You can go about your business with your other patients.”
“Yes, sir.”
She couldn’t get away from him fast enough. Dr. Chen was brilliant in the ER, and she’d learned a lot in the past few years working under him. But damn if he wasn’t intimidating as hell. The man didn’t have a warm bone in his body. She always felt under the microscope whenever he directed his scrutiny toward her, as if she somehow didn’t measure up.
She knew it was just her own mind conjuring up something that wasn’t there. Her evaluations had always been decent, and she’d never had a complaint about her performance. But she also put high standards on herself. And feedback was so important to her, so she’d know whether she was on the right track.
Just once, she’d like Dr. Chen to tell her she’d done a good job. That wasn’t in his nature, though. If he wasn’t screaming at you that you were an incompetent moron, then you were supposed to assume you were doing a good job.
She’d be glad when her residency was over and she would no longer be under his thumb.
She was a damn good doctor.
And getting distracted by Tucker Cassidy wasn’t going to help her become a better one.
TUCKER SAT IN A MEETING WITH PHIL, THE TEAM DOCTOR, and Manny Magee, his coach.
“Is this going to become a regular thing, Cassidy?”
The last thing Tucker wanted right now was to be the recipient of one of Manny’s signature glares. You didn’t want Manny glaring at you. Really, you didn’t want Manny paying the slightest bit of attention to you. Manny ignoring you was a good thing. You’d rather him yell at someone else.
“No, Manny, it isn’t.”
“So how come you’ve been to the ER twice in less than two weeks?”
Tucker slid his fingers through his hair. “Just a fluke.”
“You lost a spot in the rotation. That fucks up my schedule, which doesn’t make me happy.”
And you definitely didn’t want to make Manny unhappy. “It won’t happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t.” Manny turned to Phil. “He ready to pitch now?”
Phil nodded. “He’s been checked out and he’s cleared.”
“Good. Then we won’t have to sit around and have any more of these fireside chats, right?” Manny asked him.
“No.”
Manny stood. “Get your ass out there and throw some pitches. Try not to fall off the mound when you do.”
Tucker prided himself on doing his job. In fact, he was damn good at it. Distractions never bothered him, whether it was fans booing him during an out-of-town game, or a field full of swarming bugs in late summer. Whatever it was, he could handle it.
He had no idea what the hell had been going on with him lately, but whatever it was, it was over now. He’d make sure of it.
He took to the field for some warm-up pitches, ignoring the athletic trainers who kept a close eye on him.