“Of course I was familiar with the McGrath laryngoscope,” Ava said with a touch of irritation. “Just like I’m familiar with all the other scopes on the market, such as the Airtraq or the GlideScope. They are all more similar than different, although I do prefer the GlideScope because it has a larger screen.”
“I see,” Noah said, nodding. That was already more than he knew about video laryngoscopes. But the issue of Ava’s struggles bothered him like a pebble in his shoe. He was also mildly troubled by something else he had learned. There was more time than he expected between the moment the first-year resident sent out the alarm that she was having trouble and needed help and Ava’s arrival in the room. Of course, Ava was observing another patient being put under general anesthesia at the time. Yet that induction had been carried out without any trouble whatsoever, so why didn’t Ava come right away? And why hadn’t Ava ordered a tracheostomy immediately when she saw how difficult it was to put in an endotracheal tube and the patient had already had a cardiac arrest from low oxygen?
“Are you aware of the time?” Ava said, interrupting Noah’s thoughts.
Noah glanced at his watch. “Oh, my gosh. It is almost midnight.”
“I don’t know how you function on so little sleep,” Ava said. “I need to go to bed. What do you say?”
“Fine by me,” Noah said agreeably, and he meant it, realizing he’d been on the go for just shy of twenty hours.
“You know something?” Ava asked suddenly in a sultry voice.
“What?” Noah asked innocently.
“This good news of yours turns me on.”
“Oh?” Noah commented innocently. He wasn’t sure he had heard correctly, or if he had, what he should do.
Ava solved Noah’s immediate dilemma by standing up, and to Noah’s surprise peeled off her blouse and dropped her jeans. She stood before him in a dark green, incredibly sexy bra-and-panties outfit the likes of which Noah had never seen, covering the least amount of dermatological acreage he thought possible. She sauntered over to Noah, who was momentarily paralyzed, and sat on the arm of his chair. He was dazzled by her pheromones.
“You know what I think we should do with all this good news?” she asked in the same husky voice.
“I’m beginning to get an idea,” Noah said, more than willing to play the game.
“Let’s make love right here, right now!”
—
AN HOUR LATER, they were lying in Ava’s king-size bed, gazing up at the ceiling with Oxi and Carbi curled up at the foot. Although feeling great, Noah was struggling to stay awake after having gotten up that morning at 4:00 A.M. and working all day.
“I have to admit something,” Ava said suddenly. “I’m totally jealous of your Ivy League education. What a thrill it must have been for you to go to Columbia, MIT, and Harvard. I can’t imagine how proud you must be. And getting a Ph.D. like you did in just two years. It is remarkable.”
“I was lucky,” Noah said. “At the same time, I worked my butt off.”
“I wish I had had the opportunity,” Ava said wistfully. “Being here at the BMH, I feel embarrassed at having gone to such an unknown school. It seems that most everyone around here trained at a name institution like you.”
“I’m impressed with what you have been able to do,” Noah said sincerely. “I looked at your educational background on LinkedIn and learned you were in a combined six-year college and medical school program. In many ways, it’s more impressive than what I’ve done. My path was clear from middle school on. You said you weren’t motivated to go to college. What changed your mind?”
“Working for the dentist,” Ava said. “It made me realize I wasn’t going anyplace fast and that I’d be doing the same thing for the rest of my life. It was a rude awakening. Luckily, my boss, Dr. Winston Herbert, was recruited to start a dental program at Brazos University in 2001, which he did in 2002. Brazos U was a new school formed in the mid-nineties in Lubbock that was growing by leaps and bounds. They had started a medical school a few years later. Dr. Herbert brought me along with him when he became dean of the dental school, so I was in reality working for the university. Of course, he was taking advantage of me at the time, despite his being married and all.”
“I’m sorry,” Noah said. He felt anger at the thought of a man sexually abusing a teenager.
“It’s water over the dam,” Ava said. “I’m not bitter. In fact, I’m thankful. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it hadn’t been for Dr. Herbert. Being part of a growing university opened my eyes to so many things. And he was encouraging right from the start. He even started my interest in anesthesia.”
“Really?” Noah questioned. “How was that?”
“Dentists often can be very cavalier about anesthesia,” Ava said. “They feel comfortable using it in their offices without the kind of backup I demand now. And he let me do it almost from day one. Here I was giving anesthesia at age eighteen, knowing almost nothing about it. It terrifies me now when I think back, but I was fascinated by it. It’s what prompted me to go to college and then medical school. When I barely managed to graduate from Coronado High School, I never in a million years thought I’d go on to any form of formal education.”
“How did you manage, moneywise? Did your family help?” Noah asked.
Ava gave a short mocking laugh. “Not in the slightest. I never got along with my father.”
“Well, that’s another way we’re alike. I never got along with mine, either.”
“My mother remarried after my father died, but her new husband and I were like oil and water. I was on my own right after high school. Working for Dr. Herbert and the university was what made it all possible. I worked for him whenever I could throughout college and medical school.”
“What were you like as a child?” Noah asked. Though they shared a commitment to medicine, it was apparent to him that early on they were very different people. Once he’d seen the light in the first years of high school, he’d been overly committed to education and becoming a surgeon. It had consumed him, and it still did.
“I really don’t like talking about my past,” Ava said firmly. “It brings back too many painful memories. I’d much prefer to talk about the future. Or better still, your past.”
“What would you like to know?” Noah said.
“Everything,” Ava said. She pushed herself up on an elbow and looked at Noah. “I know we were born the same year, 1982. When I put it all together, I’m missing two years in your history.”
“You continue to impress me,” he said. “You’re correct. Medical school took me six years rather than the usual four. During my second year my mother got sick and had to leave her job, which was supporting me and my disabled sister. I had to get a job. Luckily, I got a job with the medical school so I could stay involved by attending lectures. When my mother passed away, I was able to rematriculate and finish medical school.”
“I’m sorry,” Ava said. “That must have been a struggle.”
“Like you said earlier, it’s water over the dam. You do what you have to do.”