Prognosis: Romance Read online

  It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the ailing children. Obviously he did, or he wouldn’t even consider dedicating the rest of his life to curing them. Nor was he hardened to the emotional toll a child’s illness took on the rest of the family. He always felt as if he was saying the right things, behaving as the situation required—and yet he still kept getting those vaguely worded evaluations about how he needed to work on his communication skills.

  He was growing increasingly frustrated with that situation. How was he to maintain a professional distance and still empathize with the patients? How did one learn to express the optimum mixture of competency and compassion? If only there were some formula to memorize or some protocol to learn, he’d have no problem, but this was an intuitive, indefinable quality he wasn’t sure he possessed.

  Obviously, he’d been less than successful in communicating with Shannon Gambill, he thought glumly, making a note in a patient chart before completing his duties on the last Thursday of his Acting Internship. He’d thought he’d been friendly and pleasant, just persistent enough to make his interest clear. Shannon had seen his behavior differently.

  You make me nervous, James.

  He still winced when he remembered those words. Apparently he’d come on too strong or too…something. It had certainly never been his intention to make her uncomfortable.

  He supposed he really was lousy at this communication thing.

  “Hey, James, how’s it going?”

  Looking up from the chart in response to the greeting, James smiled at the slightly rumpled, sandy-haired medical student approaching from the end of the hallway. “Hi, Ron. I’m doing well, how about you?”

  His friend Ron Gibson was also completing an AI in pediatrics, though Ron was assigned to pediatric oncology and hematology, or pedi hem-onc in medical jargon. Twenty-eight-year-old Ron had become one of James’s two closest male friends since they’d joined the same five-person study group in the first semester of their freshman year of medical school. Charming, laid-back and affable, Ron had struggled a bit during the first two years of classwork and exams, but he excelled in clinical practice, becoming an instant favorite with the very sick children he wanted to spend his career treating.

  Ron seemed to have no problem at all communicating, James thought a bit glumly as he dropped the patient chart into the wall-mounted holder outside the hospital room. “What are you doing on this wing?”

  “Looking for you. Haley, Connor and I are meeting for dinner this evening. Connor’s at loose ends tonight because Mia and Alexis are doing something girly and he thought it would be a good time to catch up. Want to join us?”

  James didn’t even have to think about it. “Sure. What time?”

  Moving to the next room on his assigned patients’ list after Ron went back to his own duties, James drew a deep breath as he picked up the chart and flipped through it. He pasted on a smile before entering, trying to add a little of Ron’s natural warmth to the expression.

  It came so easily to Ron—why did James have to work so hard at it, when all he wanted to do was help his patients?

  The Italian restaurant where the group had decided to meet was surprisingly busy for a Thursday evening. Looking for his friends, James entered past a crowd waiting for tables in the lobby. He wasn’t in the greatest of moods after his tiring day. It didn’t help that this restaurant was on the same street as the toy store where Shannon worked—as if he had needed that reminder.

  Still, he looked forward to visiting for a little while with Connor and Ron and Haley. It was so rare for them to get together now that they were all on such different schedules. He’d miss seeing Anne, the only remaining member of the original study group, but since Ron hadn’t mentioned her joining them, he assumed she’d had other obligations.

  A slightly harried-looking hostess gave him a vague smile when he approached. “How many, sir?”

  “Actually, I’m meeting some people here. I don’t know if they’re here yet… Oh, there they are.” Never shy about calling attention to himself, Ron stood at a table across the busy dining room, waving his arms to get James’s attention.

  Even though it was still five minutes before the agreed-upon meeting time, James was the last to arrive. He took the chair next to Connor, across the table from Ron and Haley.

  Thirty-four-year-old Connor Hayes was the senior member of the group, having taught and coached for a few years before entering med school. James remembered how tough that first semester had been for his friend. Only a couple of months into his training, Connor had become fully responsible for the then-six-year-old daughter whose existence had been a secret to him before that time. Had it not been for his friend Mia, now his wife of just over two years, who had stepped forward to help him with Alexis, Connor might well have had to drop out of medical school in his first year.

  Which would have been a shame, James thought, because there was such a shortage of primary-care doctors, which was what Connor wanted to practice. Connor would be an excellent family practitioner.

  James looked curiously around the full dining room. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so busy here. Especially on a weeknight.”

  Ron chuckled. “You don’t even know it’s half-price lasagna night, do you?”

  “Is it?” James shrugged, now comprehending the restaurant’s popularity. “I guess that explains it. Maybe I’ve just never been here on a Thursday before.”

  “Like you’d ever have to wait in line to save a few bucks on some pasta,” Ron joked.

  “I appreciate a bargain as much as the next guy,” James assured him, taking no offense at the teasing. Ron joked with everyone. James had figured out long ago that it was never intended mean-spiritedly. Ron just liked laughing and encouraging people to laugh with him.

  Like the others, James ordered the lasagna. He was well aware his friends were all on limited budgets as they completed medical school on student loans. He would’ve offered to pick up the check, but he’d tried that a couple of times early on and his friends had made it politely, but firmly, clear that they paid their own ways.

  He’d always been very careful not to make an issue of his good fortune—after all, it wasn’t as if he’d earned the money himself. He just happened to have been born into a wealthy family, which was nothing more than the luck of the draw as far as he was concerned. He had long since realized how true it was that money couldn’t buy happiness. Or true friendship.

  “Here’s to tomorrow, the last day of the current rotation,” Ron said, holding up his water glass. “One day closer to graduation.”

  Laughing, they joined in the toast with sips of water.

  They chatted about their experiences during the past month’s rotations, swapping amusing anecdotes and sharing tidbits they had learned. They were starting a new block the following week and that gave them something to discuss, as well. In addition, all of them would be spending time during the next few months doing away rotations in other states.

  “I’m looking forward to my acting internship in Cincinnati in October,” Haley said, then added candidly, “even if I’m a little nervous about it. I’m sure they’ll do things differently than we do here.”

  “They’ll love you there,” Ron assured her, reaching over to squeeze her hand. “How could they not?”

  She smiled back at him a little wistfully. “It will be a long month away from you.”

  “I’ll be in Lexington. Not that far from Cincinnati,” Ron replied with a shrug. “There’s a chance we can get together at least one weekend during the month.”

  It would be the first time the newlyweds had been separated that long since they’d become engaged last December. Or maybe even before that, James mused, thinking of all the hours the study group had spent together during their first two years of school, before Haley and Ron had realized that the sparks they’d set off each other from the start had been due to more than temper.

  James still shuddered to remember how close they’d come to lo
sing Haley last December. He suspected Ron still had nightmares about the life-threatening injury Haley had sustained in a rare winter tornado that had brought down the ceiling of a diner where they had taken shelter, driving a piece of metal through Haley’s leg. She’d been airlifted to the trauma unit but because of blood loss, her condition had been dicey during the trip. Yet, with typical Haley optimism and determination, she had been back in rotations five weeks later, missing only one rotation she had been able to reschedule for fourth year, so that she would graduate with the rest of them.

  Their wedding had been a small affair at the end of June, giving them only a week for a honeymoon. Neither had wanted an elaborate wedding—partially because of time constraints, but also because of finances. Neither of them came from an affluent family and both were attending medical school on student loans. They had married beneath a gazebo in a local park. James thought the simple ceremony had been as touching as any elaborate wedding he’d ever reluctantly attended.

  “October’s going to be a tough month for Mia,” Connor commented as he sliced into the steaming pasta that had just been set in front of him. “With me in Chicago, she’ll be fully responsible for Alexis, in addition to her grad-school work and her teaching position.”

  Connor’s guilt was evident to all of them. Typically, Haley was the first to offer encouragement. “They’ll be fine while you’re gone, Connor. Mia loves being with Alexis and vice versa. It isn’t as if Alexis is any trouble. She’s a good kid.”

  From what James had observed, completing medical school while maintaining personal relationships was a tricky balancing act. Med school required total commitment, leaving little free time for family and friends, especially during those first two years of endless classes and studying. Fourth year wasn’t so bad, other than the highly recommended away rotations, but then would come residency programs. Everyone knew how many hours a medical resident spent at the hospitals.

  James was aware of several marriages that had ended among his classmates during the past three years. But for his study-group friends, he was very optimistic that their romantic partnerships would endure.

  Mia had been well prepared for what she was getting into when she’d married a single-father medical student. She had made it clear she considered the short-term sacrifices worth the effort to allow Connor to follow his dream, just as she was pursuing her own doctorate in education. Anne Easton had been through a rocky spell with her husband, Liam McCright, but that was due more to family issues than the demands of medical school. And Haley and Ron were certainly prepared to make the compromises necessary to be successful both in their careers and their relationship.

  James had dated occasionally, but only casually. His record with relationships wasn’t particularly encouraging even without the demands of his career training to further complicate matters. Surreptitiously studying the smiles Haley and Ron exchanged, he was aware of a slight pang of…something. It felt almost like wistfulness, though he brushed that thought aside quickly. Apparently he was letting himself be affected by the rosy romances of his friends. He was the only single member left of this group, to whom he had become so close during the past three years.

  Pulling his gaze from the happy couple, he glanced away from the table—only to have his glance intercepted by a pair of familiar green eyes.

  No way, he thought, swallowing a groan. What were the odds that Shannon would show up here at this moment? Of course, the restaurant was only a few blocks from where she worked. And it was half-price lasagna night. But still, of all the restaurants in Little Rock…

  This would probably give her even more reason to believe he was stalking her, he thought glumly. Even though he’d obviously arrived first, since she was just being led to a table along with another woman. And even though he was there with friends of his own.

  She hesitated momentarily and he wondered if she was deciding whether to nod acknowledgment or pretend she hadn’t seen him. But then she stopped by his table and gave him a bright smile, motioning for her friend to continue on. “Hello, James.”

  He could do polite and casual as well as she. “Hi, Shannon. How are you?”

  “Fine, thank you. You?”

  He nodded. “Can’t complain. Here for the lasagna?”

  “Of course. Best in town.”

  “Enjoy your meal.”

  “Thanks. You, too.” After another slight pause, she nodded affably to him and his companions, then turned and walked across the dining room to join her friend at a small booth on the other side. She slid into the booth with her back to the table where James sat, so the only part of her he could see was the top of her curly red hair.

  He reached for his iced tea, trying to focus again on his friends. “Have you heard from Anne this week, Haley? How’s she doing on her family-practice rotation?”

  But Haley was looking from Shannon’s booth to James and back again, while Ron and Connor stared curiously at James.

  “What?” he said, frowning in response to their expressions.

  “What was that?” Ron blurted, motioning vaguely in Shannon’s direction.

  James shifted a little in his seat. “Just someone I’ve met a couple of times. I hardly know her.”

  “Uh-huh.” Ron made no secret of his skepticism.

  On the defensive now, James set his glass back down without tasting the beverage. “What?” he said again. “Was I rude? Should I have introduced her to everyone?”

  He probably should have, he chided himself. He should have introduced her to Connor, especially. He wasn’t quite sure why he hadn’t.

  “I think Ron is referring to the tension between the two of you,” Haley suggested, studying James’s face with enough avid interest to make him squirm again. “Wow.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Seeking reinforcement, James glanced toward Connor.

  Connor shrugged apologetically. “Sorry pal, I felt it, too. Could have cut the air between you with a scalpel.”

  “You should have called her after taking her out,” Ron suggested, making a wild guess at the cause of that tension.

  “I’ve never taken her out,” James replied somewhat stiffly.

  Ron widened his blue eyes dramatically. “She shot you down? Seriously? The woman is immune to James Stillman’s notorious magnetism?”

  James felt his cheeks warm a bit—irritation, he assured himself—even as Haley shook her head. “She wasn’t immune. Trust me on that. Whatever else was going on, she was definitely not immune.”

  “So why did she turn him down when he asked her out?” Ron inquired, turning slightly on his chair to look at Haley.

  “He must have made a mess of asking her.”

  Ron goggled dramatically. “James? Dr. Smooth? Dr. Every Ladies’ Dream? Dr.—”

  “Okay, Ron, that’s enough,” Haley interrupted drily, to James’s relief. “I think you’ve made your point.”

  “I’d say so,” James grumbled, stabbing his fork rather viciously into a noodle, even though he’d pretty much lost his appetite.

  Always the encourager, the one Ron always flippantly referred to as the class cheerleader, Haley smiled across the table. “You should ask her out again, James. I mean, you’re obviously attracted to her and she wouldn’t have stopped to say hello if she wasn’t interested in return.”

  “You know, she looked a little familiar,” Ron commented before James had a chance to come up with a response to Haley’s advice. “Have we met her before?”

  “She looked familiar to me, too,” Haley agreed.

  James shrugged. “I just met her myself a couple weeks ago. Now, could we please discuss something else?”

  The others looked at him oddly, as if they weren’t accustomed to seeing him so disconcerted. He supposed they weren’t. He usually maintained his composure in front of other people, having been drilled from childhood to keep his problems and negative emotions to himself. “No one’s interested in attending your pity party,” had been one o
f his father’s favorite sayings.

  Haley responded immediately to his strained request. “Of course. So, Connor, how is Alexis? I haven’t seen her in a while, is she still growing by leaps and bounds?”

  “She is,” Connor replied. “We had to buy all new uniforms for the upcoming school year because she’s outgrown all the ones from last year. Hard to believe she’s going to be nine in a couple of weeks. Remember, anyone who’s available that weekend is invited to drop by the day of the party for munchies and cake. We’re going to keep the kids in the backyard and the adults can mingle in the den. Mia and I will be running back and forth, but the party organizer said she’ll do most of the kid-wrangling.”

  Which wasn’t exactly a change of topic, James thought with a wince, even though Haley and Connor had been trying to help him out.

  James swallowed a gulp of wine, then blurted, “That woman who just spoke to me? Shannon? She’s the one Mia hired to organize Alexis’s birthday party.”

  Three sets of surprised eyes turned his way again. He’d had to tell them, he reminded himself. They’d find out for themselves soon enough.

  “No kidding?” Connor glanced in the direction of the booth. “She’s the one you suggested I recommend to Mia?”

  “Yeah. You said Mia could use some help and I’d just met Shannon. I knew she was a kids’ party planner, so I sent Mia the Web site address.”

  “Very interesting,” Ron murmured, then winced. James suspected Haley had kicked Ron beneath the table to keep him from starting up his teasing again.

  “Well, she looked nice,” Haley asserted. “I bet she’s good at her job.”

  “I hope so,” James murmured, feeling the responsibility of being the one to recommend Shannon for Alexis’s party. “I saw her in action with her nieces and nephews, and she was really good at organizing them. They’re obviously crazy about her.”

  Connor shrugged. “Mia checked out the Web site pretty closely. She wouldn’t have hired Shannon if she didn’t think it would work out. It’s not like we wanted anything fancy or extravagant. Just a simple kids’ party with a few decorations and a couple of craft projects to keep them entertained. Mia could have done it herself if she weren’t so crazy busy right now.”