2. Prescription For Love

“You’re welcome.” Carrie paused on her way out. “Hey, Abby, do you play softball?” “I—” Abby laughed at the unexpected question. “Not since high school. Sorry.”

“That’s great. I’ll be in touch.”

The door closed and Abby glanced at Presley. “Softball?”

“A local passion. There’s a hospital team. You can run, but you can’t hide.”

Abby laughed again. “I might have to try. I was never all that good.”

Presley shook her head. “Carrie is the new team captain and she’s relentless. I only escaped by threatening to fire her if she kept nagging me to play.”

The affection in Presley’s tone belied her words. Abby envied the easy camaraderie. “She seems great. She really handled everything for me.”

“Good. I know you’re used to a big city hospital, but our ER is very busy. Probably not what you’re used to, but—”

“Actually I just came from there. I walked into a trauma call.” “I heard the code,” Presley said. “Everything all right?”

“So far.”

“You must have met Harper, then.” Presley’s expression softened, as if the thought of Harper took her somewhere else for a second. “She was headed that way.”

“I did. And Flannery. She wasn’t expecting me. Sorry if I jumped the gun. I wanted to introduce myself to the night shift before they left, and one thing led to another.”

“Ah.” Presley sighed. “Damn it. I’m sorry you walked into that. My fault entirely. Harper and I were away for the weekend, but I should have called Flann to tell her you were on your way.”

“That’s fine. We made our introductions.” Abby didn’t plan on using her friendship with Presley to smooth out bumps with staff, even if—especially since—one of the bumps was with Presley’s family.

“We’ll work it out. Transitions are tough on everyone.”

“Flann is a great surgeon and a sweetheart, really,” Presley said. “But you know, she’s a surgeon.”

Abby laughed. “I noticed. Harper seems terrific, by the way.”

“We’ll have to get together so I can gush,” Presley said. “In fact, come to dinner this Saturday.

We’re buying the house I’ve been renting, and I’d love for you to see it and meet Harper.”

“I—” Abby could make her own schedule now, and she’d just work Sunday to make up for the weekend day off. And Blake needed to meet people—meet their friends. “All right, yes. Thanks.”

“Good. We didn’t get much chance to catch up on the phone,” Presley said. “I was too busy trying to sell you on this job. How is Blake? And David—do you see him much?”

“We talk pretty regularly, but he and Matt are living in Arizona now. They have a real estate development business out there. Blake has visited a few times but doesn’t really press for more time with David.”

“How did Blake react to the move?”

Abby suppressed the swell of words rising in a rush. She hadn’t realized how much she wanted to talk to someone when she didn’t have to pretend to be totally in control of everything. “About that. I was thrilled when you offered me this job—it’s great to be close to a friend after all these years, and professionally, it’s an amazing opportunity. But another big part of the reason I took the job is Blake.

The last year has been hard.”

Presley leaned forward. “What’s happening? Not something medical, I hope?”

“No, not at all.” Abby took a breath. “About a year ago, right before Blake’s fifteenth birthday, Blake explained to me he was quite certain he was not a girl.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Flann finished her colon resection in record time and had at least an hour free before her next case. She waited until her first assistant Glenn had the patient off the table and on the way to recovery before leaving the OR to speak to the family. She pulled on a white lab coat over her green scrubs, ditched her cap and booties in the trash, and after updating the patient’s wife and daughter, took the stairs down to the first floor for a decent cup of coffee from the cafeteria. Sipping as she went, she strode through the main building and down the administrative wing. Carrie was at her desk typing rapidly, a half-eaten bagel on a paper plate by her right hand and her eyes glued to the monitor.

“Hey, beautiful,” Flann said. “How’s your morning?”

Carrie looked up and grinned. “It’s Monday, so it’s hell. How’s yours?”

“The usual dragons to slay.”

“I heard it started out with a trauma.” Carrie’s brow furrowed. “Patient doing okay?”

“As far as I know. Harper picked up the ball and has been keeping an eye on her in the ICU. I’m going to stop by there in just a few minutes.” “I heard the new ER chief was there too.”