From Florida Fling to Forever
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Susan Carlisle
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CHAPTER ONE
“YOU WANT TO place the Skintec so that it just covers the incision joint but doesn’t overlap the vessel more than necessary.” Dr. Lily Evans demonstrated for those standing around the operating room table. She handed the tissue forceps back to her assistant and took the tiny brush filled with liquid. Using another set of tissue forceps, the fellow, the doctor who was finishing his advance training, who stood across from her folded back the corner of the patch. Lily applied the glue before the fellow laid the Skintec into place again. She continued around the square until it was secured.
The microphone of the OR observation room clicked on. A deep male voice filled the room. “If you also brush along the edges from the top, it’ll give it a more firmly fixed seal.”
Lily’s breath caught. Her hand stilled. She knew that voice. It may have been fifteen months since she’d heard it, but she remembered the warm tone too clearly. Dr. Maxwell James. His voice had been the same one that had whispered in her ear as he kissed along her bare shoulder, up her neck, to find her lips.
She shuddered, heat washing through her. Max still had that effect on her after all this time. With heart beating faster, Lily raised her head to view the observation room with its large window. She swallowed hard. Max stood tall in a well-fitting dark suit with his white shirt open at the neck, in front of the two other people sitting there. With a hand stuffed in his left pocket, his body language screamed devil-may-care as he looked down at her.
His brilliant blue gaze met hers. She remembered it well. It appeared in her dreams often to haunt her. The man had intrigued her from the first moment she saw him years earlier at a medical conference. The problem was he had that effect on most women. Therefore, she’d always kept her distance. She wanted a special someone she could trust, that would be there for her for the long haul, a soulmate, not just a conference fling. Max was known as the playboy of the liver-transplant-surgeon conferences and that type of man didn’t fit her life plan. Despite the one night she slipped up...
The corner of Max’s mouth quirked upward.
Lily had hoped never to face him again. Mentally, she shook herself. Her patient waited. She had a transplant procedure to finish. Closing her mind to Max and that night when she’d lost control and humiliated herself beyond belief, she calmed her shaking hand and returned to her surgery. The transplant on this teenager would be completed to the best of her ability. Despite her desire to show her defiance and disregard Max’s suggestion about the glue, she did as he said and brushed the edges. After all, he had developed the adhesive.
They may not have meshed in their personal lives, but their work had done so. She’d developed Skintec and he’d created Vseal, which together had revolutionized reattachment of vessels during a transplant. In honor of that, they were being recognized with Medical Invention of the Year Awards in the area of renal surgery. That must be why he was in town. But why so early? The ceremony was ten days away.
Lily wanted to groan. Ironically, her most significant professional achievement would forever be linked to the one man with whom she’d completely degraded herself. All because of her ex-boyfriend turned jerk, Jeff, who had picked that week to dump her. A coldness still flowed through her when she thought of that time. Now she just hoped Max didn’t drag up what had happened between them and ruin her joy over her achievement.
She shook off those shameful memories and refocused on what she needed to do. “We should be able to reinfuse the liver now. Let’s check for any bleeding and get this patient out to ICU.” Lily removed a clamp.
The students standing around the table refocused their attention on her.
Lily watched the vessel-reconnection point carefully for bleeding. “With this new process, it has cut down on bleeding by 90 percent.” Her intervention had done so by 50 percent, but paired with Max’s, it had become even more effective.
She would put Dr. Max James out of her mind and get this patient closed. Maybe she’d see him only today and then not again until the awards ceremony. The least interaction she had with him the better.
An hour later, Lily spoke with the family of her patient, telling them the transplant had gone well and the liver was already working. “But,” she reminded them, “the next forty-eight hours are critical. If Taylor does well during those, I fully expect him to live a long life.”
The boy’s mother wrapped Lily into a full hug. “Thank you, Dr. Evans.”
This was what Lily found the most rewarding. Making a patient or their family happy. The feeling of knowing she made a difference in someone’s life. “You’re welcome.”
A few minutes later, Lily headed toward her office. If she hurried, maybe she wouldn’t have to see Max. Him just showing up had her nerves strung tight. She’d known he’d probably be coming to town at the end of the next week. By then, she would have been mentally prepared for him. Not now, not yet. There hadn’t been any communication between them after their night together. Instead, he’d just appeared in her OR wearing a sexy grin.
By the time the awards ceremony came around, she’d have her act together. Be able to face him. Something she’d promised herself she’d never do again. She’d stopped going to conferences where she thought she might run into him. Instead, she’d sent a colleague or viewed the seminars online.
Her phone buzzed. Lily looked at her screen. It was Dr. Lee, head of transplant services at Miami University Hospital and Lily’s boss. “Hello.”
“Lily, can you come to my office for a few minutes?” Dr. Lee asked.
“I’m on my way to do rounds. Can it wait until after?” Lily had her fellows waiting, as well as patients.
“It won’t take but a moment.” The statement sounded casual, but Dr. Lee’s firm note implied Lily didn’t have a choice.
Minutes later, she entered Dr. Lee’s office. A thin, tall woman with salt-and-pepper hair sat behind the desk. Max lounged in a chair across from her. As Lily stepped farther into the room, Max came to his feet and faced her. She clutched her hands in front of her until they hurt. He still caused her heart to pick up its pace, the traitorous organ.
Max stood close enough for her to really study him. He hadn’t changed much since she last saw him. His dark wavy hair had a little more silver at the temples. It didn’t make him look older, just more distinguished. What hadn’t altered were those deep blue eyes that twinkled with mischief as if he saw humor in everything. The laugh lines might be a little deeper, but they only added to his charisma. She shuddered to think he saw her as ridiculous after what had happened between them. She’d been pitiful on so many levels. The shame almost swamped her.
He grinned.
That crooked smile on his full lips shot a stream of warmth through her, despite her best effort to resist it. Lily clinched her jaw, determined she wouldn’t let on what seeing him again did to her. Thank goodness he’d be in town for only a short time. As soon as the ceremony was over he’d be on his way again.
Lily drew in a deep breath, straightening her shoulders. She could handle this. Him. Max had stepped into her world. A place she felt comfortable. One she controlled. In it, she could cope with him.
“I believe you know Dr. James,” Dr. Lee said. “He’s going to be in town until after the awards ceremony. He has asked if he might join the liver transplant team this week. See how we do things. I told him you’d show him around.”
Lily’s lips tightened. Dr. Lee wasn’t asking her but telling her she’d be responsible for Max. Lily forced a smile and put more cheer in her voice than she felt. “I’ll be glad to.”
“Thank you, Lily.” Dr. Lee’s phone rang, and she picked it up. “Dr. James, I’ll leave you in Dr. Evans’s capable hands.”
Max nodded at Dr. Lee and grinned at Lily. “Thank you. I look forward to that.”
Lily’s mouth thinned in aggravation at Dr. Lee’s unintentional statement, which Max had turned into a sexual innuendo. There would not be anything personal between them again.
Max followed her out the door. In the hallway, she turned to face him. “I’ll see you tomorrow. You can find me in the clinic seeing patients.” She pointed to the left.
“Aren’t you on the way to do rounds now?” Max moved up beside her.
“Yes. And I’m late.” She turned away from him, being as dismissive as possible.
He matched her steps as she walked away. “Then, I’ll just tag along with you, if that’s okay?”
She looked back at Dr. Lee’s door. Why must Max be so insistent? He’d made it clear to her at the conference he didn’t really care for her company. So why the interest now? “Sure.”
Max kept pace beside Lily down the wide, glossy hallway. She acted as if she wanted to get rid of him. He hadn’t expected her to jump into his arms when they met again, but he’d at least thought he’d get a friendly reception. Ice-cold would be more like what he was receiving. But why? “It’s nice to see you again, Lily.”
She jerked to a halt and glared at him. If she used that look on her fellows, he had no doubt they toed the line. “Look, I’m sorry about that night. I made a fool of myself. What went on between us shouldn’t have happened.” Her gaze dropped to the floor. “I was upset and drank too much.” She shook her head. “I never drink too much. That wasn’t like me, and I shouldn’t have come on to you. I never do that. It was unprofessional. Can we just forget it and move on?”
He stepped back and put up his hands, palms toward her. “Hey, hey. I didn’t mean to bring on a tirade. I was just making polite conversation. Saying hi.”
A stricken expression came over Lily’s face, making him want to give her a big reassuring hug. Was that night they’d spent—almost spent—together really still that raw for her? He gave her a coaxing smile. “Let’s start over. Can we do that?”
Lily looked at him with her glossy green eyes.
Seeing him again had really upset her. That hurt. More than it should have. Their time with each other hadn’t ended as he would’ve liked but he had no wish for her to react with tears to seeing him. When she didn’t say anything he dared, “You did good work in the OR today.”
“Thanks,” she muttered and continued down the hall.
He joined her. “I’m sorry if I stepped on your toes by suggesting how my glue should be used.”
“No worries. I want what’s best for my patients.” She pushed the door to the stairwell open and started to climb.
Finally, her voice had evened out once more. He wanted to keep it that way. “I couldn’t agree with you more. By the way, congratulations on your medical invention award.”
Her shoulders relaxed. “You too.”
If he kept their discussions on medicine, Lily acted as if she could handle it. When the talk became personal, she started becoming undone. Was she really that sensitive?
As they climbed the stairs, Max took a second to appreciate the woman in front of him. Ever since he saw her at a conference five years earlier, he’d been attracted to her. There hadn’t been a chance to really get to know her until their last conference together, and it hadn’t gone as he had hoped. Apparently, she didn’t have the best of memories about it either.
He’d never thought he had a chance with the soft-spoken, so serious-looking Lily, until she came on to him that last evening of the conference. Unfortunately, that ended with her passing out in her hotel room and him receiving an emergency call and having to leave. Since then, she’d not been at another conference he had attended. Then, of all things, he’d learned they were both receiving an award for a medical invention. When his father had asked him to approach Lily about allowing The James Company to package their products together, Max had viewed it as an opportunity to get to know Lily better.
“Kind of ironic that we’re both getting the same recognition in the same year.”
She glanced back at him as she made a turn to take another flight of stairs. “That’s not what I’d call it.”
Before Max could question her further, Lily opened the floor door and stepped through it. Ahead of them were three people wearing white lab coats, standing in a group in the hallway. They all faced her and smiled. Had his fellows ever smiled when he joined them?
Lily waved a hand toward him dismissively and started for the nearest patient door. “Hey, everyone. This is Dr. Max James. He’ll be joining us today,”
Max didn’t miss the look of surprise on the faces of the two men and one woman when his name was mentioned.
“Sara, how’s Mr. Truman doing today?” Lily asked in an all-business tone.
“Recovering. His output is normal. His numbers on his blood work are within the normal range, and he’s able to walk the hall unassisted.”
Lily nodded as she looked at her computer pad. She knocked on the door and paused. At “come in,” she entered. “Hello, Mr. Truman. I heard you’re our star patient.”
The older man grinned from the chair he sat in.
“Dr. Locke, would you like to tell Mr. Truman the good news?” Lily looked at the fellow she’d called Sara.
The doctor nodded and said to the patient, “You’ll be going home tomorrow morning.”
The man smiled. “Thank you. My wife will be glad to hear that.”
Lily placed her hand on his shoulder. “I’ll see you in my office in six weeks. No dancing until then.”
Mr. Truman grinned. “I’ll save that until the wedding. My daughter won’t thank you for her sore toes.”
Lily laughed. Max liked the sweet melody of the sound.
“I can’t help with that.” Lily said. “I’m a surgeon, not a dance instructor. And for that, you should be grateful. I’m an awful dancer. Dr. Locke will get you discharged. See you soon.”
Their group moved out into the hall. They strolled to the next room, which was located down a few doors. Lily led them through the same process, except this time a different fellow was responsible for the patient. They all stood around the bed as Lily examined her.
“You should be getting out of here in a few more days. You’re doing very well,” Lily reassured her.
At the next stop, Lily’s expression changed to one of concern. She looked to the fellow who hadn’t had a patient yet. “How’s Mr. Roth doing today?”
The fellow glanced down at his notes, but Max had the impression he knew exactly how the man was doing, without looking at them. The fellow shifted through his papers. “He’s still running a low-grade fever, with no presenting reason to be doing so. He’s had a CT scan, X-ray and a battery of blood work.”
Lily looked at each fellow. “Any ideas about what should be done?”
“I think a MRI should be ordered,” one fellow suggested.
Lily nodded and waited.
“I’d consider a biopsy,” another fellow offered.
“I agree,” the last one said.
“All good suggestions, but first, I’d like to examine Mr. Roth before we decide.” Lily pulled her stethoscope out of her pocket.
Minutes later, Max along with the fellows were all standing beside Mr. Roth’s bedside, watching Lily.
She listened to Mr. Roth’s heart rate and respirations. Lily straightened and stepped back from the bed, then studied his chart. “I see you’re still running a fever. Do you ache anywhere?”
“Nope.” The man shook his head.
“Mr. Roth, I’m Dr. James. I’m working with Dr. Evans. Do you mind if I have a look at your incision site?” Max asked.
Lily’s look met his. She hesitated a moment before she spoke to Mr. Roth. “Dr. James is visiting us from New York. He’s a liver transplant surgeon, as well. Would it be okay for him to examine you?”
“I don’t care who looks at me. I just want to feel better,” the middle-aged man ground out.
Lily patted Mr. Roth on the arm. “We’ll figure this out.”
Max stepped closer. Mr. Roth pulled up his hospital gown so that his middle showed, with its large, V-shape incision. There were no obvious, outward indications of infection, such as redness or swelling. “I’m going to look at your incision site. And touch around it. Let me know if you feel any pain.” Max pulled the hospital gown up farther. The incision site looked like it had healed well. He gently pushed on the skin around the scar. He could clearly feel the edge of the liver. All seemed as it should.
“Mr. Roth, would you mind rolling to your right?” The man did so, and Max applied pressure to the lower back but got no reaction from the man. “Now to the left.” The man rolled and Max repeated his examination. “Thank you, Mr. Roth. You can rest back again.”
Lily spoke to her patient. “We’ll see that you get to feeling better soon. Try to rest.”
One of the fellows pulled the door closed behind them as the group returned to the hall.
“May I see the blood work?” Max asked the fellow. “How far out from transplant is the patient?”
“Eight weeks,” Lily answered.
The fellow handed him the computer pad. “Looking at his white blood count, there’s no reason to believe he has an infection. I’d suggest lowering the antirejection meds and changing the IV antibiotic to a stronger one. Get a CBC again in twelve hours. I’ve had success doing that with cases like this.”
The group looked at him. He returned the pad.
Lily paused for a moment, then nodded. “Sounds like a sound plan. We can reevaluate over the next two days. Before we consider something more invasive.” To the fellow responsible for Mr. Roth, she said, “See it’s done right away.”
Max watched Lily. “I think you’ll notice a difference quickly.”
She nodded. “I hope so.”
Over the next half hour, Max stayed with the group as they finished their rounds. Max couldn’t help but be impressed with how quickly the transplant patients were recovering. Lily ran a good program. Maybe it stemmed from the positive rapport she had with her patients and the staff. Hers made him want to improve on his.
Finished seeing the last patient, the fellows left him and Lily.
She faced him. “Thank you for your help back there with Mr. Roth. We were running out of ideas.”
“I hope mine works.” Max couldn’t deny he liked having Lily’s praise, despite it being unexpected.
For once, she met his look with a direct one of her own. “Do you really plan to spend all your time in Miami in a hospital?”
“Not all the time, but I wanted to see how your program works. See if there’s something I can take home to mine in New York City.”
She started down the hall toward the stairwell door. “I’m sure following me around must be dull. Wouldn’t you rather go to the beach?”
Max liked she’d become comfortable enough with him to ask a personal question. He grinned. “Is that an invitation?”
Lily stopped and gave him a piercing no-nonsense look. “No.”
“Come on. I think we could find some time to spend on the beach.” Max gave her a teasing smile.
She opened her mouth to speak, but he raised a hand. “I know. You have clinic tomorrow.”
“Yeah, and it’s held in the building next door. Just ask the receptionist at the front desk and she can tell you where to find me.”
“I’ll see you then.” Max lifted a hand and walked to the bank of elevators.
The next morning, Lily entered the building to find Max leaning casually against the front desk, talking to the woman behind it. She looked pleased to have such a handsome man’s attention. Lily even heard a giggle. Max hadn’t changed.
Even before they had gotten together that dreadful night, Lily had heard the talk about Max being a big flirt with little substance. Lily was looking for someone who would be her partner through life, not someone looking for nothing but a good time. She’d watched him from afar at conferences for years. No different than most women, she’d been drawn to him like the proverbial moth to the flame. Max just had something about him that interested her. With his easygoing personality, he had a way with people, especially women. She fallen for his charm, despite knowing better. Weak, she’d just been weak.
“Good morning,” he drawled and handed her a cup. “It’s tea. I didn’t figure you for the coffee type.”
Max had already placed her in a type pool? She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Taking the paper cup with the cap on it, she said, “Thanks.”
He shrugged. “No problem. So, is there any special case you’re seeing today?”
“Most are post-op patients.” Lily headed down the hallway toward the wing of the building where she saw them. “But I do have one that’s coming in that might interest you.”
“Good morning, Dr. Evans,” the nurse standing in the hall said. “Your first patient is waiting in room one.”
“Thanks, Carol.” Leaving the tea on a corner of a counter, Lily took the electronic tablet from the nurse.
Disappointed to leave his hot coffee behind, Max did the same and hurried after Lily.
Going to the closest door, she knocked and entered. “Hello, Mrs. Sandoz. How’re you feeling?”
The middle-aged woman, her black hair liberally streaked with white, smiled. “I feel much better than I did before the transplant.”
“Thank you so much, Dr. Evans. It’s so nice to have my wife back,” Mr. Sandoz said.
“I’m glad to hear it. Mr. and Mrs. Sandoz, this is Dr. James. He’s visiting with us this week.”
Max gave Mrs. Sandoz one of his charming smiles. The woman’s eyes warmed, and she returned it. Was there no end to Max’s appeal to women?
Lily scrolled through Mrs. Sandoz’s chart on the pad, then took the chair next to her. “May I give you a listen? Your X-rays look great.” Lily pulled her stethoscope out of the pocket of her white lab coat.
Max took the pad from her and brushed the screen, looking at Mrs. Sandoz’s chart as Lily listened to the woman’s heartbeats and respirations.
Lily stood. “Now, if you’ll lie down on the exam table, I’d like to look at your incision site.”
Mrs. Sandoz went to the table.
Max stepped up and offered his hand to the older woman. “Here, take my hand and I’ll help you lie back.”
“Thank you.” The woman placed her hand in his and the other on his forearm, steadying herself as she stepped up and sat on the table.
Lily couldn’t help but soften toward Max for his consideration for the older woman.
Placing a hand at her back, he gently supported Mrs. Sandoz as she eased back. “I’ve seen enough of my patients struggle to lower themselves after surgery to know it isn’t always comfortable.”
Mrs. Sandoz settled on the table. She pulled her full blouse up beneath her breast, revealing the large pink incision that went from one side of her body to the other.
Lily studied the area. “It all looks good. You’re healing well.”
“It still feels tight when I move.” She brushed her hand over the area.
“It’ll take a while for things to get back to normal. But overall, you’re doing great. You can start driving again. I’d like to see you back here in three months. Don’t forget to have your lab work done.”
Mrs. Sandoz pulled her shirt down. Lily helped the woman sit up.
“Thank you, Dr. Evans,” Mrs. Sandoz said with a large grin.
“You’re welcome. See you soon.” Lily smiled over her shoulder as she opened the door.
Max followed Lily out into the hall. “She looks great. I read in the surgery notes you used my glue on her.”
Lily rolled her eyes. He would pick that out of the record. “Yes, Vseal does work.”
He grinned. “It’s always nice to hear admiration from such an esteemed surgeon.”
Lily huffed and walked to the next examination room.
