I looked down at the slowly spreading puddle of coffee on the floor. I looked at the nice warm coffee stain on my lab coat. I looked up, slowly, at the coffee splashed on the shirt, tie and lab coat directly in front of me. I closed my eyes. I didn't want to know.
"Miss Blackwood."
I opened one eye, then the other, and looked up into the exasperated face of Doctor Michael J. Hanlon, my Attending Physician, wunderkind cardiologist, and scourge of St. Stephen's Hospital medical students.
"Sir?" I managed.
"You really ought to watch where you're going." He frowned and sighed, wringing out his tie. "Excuse me."
Off he went, I assume, to change into coffee-free attire. I bent over and picked up the now-empty styrofoam cup, and tried to wipe up the coffee puddle with a mooshed Kleenex I found in my pocket. I was close to tears. Out of hundreds of St. Stephen's employees, it was just my evil luck to run into Dr. Hanlon, nearly knocking him over and soaking him with scalding coffee.
We hadn't exactly started out on the right foot a month before, when I'd started a cardiology rotation at St. Stephen's. It was the last rotation of my fourth year of medical school, and the light at the end of the tunnel was definitely starting to look less like an oncoming train and more like the glow of residency in July. I was looking forward to finally getting my teeth into my specialty, which if all went well, would be Internal Medicine. I had done well if not spectacularly in med school so far, getting decent grades, interacting well with fellow students and instructors. Most importantly, my patients seemed to like me just fine. Then I met Dr. Hanlon. Just over six feet, maybe thirty-five. Black hair, cut short, spiky on top. Huge dark eyes. Sensual slash of a mouth under a fine, straight nose. Fair skin, rosy cheeks, and an easy, boyish smile that made nurses and female patients go weak in the knees. Cool, precise, every hair in place. Expensive cologne, good shoes, stainless Rolex. Everything about him said total professionalism and understated money, and not new money, either.
I had heard about him for a long time at the hospital and seen him around; I'd been at St. Stephen's since my last rotation. He was, I heard, wonderful to work with, great with patients, staff loved him, blah, blah, blah. Unless, of course, you were a medical student. Dr. Hanlon believed that the best way to deal with med students was to terrorize them into learning. I think he placed us somewhere between trained seals and sentient insects. Never one to make waves, I did my best to do my work and stay out of trouble. Would that it could have been that easy. Dr. Michael Hanlon made me nervous. He was impatient, exacting and tyrannical. However, I'm as human as the next female, and in spite of all of that, I privately, rapidly, developed a large crush.
Michael Hanlon was not only handsome, but an incredible doctor as well. His knowledge of medicine and rapport with patients and staff were really something to see. He published. He lectured. He was gorgeous. That combination did me in. I was smitten. And I couldn't do a damn thing about it. I knew Dr. Hanlon was single, but med students and Attending Physicians don't exactly hit the corner bar for a cold one after a long day at the hospital. Add to that the fact that for some reason, the guy couldn't stand me. It was as if he'd taken one look at me and developed an intense and extraordinary dislike. I couldn't seem to do anything right. I wasn't serious enough. I wasn't dedicated enough. I wasn't applying myself. Do you really want to be a doctor, Miss Blackwood? He'd said to me on more than one occasion. You'll have to do better than that. So here I was, more distracted than I had ever been by a guy in my entire life. And the guy didn't even like me. And this was about the worst time in my life to be so distracted. Inevitably, I started screwing up.
It was my habit to carry lollipops in the pocket of my lab coat. I had been trying to quit smoking for awhile, with limited success. (You'd be amazed at the number of docs and nurses who smoke!) However, the lollipops were helping. Every once in awhile I'd hand one out to a patient, when appropriate, or maybe somebody's kid. One morning I went in to check on a new cardiac patient, an elderly woman, admitted the night before. With an all-too-quick glance at her chart while we chatted, I made sure she was comfortable. Now, the woman wasn't my patient, but I figured that a few kind words and a lollipop couldn't hurt. I hadn't remembered seeing anything on her chart precluding it. People of all ages like candy, and I prided myself on my own patient rapport, and I was more than eager to play Kind Young Doctor. Feeling groovy, I bounced down the hall to admit a new patient.
Forty-five minutes later, I was in the middle of writing up a history and physical, humming while I worked. It was shaping up to be a good day.
"Miss Blackwood."
I looked up. There stood Dr. Hanlon, his face a perfect thundercloud. I swallowed hard, my mouth suddenly dry.
"In my office. Now." He turned on his heel and strode down the hall. I almost had to run to keep up with him.