The Doctor's Undoing by Gina Wilkins Read Free Book Online Page B

his usual self, cutting up with everyone equally, treating her as he always did. There was no more talk of bone-jumping or self-consciousness. Georgia McMillan had been released on Saturday, so they weren’t subjected to her blatant matchmaking. Telling herself it had been only a temporary glitch in their friendship, Haley was assured they could put it behind them and go on as they had been.
    She was very busy that afternoon, practically running from one assigned task to another, taking only a half hour for a lunch break. She didn’t see Ron until late in the afternoon. She had just stepped into the students’ room to type up some notes when he walked in.
    â€œHi, Ron, how’s your afternoon…oh, my gosh, what happened?”
    Though she remembered that he’d worn a white shirt, red tie and gray slacks beneath his white coat that morning, he wore blue hospital-issue scrubs now. His expression was so grim she knew something must have gone very wrong for him.
    The spots of dark color on his cheeks indicated either anger or embarrassment, maybe a mixture of both. He spoke from between clenched teeth. “I screwed up. Big-time. Damn it.”
    Pushing herself out of the computer chair, she took a step toward him. “What did you do?”
    â€œDr. Cudahy let me remove a patient’s central line. I’ve done that a couple of times before with my preceptor, so I felt pretty confident. Thought I’d impress the attending and the resident. Like an idiot, I pulled out the line—and forgot to put pressure on the site.”
    Haley winced, imagining the arterial blood spurt that would have resulted. “I hope you and the patient were the only ones in the vicinity?”
    â€œOh, no. That would have been bad enough, of course, but Drs. Cudahy and Prickett were standing close enough at the time that we all got splattered. Prickett and I were wearing paper gowns, so only our collars and pants were hit, but Dr. Cudahy thought she was standing far enough away to be safe. She wasn’t. She got sprayed. She had to go change into scrubs.”
    Haley could imagine how humiliated Ron must be feeling right now. It was bad enough to make a mistake in front of a resident, but even more galling to have the attending be both a witness to and a victim of the error.
    She was tempted to remind Ron that she’d warned him to be more serious and resist his natural inclination to perform. But this wasn’t the time for I-told-you-so. Right now, he just needed a friend.
    She rested a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry, Ron. I know that must have been embarrassing. But everyone makes mistakes. Dr. Cudahy and Dr. Prickett know that. I’m sure they’ve made more than a few, themselves.”
    Her words didn’t seem to help much. She could still see bitter self-recrimination in his expression. “It was such a stupid thing to do. Any moron should have known to apply pressure. They probably all think I’m an idiot.”
    â€œThey don’t think you’re an idiot.”
    â€œI am an idiot. Damn it.”
    He was taking this relatively minor setback much harder than he should. Haley knew Ron had a streak of insecurity hiding behind his wisecracks and devil-may-care attitude. It had made an appearance during an outburst in the study group when he’d accused himself of holding the others back, implying that they’d all been carrying him through the first two years of classes and exams. He’d even offered to leave the group if they’d thought he wasn’t up to their level, to everyone’s shock.
    They’d firmly assured him that he was as valuable a member of the group as any of them, and that not one of them had ever considered him a liability. Not even Haley, even though she’d occasionally complained that he didn’t take his studies seriously enough and that he was too willing to accept the possibility that he could wash out before the end of