Unbreakable by S. E. Lund Read Free Book Online

distance. I enjoyed a coffee while standing at my office’s window, watching the courtyard below. People walked back and forth from one wing of the hospital to another on their way to start their own workday. I’d miss this place but was eager to get back to Manhattan and my practice there. I had already contacted the New York University Hospital about a Fellowship in Pediatric Neurosurgery, specializing in robotics, and hoped to start it when we returned. All my work with Michael in Nairobi would help me towards accreditation so my time in Africa would be more than just to help out an old friend.
    I had an early surgery so once I was done with my coffee, I checked over my patient files and went down and scrubbed in. I had expected to do my surgery with my team, but when I arrived at the anteroom to scrub in, Sam was waiting, her arms already up to the elbow in yellow disinfecting soap, a scrub brush working away on her nails.
    “I didn’t know you were scrubbing in with me today,” I said, rather sourly.
    She turned to me and her eyes widened. “Michael said he’d talk to you about it. I want to get in as much experience with robotics as I can before you go. This is my last chance. I like robotics, especially deep brain stimulation,” she said defensively. “Having watched you with a few patients, I feel like it might be for me. Such great results for patients who have been suffering so much. Maybe someday we’ll attend the same conferences.”
    “Maybe,” I said, trying to appear neutral. I knew that Sam was interested in pediatric neurosurgery because of her mentoring by Michael. I knew she came to Nairobi so she could take my robotic surgery class. I hoped to keep a wide berth from her if possible.
    “Yes, you know I loved your class.”
    I had said nothing. I had never encouraged Sam to talk much about her plans. Michael had said she was there to work with him , not me, but clearly Sam had other ideas. I went to the sinks and turned on the water lever with my foot, selecting a bar of soap and scrub brush from the tray. As I stood at the sinks, lathering up, I thought about the first time we worked together when I returned to Nairobi.
    Michael told me he was why she came to Nairobi, but she told me differently. When she heard I was coming for a semester, she thought it would be a great opportunity to get some training. I had thought she was more interested in pediatric neurosurgery and my patients were adult so I had been doubtful that she came to get experience in robotics. Now, I realized that she came back because of me . She thought I’d just broken up with a girlfriend and was available. She had plans for me.
    Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for me, Kate had other plans.
    I sighed, resigned to spending my last surgical day with Sam. We finished scrubbing in and then gowned up, entering the OR and preparing for the procedure. I turned off my irritated ex-lover persona and turned on my objective surgery professor persona so I could make the most of the teaching opportunity, and talked Sam through the surgery.
    I enjoyed teaching almost as much as surgery itself. I liked to watch a student go from eager but inexperienced to confident and master of a technique.
    Sam had confidence galore and I knew she’d do well as a surgeon, whatever specialization she chose. I wasn’t so sure about her ability to maneuver the subtle art of romance. She tended to be very dominant when it came to flirting and seduction.
    That was my role and that was precisely why the two of us would never work as a couple. Sam didn’t want to accept that. For her, we were equals in everything, and belonged together. What she didn’t realize was that the two of us would be like two warring nations, each of us trying to gain the upper hand sexually. It would never work.
    She couldn’t accept that.
    She was too egotistical to believe that Kate had won.
     
    After surgery was finished, we walked down the hallway to the family