From Hawaii to Forever Page 5

  The more he thought about it, the more he realized that his attraction to Kat wasn’t going to be a problem. Kat would only be here for one year. Lots of doctors came to Hawaii for brief appointments—Hawaii’s shortage of doctors was well known in the medical community, and visiting doctors weren’t rare—but the vast majority of physicians returned to the mainland eventually. Kat seemed like someone who would put her career first, probably over just about anything. She’d leave once she’d gotten over whatever island fantasies she harbored and realized that practicing in Hawaii meant focusing on patient care rather than professional advancement.

  He would simply wait out his attraction until she left, and hope that she would forget all about that awkward moment in the ambulance. Which hadn’t even been a moment, really. At the time it had felt like an almost-kiss, but now that the moment had passed he realized that she’d probably just meant to express her gratitude. In fact, he might have just completely embarrassed himself by assuming even for an instant that she’d been leaning forward for a kiss.

  Yes, she’d been leaning in and turning her face toward him, so close he’d almost been able to count her individual eyelashes...so close he had noticed the tiny freckles dotting her nose, felt her breath on his cheek. But it didn’t mean anything. Hell, she might have just been reaching for something.

  But he had no intention of asking her about it. That moment in the ambulance was best left forgotten. He’d simply be careful to avoid Kat while they were at work, and then he should have no problem putting her out of his mind. He wouldn’t spend any time thinking about that red hair of hers, hanging in dripping ringlets around her neck.

  Or the tiny freckles that dotted her nose.

  Or her soft, kissable lips.

  No, he wouldn’t be thinking about any of those things at all.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “YOU CERTAINLY KNOW how to make an entrance,” said Selena.

  It was several days after Kat’s dramatic first arrival at Oahu General Hospital, and Kat and Selena were sharing coffee in her friend’s office. Although they hadn’t seen each other in several years, Dr. Selena Kahale had been one of Kat’s closest friends when they’d attended medical school together. After Selena had returned to her home in Honolulu, her hard work and natural warmth had helped her to climb the ranks quickly to become clinical director of Oahu General Hospital.

  But apparently her esteemed professional position didn’t get in the way of teasing an old friend.

  Kat blushed, remembering the amount of good-natured ribbing she’d endured as soon as the EMTs had learned who she was. Despite her protestations that she was fine, they had insisted on wheeling her into an exam room, still wet, with her medical coat wrapped around her concealing her bikini.

  “I wasn’t planning on showing up on my first day dressed like that,” said Kat, completely embarrassed.

  Selena might be an old friend, but she was now Kat’s boss, and Kat wasn’t sure how she’d view the whole incident.

  She let out a breath of relief when Selena said, “Relax. It’s Hawaii. No one stands on ceremony here. You’ll find things are much more informal than what you’re probably used to back in Chicago. Tommy Bahama shirts are basically considered formalwear. My only worry is whether you’ll be able to get used to how casual things are around here.”

  “It’s certainly a big change,” said Kat.

  That was an understatement. The environment at Oahu General Hospital was sometimes so casual that she was taken aback. After her first day she’d scrapped any thoughts of showing up in a power suit—she would have felt ridiculous wearing a formal blazer here.

  Back at Chicago Grace there had been a clear hierarchy among the staff, and everyone had known where they stood. Kat had often wondered if the culture of strict adherence to authority there had interfered with patient care, since some of the doctors were too afraid to question a senior physician’s diagnosis, or to make changes to treatment plans that their supervisors might disagree with.

  But at Oahu General Hospital the atmosphere felt completely different. Everyone seemed to genuinely respect one another, regardless of hierarchy. Doctors routinely took advice from nurses and paramedics, everyone’s input seemed to be valued, and there was an easy banter among the staff.

  This relaxed atmosphere presented her with a new challenge. In Chicago, whenever she’d acted as the attending physician, her team had listened to her and carried out her instructions because she was in charge. Simply being in a position of authority had been enough for her team to respect her. But here in Hawaii she saw she would have to earn the respect of her colleagues, as well as their trust.

  Selena seemed to sense her thoughts. “Every hospital’s culture is a little different,” she said. “Even I was a little taken aback by the informality here at first, and I grew up on the islands. But I’ve come to realize that Oahu General is a special place. We’re like family here. You’ll grow to love it, I’m sure. And I know that everyone will love you too. Just give them time to get to know you.”

  Selena paused to sip her coffee, and then continued.

  “You might be surprised at how well you fit in here if you can just give yourself time to adjust. The Kat Murphy I remember from medical school was so idealistic, so committed to making a difference in her patients’ lives. Maybe getting sacked from Chicago Grace was a blessing in disguise.”

  Kat blinked. “What kind of blessing involves spending a year doing research for a proposal that ultimately fails?”

  “Think about it,” said Selena. “Chicago Grace Memorial may be one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country, but ultimately it’s a for-profit hospital. The Kat I know could never be completely happy working at a hospital where patients are seen based on their ability to pay. That’s not you. It’s not where you come from.”

  Kat mulled this over. She and Selena had been close friends at medical school, and Selena knew how important it was to Kat to use medicine to make a difference. But when Kat had first begun working at Chicago Grace she’d been so excited about the hospital’s reputation and the research opportunities it provided that she hadn’t thought much about how the hospital’s values might differ from her own.

  As she’d continued working there it had become impossible not to see the truth in front of her: there were too many patients who couldn’t afford the care they needed.

  She knew how that felt.

  When she was growing up her parents had always waited until the last possible minute to seek medical care. Even as a child Kat had understood that money was tight in her family. Although her parents had always taken her to see a doctor promptly when she was ill, she knew that they’d often put off their own medical care in order to save money.

  Then, when she was ten, her father had come down with an illness. “Just a cold,” he had said, reassuring Kat and her mother.

  When the cold had persisted he’d said it must just be the flu, and that he would see a doctor when he had time to take a break from his job. He’d kept telling them that he would see a doctor in just a few days. A few weeks later, the flu had turned into pneumonia, and by then her father’s condition had been severe. He’d passed away just one day after being admitted to a hospital.

  So it wasn’t enough for Kat simply to be a good doctor. It hadn’t been enough simply to work at Chicago Grace, with all its glamour and prestige. She wanted to make a real difference in the medical community. And more than anything she wanted to make sure that no child, no family, had to go through what she’d gone through as a little girl.

  Which was why she had wanted the director of Chicago Grace Memorial to accept her proposal to open a nonprofit clinic at the hospital. It would have been her chance to finally make a true difference—a contribution to medicine that came directly from her personal experience and her professional values.

  She had thought that ultimately the board of
directors—many of them physicians themselves—would agree that any impact on the hospital’s profits would be a small price to pay for a vast increase in quality of patient care.

  How naïve she’d been.

  Instead of simply rejecting Kat’s proposal, the board members had expressed deep indignation at her research findings, which had shown that wealthier patients recovered faster than poorer patients. They’d complained that her findings were terrible for the public’s view of the hospital, and they’d told her to bury all her data.

  Kat had refused, and it had been that refusal, as well as the choice words she had exchanged with the hospital director, that had resulted in her being fired.

  She’d finally had her chance to make a difference and she’d failed. She hadn’t been able to convince the hospital board to open a nonprofit clinic. She hadn’t been able to control her temper when the hospital director had been condescending and rude. And she hadn’t been able to make Christopher understand why all of it was so important to her.

  She’d expected his support, but instead he’d seemed just as shocked as the hospital board members. Instead of sharing her anger he’d been angry with Kat, for exchanging insults with the hospital director.

  “How could you?” he’d said. “You might as well have thrown away your career.”

  She’d been furious with him. Devastated and furious.

  Tears pricked as she remembered their conversation and how cold he’d been. She stared into her coffee mug, hoping Selena wouldn’t see those tears that still sprang to her eyes whenever Christopher came to mind.

  “You know, as glad as I am to have you here, I was a little surprised when you took the job,” Selena said. “Hawaii’s so far from Chicago. I would have thought you’d try to look for something a little closer to your family.”

  “I needed a change,” Kat said. “A big change.”

  The last thing she wanted to admit to her old friend was that she’d moved to Hawaii because of the breakup. It was such a cliché. And Selena would expect her to be professional.

  She took a deep breath and tried to think of how she could explain in a way that Selena would understand. But before she could start Selena said, “It was the breakup with Christopher, wasn’t it?”

  Kat choked on her coffee in surprise. “How did you know?”

  “Come on, Kat! Three days before the wedding you post online that it’s over? And then there’s complete radio silence from you—none of your friends can get in touch with you. That’s not just a breakup—that’s a broken heart.”

  “I don’t want you to think I moved here just because of what happened with...with him,” Kat said. It was still too hard to say Christopher’s name. “I’m serious about this job—I’m not here just to get over a guy.”

  “You think I don’t understand that? I’m a single mom—I know exactly how it feels to have your life change completely and unexpectedly. You don’t have to go through this alone.”

  Didn’t she? Kat was glad to have Selena’s support, but now that she was nearing the end of her first week in Hawaii she was beginning to realize that she felt more alone than she ever had in her life.

  Now that the excitement of moving to the island was wearing off, Kat felt as though she wasn’t sure who she was. She wasn’t a top internal medicine doctor at one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country. She wasn’t Christopher’s fiancée—she definitely wasn’t his wife. And she wasn’t living in Chicago, the city where her family and friends lived, where she’d planned to spend the rest of her life.

  For as long as she could remember she’d tried to be the best doctor on the staff, the best fiancée to Christopher. But if she wasn’t trying to prove herself to anyone then how did she know who she was supposed to be?

  Kat blinked back tears, willing her eyes to dry. “The point is, it’s in the past,” she said. “I came here to try to let go of him...of everything that was holding me back. But I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do next.”

  “Oh, Kat.” Selena set her coffee aside and patted Kat’s shoulder tenderly. “I think you really have come to the right place.” Then she gave Kat a wicked smile. “And it looks like you’re already making friends. Didn’t one of Oahu’s most eligible bachelors fish you out of the Pacific recently?”

  “Eligible bachelors? Are you talking about Jack Harper?”

  “Who else? If you wanted to meet him you didn’t have to nearly drown yourself—I could have set you up on a date.”

  “Selena! I am so not ready to date yet. One of the reasons I came here was to try to learn how to slow down and relax.”

  Selena raised an eyebrow. “Forgive me for being skeptical, but I don’t think ‘slow down and relax’ is a phrase I’ve ever heard you use.”

  “Maybe I don’t have the strongest reputation in that respect, but I’m trying to change that,” said Kat. “I’m trying to let go of the past and do something new. Which means I’m definitely not looking to get romantically involved with anyone right now. And even if I was, Jack and I aren’t right for one another.”

  “Okay, first of all, you are ready to date—you just don’t know it. You’ve already completed the first essential step to getting over a breakup.”

  “Which is?”

  “Getting out of the continental U.S. as quickly as possible. Now you need to move on to step two: the rebound. And for that purpose Jack is perfect for you.”

  Kat swallowed. How much did Selena know of the kiss that had almost happened between her and Jack? Had the EMTs decided that their brief glimpse of Jack and a half-clothed Kat in close quarters was gossip-worthy after all?

  She responded carefully. “I’m not so sure I’d say he’s perfect for me. He seems pretty bossy. And even if I were interested—which I’m not—he probably doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

  “Why on earth would you say that?” said Selena. “From what I heard, you two were getting pretty cozy just around the time the ambulance pulled up to the hospital.”

  Damn, thought Kat. So there had been gossip. She needed to set the record straight with Selena as soon as possible. What had happened with Jack—or what had almost happened—had just been a misunderstanding, nothing more.

  “I don’t know what people have been saying, but Jack was simply taking care of the cut on my leg. Both of us were completely professional. We did get to know each other a little...”

  “And?” said Selena, rapt with anticipation.

  “And I don’t think I’m his type. We kind of got off on the wrong foot. I hate to admit it, but I don’t think I made the best first impression—I may have sounded a little full of myself. I blame the hypothermia. And I think—no, I’m sure—Jack would agree that since we’re to be co-workers it’s best not to let emotions get in the way of our working together.”

  Selena waved her hand dismissively. “Honey, that’s all relationship stuff. What you need is a fling.”

  “I’m not really sure I’m a fling kind of girl.”

  Selena narrowed her eyes. “Kat. Sweetheart. Did you not hear me say that I’m a single mother? When I’m not working, my days involve making lunches and spending way too much time discussing purple crayons with a toddler whom I love to pieces but who has barely mastered words of two syllables. I need some excitement. I need to live vicariously through someone else’s love-life. And I need you to be that person because I don’t have time for that kind of drama myself!”

  Kat laughed. “Sorry, but my love-life’s never been all that exciting. If you’re looking for vicarious thrills you’ll have to look somewhere else.”

  “Oh, come on!” said Selena. “I thought you came here to let go of the past and try new things?”

  “Well, yes, but... I’m not sure I want Jack Harper to be one of those ‘new things.’”

  “Why not? Jack is great. And he’s ideal for you right now be
cause he’s not a relationship kind of guy. Don’t get me wrong—he’s a good person. And I love working with him. He’s great at his job, really funny, and a good friend. But he’s tailor-made fling material; he never dates anyone for long.”

  “I’ll just bet he doesn’t,” said Kat through gritted teeth. Selena was simply confirming her first impression of him.

  Selena continued to gush about Jack’s virtues.

  “He’s a lot like you, actually,” she said. “He could have worked anywhere on the mainland, but he chose to come here instead. And he’s not just any paramedic. His parents are the Harpers—from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln—”

  “Wait a minute,” said Kat.

  Jack Harper? It was quite a common last name and she hadn’t given it a second thought till now.

  “You mean his parents are Michael and Janet Harper? The famous research scientists? I still have some of their books from medical school on my shelf.”

  She remembered Jack had touched on the subject of his family in the ambulance, and now knew her feeling that he’d been holding something back had been spot-on. She couldn’t understand how he could have talked about his family without ever mentioning that his parents were famous in the medical world.

  “What the hell is the son of two of the most well-known medical researchers in the country doing working as a paramedic at a small hospital in Hawaii?” she asked.

  “Shouldn’t you be asking yourself a similar question?” Selena’s eyes twinkled. “What’s one of the most respected internists in the U.S. doing at my little hospital? I’m sure he has his reasons, just as you do. You see? You two are a lot alike.”

  “Sure, if oil and water are alike...” Kat muttered.

  “I don’t know why he wants to work here, but I’m glad he does,” Selena continued. “He’s a gifted paramedic. Most of the patients he brings in are already stable by the time they get to the hospital, no matter what the emergency.”