Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
My mouth was frozen in place because I had no idea what to say to that. All I could do was stare at her and absorb the enormous compliment she’d just paid me. When we worked together as concierges, I noticed her kindness and her warmth, but now I was seeing so much more of her that I’d missed previously.
When she knew I wouldn’t respond, she cleared her throat and changed the subject. “So, your brother is a what? An aerosol manufacturer or something?”
I reduced my loud laugh to a chuckle because I didn’t want to embarrass her for misunderstanding what I’d said. “He’s an aeronautical engineer. He builds rockets and rovers, stuff like that. After leaving NASA, he started his own company, but he works in collaboration with them now. He’s also a professor to graduate students at the university. And he runs an internship program at his company for new engineers.”
Now she was the one who looked like she had no idea what to say.
“Yeah, he’s an overachiever.”
The shock slowly waned, and her smile came through. “Damn, I’ve never even heard of someone like that before.”
“He’s a lot like my dad. You know, quiet, contemplative, a little bitchy, a super genius.”
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but you’re just like that.”
I rolled my eyes as I released a chuckle. “Trust me, if you knew us better, you would see how different we are. Daisy and I got a lot from our mom, which allows us to have a sense of humor, and you know, talk to people. Derek is basically a second version of my father. It doesn’t seem like he got any distinguishable traits from his mother.”
“His mother?” she asked.
“Sorry, we have different moms.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah. My dad was married a long-ass time ago. He says he got it right the second time.” I couldn’t imagine myself getting it right the second time, not after the first one. It ended badly and that left me broken, but the worst part was how happy I’d been at the time. If a perfect marriage couldn’t last, then nothing would.
“And your sister?”
“She’s a doctor too.”
“Wow, that genius gene really runs in the family, huh?”
“Well, my sister is an idiot, so she clearly didn’t inherit it.”
She smiled because she knew I was kidding. “What kind of doctor is she?”
“She started as a general practitioner, but then she moved into this other sector and became a diagnostician, which is a kinda weird specialty that doesn’t quite exist. She works with a team of doctors at a clinic here and tries to correctly diagnose people who have already been to other doctors a million times with no answers. It’s a hard job that requires knowledge of every discipline, along with investigative work and collaboration. She’s deeply, deeply invested in her patients, so she doesn’t stop until she figures it out.”
Her smile softened as she looked at me. “For thinking she’s an idiot, you speak really highly of her.”
“Yeah, don’t tell her I said any of that.”
“Your secret is safe with me.” She moved her pen to the page. “I’ll make the arrangements so you can start as soon as possible. I’ll also hire some people for the office. You’ll need at least one nurse, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Anyone else? Another receptionist?”
He shook his head. “I don’t have a lot of patients, so I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“How does that work, exactly?” she asked. “If you don’t have a lot of patients, how do you stay in business?”
“Since I take on the most difficult surgeries that most other surgeons can’t perform, it’s pretty fucking expensive, basically.” That was the candid answer. “I’m not going to operate on someone when I think there could be other treatments conducted, so I only take on advanced cases with slim odds. My reputation as the best fetches me the highest price, and some of my surgeries net a couple million.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“The wealthiest people in the world come to me for health care. I’ve had actors, politicians, Saudi Arabian princes…” They paid for the best, so they got the best, and it allowed me to be selective in my patients while keeping the lights on and my bank account big. “But the beauty of it is that it also allows me to take on patients who can’t afford my services under any other scenario, like Mr. Torres. I usually have a lottery system in place because I’ll take on any patient, regardless of their health insurance, or if they even have health insurance at all. I believe everyone has the right to good health care, but the constraints of our system in this country make that unrealistic, so this is the best I can do—best of both worlds.”
She nodded in understanding and looked at me with the softest eyes I’d ever seen. “If they don’t have health insurance, how are the rest of the fees paid? I know you can donate your time, but what about the operating room, the nurses, the medications?”