of this book over my shoulder on a flight and told me it was crap (thanks, Sharon, you’ll be relieved to hear I rewrote it). She then read out the first sentence of hers in a loud voice and we were subsequently banned from flying with that airline ever again. Just kidding. Or maybe not. I won’t know until I try and book my next flight.
As always, thanks to my family for their endless patience. Living with a writer isn’t easy and no amount of pizza and chocolate can compensate for those times when a book is going badly and I’m pulling my hair out. You make me happy and I’m lucky to have you.
Table of Contents
“PHONE CALL FOR YOU, Dr. O’Neil. She says it’s an emergency.”
Sean rolled his shoulders to ease the tension, his mind still in the operating room.
His patient was a promising soccer player. He’d torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, a common enough injury that had ended plenty of sports careers. Sean was determined it wasn’t going to end this one. The procedure had gone well, although surgery was only the beginning. What followed would be a lengthy rehabilitation that would require dedication and determination from all involved.
Still thinking about how to manage expectations, he took the phone from the nurse. “Sean O’Neil.”
“Sean? Where the hell were you last night?”
Braced for a different conversation, Sean frowned with irritation. “Veronica? You shouldn’t be calling me here. I was told this was an emergency.”
“It is an emergency!” Her voice rose along with her temper. “Next time you invite me to dinner, have the decency to show up.”
Damn.
A nurse came out of the operating room and handed him a form.
“Veronica, I’m sorry.” He tucked the phone between his cheek and his shoulder and gestured for a pen. “I was called back to the hospital. A colleague had problems with a patient. I was operating.”
“And you couldn’t have called me? I waited in that restaurant for an hour. An hour, Sean! A man tried to pick me up.”
Sean signed the form. “Was he nice?”
“Do not joke about it. It was the most embarrassing hour of my life. Don’t ever, ever do that to me again.”
He handed the form back to the nurse with a brief smile. “You’d rather I left a patient to bleed to death?”
“I’d rather you honored your commitments.”
“I’m a surgeon. My first commitment is to my patients.”
“So what you’re saying is that if you had to choose between me and work, you’d pick work?”
“Yes.” The fact that she’d asked that question showed how little she knew him. “That is what I’m saying.”
“Damn you, Sean. I hate you.” But there was
