Leave the Pieces (Strawberry Inn Book #5)

Chapter 17

GLENN

Normally, the night before surgery day I will have a single serving of bourbon while sitting on my balcony and it’ll calm my brain down and allow me to get a good night’s sleep. Being a surgeon came naturally to me. I don’t know how to explain it, but I can visualize the entire procedure and every step before making the first cut. The only downside is I spend my night in bed thinking about every move I’m going to make and I can’t sleep.

A mentor I had during my residency recommended the bourbon trick. I never drink too much, only a single serving, and then my mind feels clear enough to fall asleep right away and wake up ready to go in the morning. It worked like a charm until last night. I was tossing and turning all night, resisting the urge to go into the room next door to wake Emory up and finish what we had started. My attraction to her has never gone away even though I tell myself the timing is terrible.

Maybe if we had kept in touch, it would be different. She’s only in my life because a rare set of circumstances sent her back to me. She’s the mother of my child, a child I’m trying to do the best by. I refuse to have a distant relationship with Callum the way that my dad and I do. Maybe the greatest gift he ever gave me was how not to be a father. How can I build a strong, loving, and lasting relationship with my son when I’m trying to get in his mom’s pants?

Last night felt good, but it shouldn’t have happened maybe when we figure out our future. Perhaps when Callum is a little older. Maybe when we don’t live hours again. Maybe, maybe, maybe. The only thing I know for sure is it can’t be now, no matter how good her lips felt on mine and how hard my cock got when she was rubbing her core against it. Then it was gone in a flash. Our son was the metaphorical cold water bucket that drowned the flames between us.

That was all behind me, for now. I’ve already performed two surgeries today. One was very similar to the procedure Callum had done, and that just got me thinking about him. I pulled out my phone to text Emory to check in when I was paged to the emergency room instead. A young child on a feeding tube had a blockage, their normal doctor was out of town and directed them to the children’s hospital. While serious, it was a pretty easy fix on my part. She’s now resting in a room with her parents and I’m tracking down my friend with a piece of pie that I know she won’t say no to.

The door to Tina’s office is open, which means she’s there and not running around somewhere else. I rap my knuckles on the door, but then walk right in, the same way she does to me. When she hears me, Tina spins in her chair and her face lights up when she sees the gift I brought. “Blueberry pie, anybody?”

“Glenn Matthew Barnes, you are my hero.”

I chuckle as I place the pie on her desk, “You know my middle name isn’t Matthew, right?”

“Meh,” she waves me off, digging into the pie, “it sounded like it worked so I went with it.” She takes a bite and her eyes roll back in her head, “God this is good. What’s the occasion for this piece?”

“Nothing in particular. I just happened to be going through the line in the cafeteria when they set out a new tray. Got myself one too,” I lifted up my plate, even though she’s clearly already seen it. “I heard you had an interesting case this morning.”

Tina finishes the bite in her mouth first and then laughs, “General surgery is where it is at, Glenn. This child swallowed a Matchbox car. How? He wasn’t even complaining when I was giving him his exam.”

“Why did they bring him in?”

“He was backed up and couldn’t keep anything down. Their pediatrician thought it was an obstruction, but I don’t think they expected a toy car. When I showed the parents the x-ray, the kid was just so matter-of-fact with me about swallowing it. Even asked for it back.”