Page 27 of Careless Whisper (Modern Vintage Romances #11)

“Reggie, darling,” Faye said, with a smile that somehow managed to look soft and dangerous at the same time, “You know Elias and Maren.”

“Reggie, how are you?” I was glad my voice didn’t break.

I wanted to hug her, hold her, tell her I was so fucking sorry for not being the man she needed me to be, for not being the head of the department she needed me to be, for failing her, for losing her, for hurting her.

Reggie gave me a weak smile but didn’t say anything. Jason’s arm went around her, and she nestled into him.

I didn’t like how she looked. She’d lost weight. She was wearing makeup to hide the circles around her eyes, and there was a frailty about her that I’d never seen before her.

Did I do this to her?

Maren’s smile faltered. “How do you know Stephen and Faye, Reggie?” There was acid in her voice.

“She knows us because she’s our granddaughter,” Faye Lancaster announced.

Maren went pale. “Ah…well, I didn’t know that.” She turned to me, shock written in her eyes. “Did you…ah…d id you?”

I smiled at her. Fuck it! Why shouldn’t I have some fun on her account?

“I did.” It wasn’t a lie since I figured it out five minutes before she’d been hit with that fact like a sledgehammer.

“I believe, Dr. Loring, you worked with my granddaughter,” Faye stated, with all the grace of a viper preparing to strike. “ Briefly .”

Maren’s voice was flat. “Yes.” She knew what was happening, and there was no way for her to stop it.

“You know the Lancaster family has been investing in the medical space for years.” Faye looked like a hunter who was going to play with her prey. “But Reggie is the family’s first medical practitioner.”

Maren swallowed, and I saw her sway just a little.

It was all slipping away. The job, the funding for the trial, which she thought would keep her in her job, me…everything.

As far as I was concerned, it couldn’t have happened to a better person. She deserved all the ass-kicking Faye Lancaster was going to send her way, and I was under no misconception that the next ass to be swatted would be mine.

“We take great pride in our Reggie. She’s intelligent. Compassionate. The best nurse I’ve been told by experts who have had the pleasure of seeing her in action. Even if others”—she turned her eyes on me—“have not appreciated that. ”

Maren was about to speak, but Jason cut in. “We are very disappointed to hear how her career has been mishandled.”

“Her career is on the right track…or rather will be very shortly,” I assured them, willing Reggie to look at me. But her eyes were focused on her uncle’s dress shirt.

“And what happened in Boston.” Stephen shook his head in disappointment. “Dr. Loring, it was awful, wasn’t it?”

Maren was stiff as a board. A part of her wanted to tell these people to fuck the hell off, but if she ever wanted to practice medicine in the United States, pissing off the Lancaster family would not be prudent, especially for someone as ambitious as Maren.

“I… that situation—Boston—it was complicated.”

“I imagine it was,” Stephen quipped, his tone carrying the weight of a courtroom gavel. “But the truth rarely is. And your behavior was unprofessional at best.”

Maren took a small step back; for a moment, she looked like she was going to run; but then straightened as if finding her strength.

“I think you’re under some misunderstanding about your granddaughter.

Reggie, I’m sure you told your family some…

half-truths to not look too bad. I understand that.

” She then faced Faye Lancaster, and I gave her points for sheer guts.

“Reggie is a decent nurse, but she’s not a great one. ”

“I disagree,” I retorted. “Reggie is considered one of the top surgical nurses at Harper Memorial, and you know this, Maren because you were told so time and again by everyone in that hospital.”

Maren fixed me with a sharp, venomous stare. “Seriously, Elias? Now you’re ass-kissing the?—”

“She kept her cool even when there was a gun pointed at her,” I continued. “Even?—”

“A what?” Faye looked pointedly at Reggie, who groaned.

“G’Mum, it was nothing.”

She hadn’t told them, I thought amused. “A prison inmate who was in the OR got hold of a gun and?—”

“Stop,” Reggie muttered, and then she looked at the members of her family who were gawking at her.

“Nothing happened…I mean, we saved the patient. And that’s it.

” She then turned on Maren. “Dr. Loring, I have never lied to my family, I’ve never had to.

Even if I messed up from here to Sunday, they’d all still support me like I was the best thing since sliced bread. ”

“You know, I never understood why they say that,” Stephen mused. “I mean, sliced bread is hideous. I much prefer a baguette.”

Reggie’s lips twitched into a smile.

This was her family, her loving family—no wonder she had such a strong core and infallible integrity while my family and Maren’s had nurtured us to pretend we were something we were not.

“Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster—” Maren began but was interrupted by Faye, who nonchalantly announced, “ Dr. Loring, after reviewing your proposed trial, the board regrets to inform you that we have decided to pursue a different direction for funding. We’re quite selective about the character of those we support. ”

Maren stood frozen; her lips parted slightly like she’d just stepped off a cliff and hadn’t realized it until the ground disappeared.

Faye gave me a look that could slice through Kevlar. “Dr. Graham, I do hope you’re as good at fixing things for my Reggie as you are with a scalpel.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Stephen gave a slight cough that might’ve been a laugh. “Lancaster women are tough—I don’t think an apology will cut it, but it could be a half-decent start.”

Then, the family of four walked away, regal in their bearing.

Maren finally found her voice. “What was that?”

I looked at her deadpan. “That, Maren, was karma biting you in the ass.”