Page 161 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 3

“Oh, no. I’m not the one to deliver news. Dr. Hughes wants to do that personally. And he’ll be able to sit down with youshortly. Maybe in an hour or so. But in the meantime, we do have an exam room set up for you, Mr. Hunter. Dr. Young will be arriving any minute and we need to get all your tests done. We didn’t expect his early arrival so we need to get started as soon as possible.” She laughed nervously and checked her watch.

“Tests?” I asked. “I was under the impression that we were just going to go over my options.”

The nurse shook her head. “No, he wants to run an EKG, echocardiogram, and a full stress test. So…we should get started.” She opened the door for me.

“Is it okay if I come too?” Penny asked as we both stood up.

“If that’s alright with you, Mr. Hunter,” the nurse said.

“Of course.” I grabbed Penny’s hand and we followed the nurse out of the office and down the hall. All night and all morning we had been waiting for Liam’s results. My thoughts were far away from my own problems. I could only focus on one issue at a time. Which was probably why I hadn’t made a decision about what to do with my heart. I was waiting to hear if Liam was going to be okay. For weeks I had done nothing but wait. I had tried to ignore it, hoping that if I did the problem would just go away. But pretending it was getting stronger hadn’t helped. Nothing had helped.

The nurse opened up a door and stopped so abruptly that Penny and I almost ran into her.

“Excuse me sir, but you can’t be in here,” she said.

I peered over her shoulder to see a man in jeans and a plaid shirt fooling with the settings on a treadmill in the corner. He cleared his throat and turned around. His long white beard almost reached his pants.

“Hello,” he said in a cheery voice. “I’m Dr. Young. Come in, come in. We should get started.”

He was quite rotund for a cardiologist. It looked like the suspenders he was wearing were actually necessary and not just a hipster fashion statement. He practically looked the way Santa Claus was depicted. He was the best cardiologist in the states? Was Penny serious about this? And why was he dressed like he was in a cabin up north? I thought Penny said he had been on vacation in Miami.

“Oh.” The nurse didn’t move. “You’re Dr. Young?” She seemed as confused as me.

But I guess Penny recognized him from her research because she rushed into the room. “Thank you so much for agreeing to meet us here.”

He clasped her outstretched hand between both of his. “No problem, dear. I’m happy to help.”

The nurse walked into the room. “It’ll take me about 45 minutes to run all the tests you required. If you’d like to get changed in the staff lounge…”

I almost laughed, but bit my tongue. Clearly I wasn’t the only one alarmed by his appearance.

“Nonsense,” Dr. Young said. “I’ll just do the tests myself.”

“Are you sure? I already have everything set up and…”

“Of course I’m sure,” he said with a laugh. “These folks have requested to see me. I’ll give them all my time. There’s nothing else I need to do in Delaware. Such a quaint little town.”

I was pretty sure he lived in the middle of the woods in a log cabin, so I had no idea why he thought Newark was so quaint.

“Did you want me to at least grab you a lab coat?” the nurse asked. “Or…a stethoscope maybe?”

“Nope. I have it right here.” He reached into one of the pockets in his jeans, pulled a stethoscope out, blew on it, and wiped it on his flannel shirt. “Good as new.”

What the hell? Who was this lunatic?

“Okay then. I’ll just leave you to it. Page me if you need any assistance. The EKG machine is pretty new and…”

“We’re good.” He shooed her away. “Come in, Mr. Hunter. Let’s get to the bottom of what’s happening in that chest of yours. Just give me a minute to figure out this…oh…never mind, it’s already on.” He squirted a big glob of that jelly stuff used for echos onto the ground. “Warmer is on. Nothing worse than that being spread on you when it’s cold. This warmer is the best development in the cardiology field in a decade.” He chuckled to himself.

Really? The best development in a decade? “Penny, can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked and glared at her. She had to be kidding with this. My cardiologist in New York City was more competent than this old lumberjack.

“Can’t it wait?” she asked. “James, he’s flown all the way here.”

“It’s important.”

“Nothing is as important as the health of your heart,” Dr. Young said. “Well, besides for the health of your brain maybe. Mental health I mean. You both seem pretty good there though. Quick as a whip. You should take off your shirt.”

I shook my head.