Page 3 of Healing Her (Pulse Medical #1)
A shley could not believe her eyes. The hippie-looking dancer who was the whole reason she’d had to drop six hundred dollars on a brand-new Diane von Furstenberg dress less than an hour ago, the woman who was why she was late for this staff meeting—what was she doing here ?
“It’s nice to see you again,” the woman said with a friendly smile on her face.
Her pretty face, Ashley noticed, much to her annoyance.
She was older, light crow’s feet radiating from her blue eyes, and her hair was a long tumbling cloud of silver curls.
But her face was open and cheerful, her cheeks dimpling as she smiled, a pert little nose a plastic surgeon would kill to replicate.
Ashley had noticed none of these things in the shifting violet light of the Indigo Lounge, but in the warm lights of the conference room, she couldn’t miss them.
None of that dampened her irritation, which in fact only increased when she realized everyone in the room was looking between the two of them, naked curiosity on their faces. Chief Sundstrom was the first to speak up. “You two know each other?”
“We’ve met socially,” the woman replied, keeping things simple.
At least she could be discreet. Ashley wasn’t in the closet, but she wasn’t in the habit of giving any of her colleagues gossip fodder.
Her life was hers; she wanted to keep it that way.
So she did grudgingly appreciate the modicum of discretion.
Chief Sundstrom looked puzzled but let it go. “Doctor Proctor, this is Doctor Jennifer Colton. She’s going to be the director of our organ donation and transplant program here at Oakridge.”
What! Disaster. “Are you serious?” she blurted out without thinking, and immediately wished she could take it back. Whispers and murmurs began to go around the room, and Chief Sundstrom’s left eyebrow nearly took flight, it arched so high.
“In fact, I am serious, Doctor Proctor. Do you have any objections to this appointment?”
Plenty, as it happened. Ashley wasn’t unfamiliar with Dr. Colton’s reputation as a pioneering maverick.
It seemed like she popped up in Transplantation , the most prominent journal in the world of organ transplants, every other month.
She’d been among the first to embrace the concept of animal to human transplants, of 3D printing organs based on patient cells.
She frequently wrote papers proposing new ways to increase organ viability, and worked with pharmaceutical companies to try and develop new immunosuppressant drugs.
New, new, new seemed to be the mantra of Dr. Jennifer Colton.
Always pushing ahead, never sticking to tried and true methods.
It seemed the next new shiny thing always had to be sought.
Ashley hated everything about this approach to medicine.
So much had been invested in the safe methods they had now, so much careful policy was in place to protect doctors…
Jennifer Colton was a threat, plain and simple.
Ashley’s stomach churned at everything the woman stood for.
“Doctor Proctor?” Chief Sundstrom’s voice was loaded with concern.
She snapped out of her anxious, furious reverie. “No objections.”
“Good.” Jennifer Colton was still smiling.
“That’s very good. Because we’re all going to have to work together very closely.
I expect a high degree of collaboration and cooperation with my surgical teams. Lives are at stake with everything we do as surgeons, but most especially in the transplant field.
Organ donation is a precious gift, and every second counts in a transplant procedure, from the time a donor organ is extracted to when it’s stitched into its new home.
” Her smile grew wider and her eyes locked in on Ashley’s.
“It’s like dancing. One little misstep and you never know what can go wrong. ”
Bile set Ashley’s stomach on fire. Was the transplant surgeon picking on her ? That sort of behavior would be beneath any surgeon in her opinion, but certainly it had to be beneath a world-renowned transplant surgeon of Jennifer Colton’s level.
“We’re looking forward to working with you, Doctor Colton,” came from Ashley’s left, and oh, of course that suck-up Majumdar was on board with this preposterous plan.
Oncological surgeons were almost worse than transplant surgeons when it came to pushing the boundaries of modern medicine into the stratosphere.
But Ashley could understand that when it came to cancer. To a point.
Her blood boiled and she barely heard the rest of the meeting. She only snapped back to attention when she realized people were squeezing past her to get out the door of the conference room. Turning, she tried to squeeze out with them.
“Doctor Proctor?” The calm, friendly voice of Jennifer Colton came from behind her, and Ashley reluctantly turned to face her.
Up close, she was even more attractive, Ashley noted with extreme irritation.
She clearly invested in excellent skin care, for one thing.
But it was her eyes, those sparkling blue eyes, deep as oceans, full of wisdom and mirth—they were what made her face transcend prettiness.
Ashley liked older women because of their eyes, the knowledge they held.
If only this older woman wasn’t… who she was…
She shook her head. “Yes, Doctor Colton?”
Gently, Jennifer guided Ashley out of the way of the departmental exodus. “I feel like we got off on the wrong foot, Doctor Proctor. I’m sorry about last night. I’m sure my drink stained your outfit, so please send me the dry-cleaning bill.”
Ashley raised an eyebrow. “That is the least you can do, so thank you, I suppose.”
“My, you’re a prickly one.” Doctor Colton chuckled. “Is there something else I’ve done to warrant this level of hostility?”
Ashley stopped to think. It was the kind of approach she always took, to actually stop and think before she spoke, and to choose her words with care.
“It’s not hostility. I am, of course, upset about my clothing.
I also don’t like how you decided to tease me in the middle of your speech about unity and cooperation. ”
“It was just a joke,” Doctor Colton began, eyes widening in surprise.
“A joke I don’t appreciate coming from anyone, let alone a surgeon of your stature who is new to this hospital. If anything, I feel the hostilities began on your end first.”
Blinking, the transplant surgeon took a step back. “I don’t feel hostile towards you. And this is escalating far beyond a spilled drink and a silly joke. Why?”
Ashley fought back the rising irritation that just looking at Jennifer Colton caused her.
She still managed to speak carefully. “You and I have vastly differing approaches to medicine. I don’t feel like we’re going to work well together at all.
I would like to simply request that you stay out of my way from here on out. ”
With an effort, she turned on her heel and left the conference room, Dr. Colton stunned in her wake.