Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“Ahhh, my eyes,” I tease, walking deeper into the morgue and pretending to shield my eyes from the sunlight.
Dr. McKullan chuckles as he glances up from the body he’s working on. “Is that you, Dr. Madden? I hardly recognized you with the sheen of daylight upon your skin.”
I give him a hard stare as I stride deeper into the morgue, Anders following behind, looking as though he’s about to hurl. “Very funny,” I tell Dr. McKullan as I find my desk and dump my bag down. “This is Anders. He’ll be my security detail for the day, you know, to make sure I don’t get sliced and diced while on the clock.”
“Excellent,” Dr. McKullan says. “We wouldn’t want you getting sliced and diced on the clock. Keep that for your private time.”
“I’ll see to it that I do.”
“Alright, enough of that,” the doctor says. “Get yourself settled in, and then I want to show you a new technique I’ve been developing.”
A surge of excitement rushes through me, and I hastily finish putting everything away while the girls immediately begin flirting with Anders, only for the first time since meeting him last week, his flirting game is nonexistent. To people only just meeting him, they would assume he’s hard and cold, not at all like the fun-loving guy I’ve come to know him as.
Having assistants and interns eager to please and busily running around means there’s already a body prepped and ready beside Dr. McKullan’s station, and all I have to do is scrub in before getting started on my day.
I step up to my favorite station, pleased that the girls have remembered which is my favorite to work with, and as I get started, Dr. McKullan wanders over to check on my progress. “How much longer do you have in your residency?”
“Three months, two weeks, six days,” I tell him. “Not that I’m keeping count or anything.”
“I see,” he says, deep in thought. “And then you’ll be a board-certified physician?”
“That’s the plan,” I say, oddly suspicious of his line of questioning. “What’s going on?”
“I’m thinking of finally hanging up my lab coat and retiring,” he says, offering me a sad smile. “I’ve been at it for forty years, and the wife is getting that traveling itch. She wants to go see the world, and honestly, if I don’t retire, I’m afraid she’ll hop on a jet without me.”
“Wow. To be honest, I thought you were going to be here until you dropped dead.”
Dr. McKullan laughs. “That was my plan, but apparently my hands aren’t what they used to be. I’m tired, Harper. I want to wake up and sit out on my deck while the grandkids play in the pool. And now that you’re just around the corner from being certified, I have someone to hand the reins to.”
“Me?” I ask, sucking in a breath, though who the fuck else would he be talking about?
“Exactly you,” he says. “It’s time to hand you the keys to the castle. You’ve done the work, you’ve put in the hours, and out of every doctor I have trained, you are the only one I’d feel confident to have step into my shoes.”
“That means a lot to me.”
“I know, which is why I can’t have you getting murdered in parking garages,” he says. “It would really put a bee in my wife’s bonnet if I couldn’t retire within the next six months.”
“Next six months?” I ask, my eyes widening. “But that’s right around the corner. I still have so much to learn from you.”
“No, Harper. You have learned everything I have to offer. You’re at the top of your game and ready to soar. You’re the one who has been teaching me,” he says, nudging me with his elbow to avoid having to scrub in again. “Now, why don’t we get on with it? We’ve got a lot to get through today.”
“Sure thing.”
“Alright, let me know once you’re ready to dissect the brain, and I’ll show you this new technique I’ve been working on. I’d really appreciate your thoughts.”
“Will do.”
Dr. McKullan wanders back over to his station and scoops up his scalpel before getting straight back to work, and as I get stuck into what I’m doing, I hear Dr. McKullan speak up from beside me. “Sandra, dear. Would you mind organizing some tunes? The grandkids have shown me how to do the Spotify, and I’ve put together a beautiful selection of classical hits that our young Dr. Madden here has expressed her undying interest in.”
Ahhh, fuck. I brought that one on myself.
The girls chuckle to themselves. They know damn well that I prefer to rock out with the music cranked as loud as it can go while working, and yet once the music comes on and fills the room, a strange kind of peace fills me, and I quickly get lost in my work while thinking about Dr. McKullan’s pending retirement.