“But you really don’t have much in common, with you being a doctor and her being an elementary school teacher. And she’s from New York, and you’re from California.”
“We have plenty in common. For one thing, we’re both sports fanatics.” Brad worked to relax the tension that had risen in his shoulders. Kara had a habit of saying things that got under his skin.
“That’s fine for you, I guess. But almost every guy is a sports fanatic. Her new boyfriend probably likes sports, too. But don’t you think you’d rather end up with someone in the medical field?”
“Not necessarily. I get enough medicine at work—I need a break when I get home.”
“That’s because you’re working your butt off in the ER. But some day you’ll be in administration, and you’ll have plenty of doctors to do all your grunt work. To be honest you look pretty bad this week. You’re obviously working too many late hours.”
He had no intention of leaving the ER to be an administrator—he loved his job. But he didn’t feel like arguing with Kara.
“Right now I look bad because I haven’t been sleeping well. Maybe someday I might like to move up the ladder a little, but not too far up and not any time soon. I like what I do.”
“You know, my father’s on the board at Central Hospital back in L.A. I’m sure he’d be willing to pull some strings to get you a great position. Wasn’t that your first choice for your ER residency?”
“It was.” He cringed at the admission, although she’d already known the answer. “But I like it here. I have no desire to leave.”
“I only came here for the New York experience. I’ve always planned to go back. You should think about working in L.A. You know, I’m only a year behind you in my residency.”
Was Kara actually proposing a long term relationship? Was she bribing him with a position at Central? He felt his heart rate accelerating. How could he feel trapped when he was walking out in the open?
“I like it here and I plan to stay, so I guess it’s a good thing we’re only friends. It sounds like we could never have a future together.”
“You may change your mind about staying here. Isn’t your family in L.A.?”
“My parents are there, but my brother is planning to move to New York someday. In fact, he’ll be at the dinner tonight.”
Kara was quiet for a moment. “My dad might be willing to live in New York half of the year. He could probably get on the board at Mercy General.”
“Steven Gherring is on the board at
Mercy General. I doubt your father could have any more influence than he does.”
Kara waved away his objection. “Gherring’s only interest is the publicity—he doesn’t care about the day-to-day operations of the hospital.”
Brad took a slow deep breath and counted to ten. He failed to hide his considerable irritation.
“Steven Gherring is a personal friend of mine and Dr. Branson’s and a really great man. His only interest is the good of the hospital and the patients. He doesn’t give a flip about publicity.”
“Wow, don’t bite my head off! I didn’t know you knew the guy. Is that how you and Josh got in the residency?”
“No! We earned our residency positions before we ever met him. The same way I hope everyone else in the program did.” He spit the words out like venom.
But Kara laughed out loud. “Oh Brad, you’re hopelessly naïve if you believe that. The only way you’ll ever get anywhere in life is by knowing the right people. I think it’s great you know Steven Gherring—we should be able to use that to our advantage if I can’t talk you into moving back to L.A.”
Brad stopped before entering the Marshall’s apartment building, acutely aware of his perspiration despite the cool evening air. He grabbed her elbow and pulled her toward him, using his slight height advantage to look down on her.
“Kara, I don’t have time to talk about this right now, but let me make one thing perfectly clear. I’m not interested in using my friendship with Steven Gherring for personal gain. And please don’t say anything about that in front of this group of people. They’re all friends with him, and they’ll be quite offended.”
She wrenched her arm away. “Okay, don’t get your panties in a wad. I wasn’t going to say anything, anyway.”
Brad knocked on the door, wondering if he’d made a terrible mistake bringing Kara to Sunday night dinner. But he needed her with him to face Grace and her new man, especially since Grace had ignored his phone calls and texts. Surely Kara would act properly in this social situation. He’d instructed her to keep her mouth shut about Steven Gherring. And she’d been warned about Grace’s presence at the dinner. He’d been clear to Kara about maintaining their relationship at the level of friends and professional colleagues. He’d covered all his bases. What could go wrong?
Chapter Six
Kara knew this was her best opportunity to secure Brad Gates for herself. She was a bit disappointed he’d been reluctant to discuss more ambitious career opportunities, but he would come around eventually. He wouldn’t want to deal with the stress of Emergency Medicine for long. He was a perfect match for her—intelligent, tall, handsome, well-muscled. She didn’t much care for the way he cropped his hair short and wore a goatee, but that would be easy enough to change later on. She definitely wanted him to have a different style before the wedding, but that might be a year or two away.
She knew from the icy stares directed her way she wasn’t very popular with Brad’s friends. Of course these people were all Grace’s family, so they were understandably defensive. She hadn’t seen Grace’s brother and his fiancée yet—they were in the kitchen cooking. But she doubted she would be well received by them either.