Free Revealing the Real Dr. Robinson by Dianne Drake Page A

was growing up, she was my stand-in parent because my parents were so involved in the hospital. I’d go days without even seeing them. Wouldn’t even see them when they were home.”
    “I met your father the day your grandfather rejected me for a residency position. He was...formidable. Not much separation between your father and your grandfather, actually.”
    Shanna tensed. “I’m sorry you were rejected, Ben. My grandfather is a very hard man. He has his ideas and he doesn’t budge.”
    He reached across the table, squeezed her hand. “But I benefited from his rejection because I found a hospital that taught me what I needed to know about surviving in the kind of practice I’ve set up here. It was rough, but it was also good, so I should probably thank your family for turning me down because your grandfather was correct when he told me my personality was abrasive and I was too argumentative to succeed in their residency program.”
    “Were you really abrasive and argumentative?” she asked. “Because I can’t see that. Socially distant bordering on cold or aloof maybe. But abrasive and argumentative?”
    He chuckled. “Talk about abrasive.”
    She smiled. “Sometimes the truth is harsh. But that’s how I see you...most of the time. It’s not a criticism, though.”
    “It’s not harsh. The truth is the truth, but it’s not always so nice to hear. Anyway, back then I was abrasive and especially argumentative. Lots of axes to grind, I suppose. And it’s still in me, if I want it to be.”
    “Do you want it to be?”
    “Not for a long time. Behaving that way doesn’t prove anything and, in the end, the only one truly hurt is yourself. So why bother when it doesn’t get you what you need?”
    “What do you need?”
    “A tiny hospital in an isolated area of Argentina.”
    Shanna sighed, slipped her hand out of his and relaxed back into her chair. “I’m still sorry my grandfather rejected you, but I’m glad you got everything you wanted in spite of him.”
    “One of life’s little ironies is that I didn’t get what I wanted at the time, but what I needed found me when I was ready for it. It worked out the way it was meant to.” But it wasn’t all good with her. He could see it in her eyes, in the way her shoulders went so rigid. Her new dedication had something to do with her family, and it was about a lot more than an argument over the treatment of an end-stage renal patient. Asking her about it would signal involvement, however, so he opted for the safe route.
    He deferred back to the menu. “Anyway, bife a caballo is a steak topped with a couple of fried eggs, with fried potatoes and salad on the side. It was a traditional meal before the gauchos set out on their horses to tend to their ranch—hence the equine reference in the name. Not what I’d care to eat before I go horseback riding, but to each his own, I suppose.”
    “Sounds...huge. But I like food, so it’ll work.”
    “ Bife a caballo. Make that two,” he said, holding up two fingers to the young server, who’d finally made her way to the table, seeming awfully glad to stand there and rest while he and Shanna talked. “With lemonade?” he asked Shanna. Then confirmed it to the server when Shanna said yes. “Dos vasos de limonada también, por favor.”
    “So now that the dinner necessities are taken care of, and I’ve apologized on behalf of my family, although I doubt they’d actually ever apologize to anyone about anything, is this where we discover we have nothing to talk about, or so many things in common we won’t be able to stop talking?”
    “The former for me,” Ben said. “Keeps it simple.”
    “What’s wrong with making it complicated?”
    “Complicated takes too much effort. There’s too much responsibility involved, and I have enough of that with the hospital. Don’t care to go looking for more.”
    “Makes sense to me,” she said, knowing it did but simply not feeling the substance of it. “So,