Free Destroy (A Standalone Romance Novel) by Claire Adams Page B

in
the flesh. My heart beat a drum in my chest. I thought I was going to faint
from shock. My one-night-stand, my dream lover, my Mr. Drop-Dead-Gorgeous was
looking at me looking at him. For a fraction of a second, my eyes averted his
gaze. I could have hid under the table.

 
    Chapter
9

 
    Truly, this was too much
of a coincidence. For a moment, I wondered if Dr. Aldridge had a twin that
still lived somewhere upstate New York. He was staring at me staring at him.
For a fraction of a second, I thought he was going to address me directly. My
mouth closed slowly as I turned away. Seeing my face–pale as a sheet
probably–Tiffany asked, “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen death walk
over him.”
    “I’m fine, Tiff. It must
be drinking cold coffee that doesn’t agree with me.”
    Tiffany returned her gaze
to look at Jeff. I didn’t.
    He was saying, “As Doctor
Kerry must have told you earlier, I won’t be working directly with each of you
for another month. In the meantime, you’ll have a chance to observe the various
procedures our surgeons perform every day in this hospital. Most of the time,
you’ll be attending or watching the procedures from the enclosures overlooking
each theater. I know you’ve seen a couple of interventions already, so you’re
familiar with the two-way sound system in each of the booths. From time to
time, when you’re attending one of the procedures I will perform, I will be
shouting questions at you. You’ll then have time to answer. These questions
will just serve as a little refresher quiz. But don’t worry, I’m not going to
give you a hard time or mark your responses. I’ll give you hell afterwards,
though!”
    Eleven interns broke in
loud laughter, while I didn’t even turn my head to him. I was sure he was
staring at me again. I felt his eyes on my profile. I knew he recognized me.
It’s not like we were wearing masks and gowns. He was probably trying to
attract my attention. I didn’t want to succumb to his demanding gaze. In the
meantime, I felt as if my world came crashing down around me. I really didn’t
want to have anything to do with the man anymore. It had been a delightful
interlude; a fantastic night to remember, but nothing more should come out of
it, certainly not now, not ever, actually.
    When everyone settled
down, Dr. Kerry told us that as soon as we finished our coffee we would need to
get into the scrub room and change into our surgical gowns. She added that the
nurses would help each one of us to slip into the garments and that at no time
should we ever touch anything with our hands once they’re washed. “Use your
elbows, your hips, knees or even noses if you wish to open or close a door, but
do not use your hands. If you do, you’ll have to go over the whole process
again. Understood?”
    I felt like shouting,
“Yes, ma’am!” but said nothing and just nodded in acknowledgement.
    It took all of us a good
fifteen minutes to slip into the surgical gowns and slippers. As for the cap,
the girls had to wear a paper-like net around their heads. The nurses showed us
how to get every strand of hair under the net before they led us to the sinks
to wash our hands, wrists and forearms–up to the elbows. Still dripping wet,
from that moment on, our hands were not to touch a single thing until the
gloves came on. It felt as if I was thoroughly isolated from every speck of
dust that might have floated about the place and as if no bug of any sort could
ever reach me in this get-up.
    We then filed into the
operating theater. It was one of the larger ones in Jeff’s “dungeon”. The
patient had arrived a few minutes before. The man was talking to Jeff and the
nurses as if they were old friends. Maybe they were? When Dr. Kerry closed the
door and came to stand beside us, she nodded to Jeff. He was ready to start the
procedure. The patient was drifting away into dreamland while the
anesthesiologist put a mask over his mouth and nose. This procedure