Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 31

Bethany

POV

The pool was what I needed. I did thirty laps. The constant rhythm of each stroke helped clear my mind and reduce the nerves that starting at a new job had caused. I was a confident doctor. I should not have been nervous, but I was.

I am choosing to take my new lab coat, covered in lots of pretty little hearts, and two new scrubs in a bag. When I get settled in the new job, I will place the scrubs in my locker and change into them there. Dressed in a dark blue-pin-stripped skirt, white blouse, pin-stripped jacket, and flat shoes, I walked casually to work earlier than I needed to be but thought, why not? The sooner I get there and start getting adjusted to the new place, the sooner all the nerves will fade away. It is the unknown staff that is making me nervous. Some nurses should never have been nurses; the same goes for some doctors. They know the job but do not have the bedside skills. I prefer a staff member to have. But that might be me. I am often told I am too soft. However, with me going to be spending most of my time on research, I will not have to worry about whether my staff members are caring for the patient the way I want them to.

When I arrived, I headed to the cafeteria, grabbed two cups of coffee, and two muffins, and headed up to my boss's office. That was an excellent place to start the first day, and so I hope who does not love a coffee and a muffin? Robson said he was at one of my seminars. I have only done a few. One was when I was still a student doctor, and I presented a mechanical heart that I had made, and I had transplanted it into a pig, and the pig lived and, as I am aware, is still alive, and being monitored. I have patented the design, if the Heart Association decides they want more made, they would need my permission, and most likely buy it from me. I have had some interests, but I have wanted to wait for the pig to die before I release it. I may have to let them purchase it from me. Because of how long the pig has survived, though at the time of the presentation, he had lived three months, and they called it a success, and that was why I presented

I knocked on Robson's office door and heard his voice from inside.

"Come in." I pushed the door open and popped my head around it, peering in. Robson raised his head from his work, and his face broke into a huge smile. This is an excellent way to start a new job.

'Come in and sit down. It's good that you came in early. Oh, you sweetheart, you come with coffee, come, sit, and give me that elixir of life and that muffin. He reached out his hand for the coffee, and I quickly entered and placed the coffee in his outstretched hand. He took a long gulp before giving me another of his bright smiles.

'How did you know I love chocolate chip muffins?' He took another bite and moaned in pleasure as he started to eat the muffin.

'We can talk a bit before I take you out there. Better yet, I should get your co-worker to come in and meet you. He can show you around where he is in charge, as I have already shown you the labs you will be in charge of the other day. He lifted his phone and dialed a number.

'Morning, can you come to my office, please?' Robson asked the person on the other side of the phone, and he nodded a few times. I chuckled to myself, knowing the person on the other side of the phone would not see him nodding. It is a natural thing to do, but it is still fun to see others do what you often kick yourself for doing.

'Yes, your colleague is here. I would like you to show her around, and introduce her to some of the staff. When you are done, can you bring her back here so I can take her to her lab and get things started?' He listened a few more moments before hanging up the phone.

'That sounds like a good plan. As you said before, you need me to help with surgery. I took a sip of my coffee and waited for him to continue talking. I was looking forward to meeting my colleagues and hope we get along well.

'Yes, I need you for the children. Your skills with those tiny hearts are the highest I have ever seen, and each one will be yours!'

'Oh, no pressure on me then.' I joked as I finished off my muffin and coffee. I placed the empty cup on the table, and Robson picked it up and placed it in a bin under his desk.

'Ha, ha, I am sure you will be needed by others too, but children are the skill that I need the most. I nodded, understanding more clearly as he had hinted before, so it was good to get clarity. He took another drink of his coffee and continued.

'I also want you to continue with that mechanical heart. You have a good item there. That pig is still going strong, and I would like you to introduce it to some of our patients. If you are interested, we will pay you, of course, but for those who have run out of options for a human heart due to blood rarity. This might be a solution. We have talked to a few patients who are struggling and may not last much longer, and they are willing to give it a try. We have all the clearances in place; being a private hospital and a research one on top of that has made getting the clearance easier than I had expected.

'I understand; I need to make some more and of different sizes; I need to meet the candidate and make sure they are up to the surgery!

'I understand, we have three men here, living in our hospital waiting. You can meet them during your tour of the hospital. He placed his cup into his bin and looked up at me before he continued.

'I need to introduce you to your staff. You have two nurses and a learning doctor. He is in his third year. They are yours, but the main hospital could borrow them from time to time when we are under the pump, but never if you are in the middle of something!' 'I am fine with sharing if it is given when I need some help. I smiled. At least I have two nurses, and I hope one does not mind; it is a boring night shift.

'Of course, the general hospital has six fully trained doctors and twenty nurses who have been with us for a few years. We have eight student doctors with different levels of skill. Most are in their final year and doing a year of heart surgery to see if that is the area they wish to specialize in. They are connected to the city's main hospital and are paid by them, and if, at any time in that year, they decide this is not for them, they can return to the main hospital and look at another area. They sent us ten doctors in their final year who are contemplating heading into this area. That is how you end up with one. You may replace we will rotate them around, depending on their interest in that area. Your degree in veterinarian's surgery, I think, will help. You did it as an extra at college before your doctor's degree. Is that right, doing after-school work at a vet for a number of years before deciding on being a human doctor? So you can explain to the students some of the differences and why some animals cannot be used in the research. A knock interrupted Robson's chat.

'Come in. He called out, and the door opened. I turned to look at who had entered, and my eyes widened at the sight of who walked in. Luckily, I was sitting down, or I would have fallen down.