Heart Like Mine Read Free Page A

tomorrow.”
    Josh cringed. “She’s not going to be happy about that. Can you make sure one of the child life specialists is on hand for her?”
    â€œAlready put her on the schedule.”
    â€œThank you.” He handed the signature pad back to her. “So, no on the sandwich?”
    â€œSorry. You’re on your own. Already got you coffee today.”
    He smiled, turning toward his office. Before he hit another patient room, he needed something in his stomach. Maybe he had a package of peanut butter crackers stowed in a desk drawer or something.
    However, before he’d taken three steps, Therese’s voice stopped him. “Oh, one more message. Delaney Blair from finance wants a meeting.”
    Josh felt his eyebrows furrow. He knew the name, but couldn’t place the face. This must be the call Millie had told him about this morning.
    â€œWhat does she want?”
    â€œShe wouldn’t say.”
    He took the pink slip with Delaney’s office extension on it. “I’ll give her a ring later.”
    â€œShe’s called twice already today. Sounds like it might be important.”
    He sighed as he headed back to his office and closed the door. He looked at the chair behind his desk, tempted to try to snatch a five-minute catnap. Then he glanced through the window out to the hallway, and discarded the thought.
    They had kids on chemo, kids with isolation infections, and kids whose home-care regimens weren’t up to snuff anymore. There were kids with mito disorders, digestive disorders, and anorexia … kids with surgery tomorrow, surgery yesterday, surgery this morning.
    Nurses buzzed around, doing their level best to keep the chaos under control, but as he watched through the window, he knew he had to find a way to get more staff on board.
    Maybe that’s what this Delaney Blair wanted to talk about—giving him more staff.
    Right.
    He looked at the slip in his hand, then wrinkled it up and tossed it toward the wastebasket. He didn’t have time to go up to the executive floor and hear some song and dance about doing more with less, or new directions, or supporting the hospital’s mission.
    Yes, if someone from the hallowed halls of finance wanted to talk, it couldn’t be good. He sighed as he looked out at the busy hallway, then back at a desk piled with paperwork he’d never get to.
    If Delaney Blair wanted a meeting, then she could come find him .
    *   *   *
    â€œYou’re just going to have to go down there, Delaney.” Megan propped a hip on Delaney’s desk two days later. Delaney envied her assistant’s long skirt, gypsy earrings, and long, loose cotton blouse. In college, she’d have topped it off with a head scarf and combat boots, but for the workplace, she’d gone with her standard-issue leather sandals.
    Delaney looked down at her own outfit and wondered when she’d turned into a toned-down version of her country club mother. Her neatly ironed blouse was set off by a perfectly matched skirt and jacket, and as she fingered the pearls at her throat, she sighed. Then she let her eyes coast down her calves, down to the Jimmy Choos she’d bought just last month. It was her splurge, her bow to girliness and inappropriate spending, and damn, she loved these shoes.
    She really did need to ditch the pearls, though.
    â€œI can’t just go down there, Megan.” Delaney felt a tingle at the base of her neck, just thinking of walking onto the pediatric floor. No, she definitely couldn’t go down there.
    â€œWell, he’s obviously not coming to you .”
    â€œHow can he just ignore my messages like this? It’s downright rude.”
    â€œOr he’s downright busy. Have you seen the bed count on pediatrics this week?”
    â€œNo.” Delaney cringed. It wasn’t the kind of thing she kept track of on a daily basis.
    â€œThere is always the possibility that