The Stone Beyond

I wonder.”
“What’s that supposed to mean,” Jennifer demanded. “You put me on their case, now you’re, what, saying I’m league with them or something?”
“Do you know more than you’re telling me?”
“I do not,” Jennifer said.
“It’s plain as day,” Parker said. “There’s already talk on the wards.”
“I can’t help that,” Shin Xu said. “If either of you can, I suggest you do!” Shin Xu looked at Jennifer, then back at Parker, eyes shifting back and forth. “You two seem to have become quite comfortable around one another.”
Uh-oh, Jennifer thought, I knew it!
Parker said, “We’re all on the same team, Adminisrator. Do I really have to remind you of that?”
Shin Xu’s eyes flared. “And I’m running this hospital and every aspect of it, need I remind you of that?”
“If that were true,” Jennifer said, “you could reverse this new policy. But that was the board of directors’ decision, and you’re simply implementing it. So you don’t really run this hospital at all, you merely do your masters’ bidding.”
Shin Xu sat there, furious, nearly trembling with her rage. Perhaps it was because Parker was there with her, perhaps it was merely that she’d been pushed too far, but Jennifer was ready for this contest, and was glad to see her adversary seemingly unwilling to attack.
Reading the obvious tension between the two women, Parker said, “We’ll do what we can.” Jennifer was gratified that he used we; she also wanted herself and Parker to be allied, and she knew she’d need his alliance to help save the hospital. “But this place could easily fall apart if we don’t all stick together, you mark my words. And when it does, don’t come running to us!”
“If that happens,” Shin Xu said, you’ll both be crushed underneath the rubble.” Jennifer and Parker shared a glance, then they both looked back at Shin Xu, who added, “To prevent it, and until then, I suggest you both get back to your duties.”
Jennifer and Parker stood up and he saw her out of the office. Once back into the relative calm of the hospital hallway, Parker joined Jennifer in a long sigh. Neither had to tell the other what they felt was coming; they shared a common ground and were of one mind.
But Jennifer could hardly keep from saying, “She’s something, right?”
Parker nodded. “I see where you’re coming from, Jennifer. But I do think her heart is in the right place. It’s a tough job, you know that.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know about her; there’s too much happening behind that mask she wears.”
Parker shrugged, glancing around and then straight into Jennifer’s eyes. “We all wear a mask, don’t we?”
Jennifer had to think about that. What kind of mask is he wearing, Jennifer had to wonder, who is he really?
But she had no other allies, and Dr. Parker Stone was still revealing more and more of his multifaceted and complex personality.
So when Parker said simply, “Let’s have dinner, talk about it,” Jennifer was hard pressed to turn the offer down.

CHAPTER SIX
The roasted chicken rosemary was tender and delicious, the rice pilaf was fluffy and flavorful, and a glass of crisp chardonnay washed it down beautifully. The dark ambience and candlelit table framed Parker perfectly, the flickering light catching his crystal blue eyes, peering out of that handsome face.
“The only way will be to convince the board of directors to reverse the new policy,” Parker said. “But that’s not going to be easy.”
Jennifer suggested, “What if we get all the doctors together, go to them with a united front?”
Parker seemed to give it a little thought, tilting his head as he took a bite of his steak. “Unfortunately, not all the doctors would be onboard with reversing the policy.” Reading Jennifer’s confused expression, Parker explained, “A lot of doctors are getting shorted by these new claims. They won’t be our allies.”
Jennifer shook her head and took another sip of wine. She’d been around and around the idea countless times, but nothing had come to her. It even seemed like the more she thought about it, the more confusing and beguiling the whole matter became.
“Well,” Parker said with a sigh, taking a sip of wine himself, “we’ll have to wait and see what develops.”
“Easy for you to say,” Jennifer said, “Mr. Go-With-the-Flow. But I need … control in my life, y’know? Without it, I feel, I dunno, helpless.”
Parker nodded. “Understandable. But I think the key is to understand that, however much control we can take over our lives, and we should do that, absolutely, we can never have total control. There are always going to be things we can’t anticipate, can’t control, can’t even understand sometimes. It’s not an easy thing to accept, those aren’t easy things to live with. But we do have to live, don’t we? Life, isn’t that our business?”
Jennifer couldn’t help agree, nodding as she swallowed. But it was more than the pure logic of his approach which she found so convincing. She was taken with his soulfulness and depth. And she couldn’t stop looking into those gorgeous blue eyes.
Jennifer returned her attention to her food, anything to think about other than that heroic, magnificent man sitting across the table. And those heroics seemed never-ending. Not only had he calmed the ward and talked Jack Stewart down off the proverbial ledge, he’d stood up for her against Shin Xu, a moment Jennifer would relive in her memory many times, she was certain.
She’d already glanced at the ring finger of his left hand; not even a tan line. He was such an impressive man, he seemed almost conspicuously single. Jennifer had known many doctors, and a lot of them had become married to their work, some losing marriages to the endless hours the job required, especially in the early years of both the marriages and