A Date with Dr. Moustakas Page 14
Naomi got dressed and he was sad that she was putting her clothes back on when their night had been so magical. He’d always treasure it. Their one stolen night.
You could have more.
He ignored that thought, because he couldn’t have any more with her. Not after what he’d done to her. She’d told him her grandmother had said she was cursed, but maybe he was the cursed one. He certainly felt cursed in this moment.
“My shoes are still on the beach,” she said.
“We’ll get them.”
She took his hand and he led her down the path, back to the little cove where everything had been cleaned up—including the torches. It was still and dark, the only light coming from the full moon that was fading slightly now as dawn was about to creep up on them.
“I think they must have taken them back to the yacht,” he said. “If not, my father will find them and send them to me.”
“Let’s hope they’re on the yacht. I’m tired of losing shoes in Greece.”
He laughed and took her hand as they headed back to the docks and climbed the steps onto the yacht.
Her shoes were in the living room.
“Thank goodness!” she said as she slipped them back on.
“I’ll tell the captain we’re ready to leave.”
He left the living area and headed up to the bridge. Captain Panos was waiting and Chris told him to take them back to Athens—but not the leisurely way this time. Then he headed back to Naomi, who was curled up on the couch, looking out over the water as the yacht started pulling away from Spritos.
He sat down next to her.
“I had a great time tonight,” she said dreamily.
“Me too. Are you tired?” he asked.
“A bit.”
He moved closer and she rested her head against him. He used the remote to dim the lights. She drifted off to sleep against him and he stroked her head, wishing he could have her, wishing that he deserved her. But he planned to stay in Mythelios and she clearly wanted more than that. She was entitled to follow her dream and excel at being the brilliant surgeon he knew she was.
He couldn’t hold her back, like he had almost done before. He had to let her go.
Even though he knew it would kill him.
* * *
Chris couldn’t sleep after he’d dropped Naomi off at her apartment. He went back to his own apartment to change and shower.
Once he’d checked on Lisa and Evangelos, both of whom were sleeping, he wrote Lisa a note to let her know that he was going to the hospital to check on Stavros and prepare to remove the anaplastic oligodendroglioma from his temporal lobe and the part of the cerebellum where it had infiltrated.
It was a risky surgery for Stavros, but he was in good health for a man in his midfifties. Chris had already warned Stavros that it would be some time before he’d be back working at the taverna, but Stavros’s wife, Maria, and his brother from Italy would be able to help him to keep his business going.
Chris had told Stavros it was now or never. Chris had to get it out before the tumor spread to more parts of his body. Once it started spreading, there was no point in doing the surgery. There was very little they would be able to do by then.
As he sat in an empty skills lab, he couldn’t focus on the scans in front of him. All he could think about was Naomi and asking her to stay in Greece so they could see if it would work out between them this time.
But that was selfish of him and it made him angry.
He was a fool.
And he hated himself. Maybe it would’ve been better if she’d never walked back into his life. Then at least he wouldn’t be so distracted by her now.
He swore and scrubbed a hand over his face as he leaned back in the chair.
He had to get Naomi out of his head.
There was a knock at the door and he glanced over. Naomi was standing there, awkwardly hovering in the doorway in blue scrubs.
“I thought I’d find you here,” she said.
“Yeah, I’m just putting together a game plan.” He motioned to the seat next to him and she sat down and slipped him a cup. “Thanks.”
He took a sip and found it was strong espresso.
“I’ve had about three,” she said.
He chuckled. “Are you ready?”
“I’m ready.”
“It’s been a long time since I removed a grade three anaplastic oligodendroglioma.”
“You can handle it. You’re a neurosurgical god.” She grinned at him.
“Let’s not joke about the gods—especially not before surgery.”
“Deal.”
She stood up, and they walked together down the hall. Before they entered the surgical floor, they put on their surgical caps and took off their lab coats and headed into the scrub room.
Stavros was waiting for them in the operating room. He was still awake. The surgical team was waiting for Chris to finish scrubbing before they put Stavros under.
It wasn’t the surgical team he was used to, but at least he had Naomi by his side and he was used to working with her. She was his good luck charm and always had been when they had worked together in Nashville.
He was still angry at himself for throwing all that away.
Don’t think about it now.
He finished scrubbing up and headed into the operating room, where a scrub nurse gowned and gloved him.
“How are you today, Stavros?” Chris called out as the final glove was pulled on and he made his way over to him.
“I could be a lot better,” Stavros replied nervously. “I don’t like the idea of someone messing with my brains. Although my wife would say that I didn’t have many to begin with.”
Chris grinned at him from behind his mask. “I am the best there is, Stavros.”
“So Ares told me when he convinced me to get this done.”
“I’ll thank Ares for that later.”
“This surgery will give me a shot at a longer life?” Stavros asked.
Chris nodded. “It will be a difficult recovery. I won’t lie. Recovery from brain surgery is not easy. And it will be painful. But if we get it all out now, then it won’t spread and it won’t kill you.”
Stavros gave him a brave smile. “Then I’m ready, Dr. Moustakas.”
Chris nodded at the anesthesiologist, who put an oxygen mask over Stavros’s face. Chris rolled his shoulders and closed his eyes, picturing the brain in his mind.
Naomi walked into the operating room then and he flicked open his eyes, calming down immediately. Her eyes crinkled, letting him know she was grinning at him behind her surgical mask.
You got this.
He bent down as the scrub nurse slipped on his glasses and then his headlamp. The surgical site was prepared. Stavros’s hair had been shaved to expose the part where Chris would be cutting. Underneath it all there was a nasty tumor growing and destroying this man’s life and he would get rid of it.
He’d cut it away—just like he had to do with Naomi. He was the nasty tumor that had been growing in her life, sucking away all her goodness and making her sad. And once this surgery was done, he had to let her go. He had to concentrate on raising his son.
He was no longer free, but Naomi could be.
He wasn’t going to hold her back from her potential. It was the only thing he could do to make up for not being there when their child had been lost.
He would never forgive himself for that. He would never be able to make it up to her, but he could at least do this. He could cut her free so that she wouldn’t have to look back at him and live a life full of regret. She could move on and be happy in her new job.
Without him.
“Scalpel, please,” he said.
* * *
Something had changed with Chris, and Naomi wasn’t sure what it was.
There would be no cost to Stavros. After the success of the auction Chris had convinced the hospital board to offer their surgical team and the use of an operating room pro bono.
Naomi had absolutely loved her time in Greece. And if she were being totally honest with herself, the job offer in Houston wasn’t looking as gleaming and shiny bright as she’d first thought.
Her parents were both gone, and her mother didn’t have much family surviving in the United States, so there really was no one left for her there. She’d thrown herself into her work and travelling with International Relief these last few years, but here in Greece she’d found something more.
Don’t be a fool. Don’t give up all your plans on the off chance that Chris will want to be with you.
She remembered what had happened last time. There was still that nagging little bit of her that didn’t quite trust Chris. And his noticeable distancing of himself from her, not only in the operating room but even before then, had set off her alarm bells.
He’d begun to pull away as soon as the yacht had docked at the yacht club in Athens and the limo had dropped her off at home. The sparkle, the twinkle that was usually in Chris’s eyes had gone. He’d thrown up an invisible wall. Just like he had before he’d announced that he was taking that job in Manhattan and leaving her.
Back then he’d just ended it and walked away, and she wasn’t sure that her heart could take him doing that to her again.
She needed to end it first.
So she should take that job in Houston and put some distance between her and Greece. Between her and Chris.
He was standing at the nurses’ station of the post-anesthesia care unit, writing notes at Stavros’s bedside. Her heart ached, because she wanted to stay with him and Evan forever. She just didn’t know if that was what he wanted too.
And if he didn’t want her, then she had to leave.
He glanced up, as if he’d sensed that someone was staring at him, and gave her a half smile and a wave before handing the chart off to a resident and coming to speak to her.
“How’s Stavros?” she asked numbly as they walked away from the recovery unit so they could speak and not disrupt the recovering patients.
“He’s doing good. He’s stable, but still out of it. He’s on a lot of painkillers. Once he goes up to the intensive care unit, Maria can be with him. I think she’ll help just by being there. Once he’s conscious, I’ll be able to assess him.”
“So you’re staying in Athens a bit longer?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I am. And when I return to Mythelios, Lisa is going to stay in Athens. She wants to get married really soon, so I’m going to cut down my hours at the clinic so that I can spend more time with Evan.”
“You’re going to give up your career?” she asked, confused.
“It’s just a job. I don’t need it. I have enough money to take some time off and raise my son. Do what’s right.”
“That’s very admirable of you, but you have such a talent. You should keep helping out at the clinic.”
“I will—I’ll just be cutting my hours.” He ran his hand through his hair. “And how long are you staying in Athens?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“You’re not going to walk away from that job, are you?” he asked in disbelief, and she heard a hint of censure there too.
“I haven’t definitely decided on taking that job, actually.”
“You’d be a fool to walk away from it.”
“Why?” she asked hotly.
“It’s your dream job. You should take it. International Relief is all well and good, but you’re far too talented to stay with them. You could really make something of yourself.”
“What if I want to stay here?”
“Why?” he asked bluntly. “There’s nothing here for you.”
It was like a slap to her face. “Isn’t there?”
“No. There’s not.” He looked away, his face like thunder. “Nothing has changed for me, Naomi. I can’t give you the life you should have. I’m sorry that I left you alone to deal with the loss of our baby—”
“Don’t even talk about that,” she snapped. “You don’t have any right to talk about that to me.”
“Please, Naomi, don’t be a fool. Take the job in Houston. Don’t waste your time on me. I’m never going to get married. Never.”
“So you’ve always said—but I don’t understand why. You said you didn’t want to have kids, yet you have a son.”
“He was a mistake. But he’s my mistake and I live with that by being the best father I can to him.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Naomi, you deserve better than me. I’m sorry if I led you on.”
Her spine stiffened. “You didn’t lead me on. I guess I wanted to lay some ghosts to rest and I don’t regret our time together. Now I can move forward and forget all about you.”
She wanted to scream and cry, but he was just telling her the truth. It was only what she had been suspecting all along. At least now she finally had the answer to her question.
He might not be a playboy anymore, but he certainly had no interest in changing his bachelor status. His love affairs were brief and he moved on as soon as he could.
And she should finally move on too—even though her heart was broken once again. She wouldn’t let it drag her down the way it had done in the past. She would walk away from Chris Moustakas now and never think of him again.
But as she turned away, an alarm went off and a nurse came running toward them.
“Dr. Moustakas—Stavros is stroking out!”
Chris cursed and ran after the nurse, and Naomi followed him. Stavros was in arrest.
Chris was shouting orders over the commotion and Naomi hung back for a few moments. There was nothing she could do—she would just be getting in the way. So she slipped away as soon as Chris had the situation well under control.
He didn’t need her—he never had—and she would now be able to live her life knowing that Chris Moustakas hadn’t changed.
Not really.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“SO THAT’S THE whole story,” Naomi said, sitting on the bench next to Lisa, who had brought Evan out for a walk in the park.
“I knew there was something more than you two just being friends,” Lisa said. “What a butt-head.”
Naomi chuckled. “No, don’t be mad. He has always been up front about the fact he never wanted to get married or have a family. I was the one who thought that love could change everything. And maybe that’s my curse, as Yia-yia always said. Maybe my curse is believing too much in happily-ever-after even after not getting my own.”
“Yia-yia was a drunk!” Lisa said crossly.
“What?” Naomi asked, laughing.
“It’s true. She was always on the ouzo. You heard Uncle Gus say it the other night at my parents’ house. Yia-yia was insane. You’re not cursed—if anything, you’re blessed. You’re a brilliant surgeon. And I’m sorry, but Dr. Moustakas does love you. It’s totally obvious to everybody. He’s just too stubborn to see it.”
“Well, I can’t wait around for him to realize it—and you’re not to say anything to him.”
“I won’t.” Lisa laid her head against Naomi’s shoulder. “I’m going to miss you when you go. Will you come back in a couple months for my wedding to Themo? I want you to be one of my bridesmaids.”
“Of course! If I can spend thirty-five grand on a doomed date, I can buy a plane ticket to attend my favorite cousin’s wedding.”
“Us girls have to stick together. I wonder why your father didn’t give you his last name.”
“W
ell, technically my parents were never married. My mother was Catholic and Dad was Greek Orthodox, Neither one would convert, so they just lived in sin. I was baptized Greek Orthodox, but I took Mom’s name when I started medical school. I couldn’t have patients trying to say your last name.”
“There’s nothing wrong with Kokkinou!”
They both laughed together.
“I’m still going to miss you, Naomi, but if this job is your dream job, you need to go for it.”
Naomi nodded and stared up at the brilliant blue sky. She didn’t want to leave Greece. She wished she could stay there. But she didn’t want to keep running into Chris. She would never be able to get over him if he was always there.
“Oh, look who’s here,” Lisa whispered.
Naomi looked up to see Chris heading toward them. “I have to go.”
Lisa nodded and kissed her cheek.
Naomi got up and walked swiftly in the opposite direction.
“Naomi, wait!” Chris called out.
She closed her eyes and stopped.
Just keep going.
“What?” she asked, turning around. “I have a lot to do.”
“I know. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry we’re parting on these terms. I wanted us to be friends.”
“I wanted us to be friends too, but it’s just not possible. How is Stavros?” she asked, changing the subject because she was tired of talking about them.
“He’ll pull through—but we won’t know the extent of any cerebral damage until he wakes. For now, he’s alive.”
“Good,” she said gently.
“Naomi, I don’t want it to end like this.”
“Like what? This is exactly the way you want it to end. I get it. You don’t want a relationship and I do. We can’t be friends and soon we won’t even be colleagues. You won’t have to worry about seeing me just around the corner.”
He looked away, his hands jammed into his pockets. “Well, I wish you well in Houston.”
“Thank you.” Tears were threatening to spill over. “Give my best to Stavros and his wife. As well as the rest of them at the clinic on the island. I don’t think I’ll have time to go back.”