“Well, you’ve certainly chosen well. True, I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her, but from what Cassie says, she’s certainly able to match you in terms of drive and pigheadedness,” she said with a smirk. “A surgeon, wow.” She sipped her tea.

“Yeah...she’s amazing. And busy,” he said, checking his phone again.

Still no response to his good-morning text two hours before.

“Long-distance relationships aren’t easy, but you’ll figure it out if it’s meant to be.”

His mother was a firm believer in faith, but she’d always told them that anything worth having was worth fighting for.

He smiled as he reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “You’re right. And this one is definitely worth the effort.”

* * *

SHIT, SHE’D OVERSLEPT.

Late morning sunlight shining through the window was not a good sign. Panicked, Erika grabbed her cell phone.

9:58.

She’d missed her daily briefing with her dad. These late-night calls with Reed had to stop. They had to figure out a better system. She couldn’t keep sleeping at her office either. Her back ached from that stupid cot and exhaustion was catching up to her.

How much longer could she keep this up?

Getting up, she straightened her skirt over her hips. She grabbed her lab coat from the hook behind the door and buttoned it, hoping no one noticed she was wearing yesterday’s clothes. A trip to her condo sometime that day was necessary. She’d only spent a few hours at home in the week since she’d been back from Wild River.

Thank God messy buns were in style.

Grabbing a bottle of mouthwash from her desk drawer, she took a swig, gurgled it and spit it into the trash can beneath her desk.

She grabbed her patient files off her desk and stumbled over her discarded heels, losing the contents of the files all over the floor.

“Shit.” She’d never felt this rushed, frazzled, unprepared and disorganized in her life. Luckily each piece of paper in the folders had a patient file number or her day would be getting complicated fast.

Gathering everything in a big pile, she shoved her feet back into her shoes and hurried down the hall to the boardroom.

“Erika, your intern clocked in an hour ago, she’s been waiting in the staff lounge for you...” a nurse called after her as she walked past.

“She’ll have to keep waiting.” So much for trying harder with the new recruits. They should be taking the initiative anyway. When she’d interned, she certainly didn’t sit around waiting for someone to tell her what to do.