In fact, the first argument he and Renee had gotten into in months was about her belief that there had to be a rule against bringing a doctor’s family member into an emergency room—even one with only three nurses, a licensed nurse’s aide, an armed security guard, a receptionist, one ER resident, and one board-certified emergency specialist. The Annex essentially served as a walk-in center to reduce the volume of the massive mother ship, just six blocks away.

“Let me send her into the office with Steve,” Renee had pleaded.

“Steve’s not her father. I am. Besides, how interesting could it be for her to hang out surrounded by a bunch of starched shirts and musty law tomes? I can hear her now reporting to her class: ‘I spent my day with my mother’s new husband, Steve, watching him making piles of money off a bunch of unfortunates who are suing a bunch of other unfortunates. Or you might as well send her to my brother’s office. Graham does even better at making money than Steve. Plus it might actually give him something to talk to me about besides my lack of a 401(k).’”

Even though Lou had ultimately won that round, he had to admit that as usual, Renee had a point, and he had told her so when he apologized for sounding like a jerk. For whatever reason, he had been feeling sorry for himself on the day the forms were due back to the Carlisle School. And despite some misgivings of his own about exposing Em to the raw underbelly of D.C., he had decided to turn Take Your Student to Work Day into Little Bighorn.

Two hours and thirty-five minutes to go.

So far, so good.

Despite a steady stream of patients, Gerhard Schultz was about as challenging a trauma case as the Eisenhower Annex typically saw. Lou missed the action in the main ER, but in his past life, he had squirreled away enough action points to star in a video game. For now, part-time shifts at the old Annex would do just fine.

Not surprisingly, the patients and the staff loved Emily to pieces. There was a grace and composure surrounding her that won people over almost as quickly as did her dark, unassuming beauty. Thirteen going on thirty. People loved to say that about their kids—especially their daughters. But the old saw, though true in Emily’s case, invariably brought Lou a pang. It was hard not to believe that in many ways he had robbed those seventeen years from her.

“Okay, Mr. Schultz,” he said, “one of the nurses will be in to dress your arm in just a few minutes. No work until next Monday. If you need a note, the nurse will put one together and I’ll sign it. Last tetanus shot?”

“A year or so ago. I … um … tend to bump into sharp things.”

“Sharp, rusty things,” Lou corrected. “We’ll give you a wound-care sheet.”

“Your dad’s a good man,” the roofer said again. “I been around a lot of doctors. I can tell.”