THE STARS ARE BEAUTIFUL - WATTYS AWARD NEW ADULT WINNER 2019

Callum | 25

I WAS IN HYSTERICS.

"He doesn't even have both hands on the wheel!" Tatum held her forehead as she watched Nick practice driving an ambulance, the final requirement for becoming an EMT. "I told him he should have just become a cop or firefighter!"

"God knows you don't need to use two hands to be a firefighter, Tot."

Nick went flying by us again as we watched him circle the hospital parking lot for the fifth time. Wheels screeching, rubber burning, and still... only one hand on the wheel.

"He hasn't even turned on the siren!" she wailed. "What does he think this is? He's not chasing down the enemy! He's trying to get an injured or dying person to a place where we are going to save his life! How will anyone get to the hospital...?" And then she broke off in Greek, screaming at him as he whizzed by again.

I began to laugh but was halted as Brighton emerged from the doors behind us.

"I need to talk with you," he said grimly. "Now."

The fact that he didn't even raise a brow to the madman whizzing around the parking lot in an ambulance he no right to be driving correctly, let alone insanely, made my skin stiffen.

I followed him to the end of the first floor where he stopped before a large fish tank. For a few moments, he simply stared at the fish as they swam.

"I heard from Arthur Baumgarten," he finally said.

I waited but that was all.

"Yes," I began, "I'm applying for residency at Atlanta Memorial."

He turned, arms crossed over his chest. His eyes might as well as have been coals, they were so dark and heated. "Then what the hell was all this for, Trovatto?"

And this meant Everly.

"I already told you—I love her enough to let her go. Trying to take her away in a devious manner almost killed her. So I've decided to love her the right way, instead."

He stepped closer. "By moving away from her?"

"I'm guaranteed a job. I'll need to provide for her."

He blinked. "You're planning on taking Everly with you?"

"Eventually, sir, I will take her with me, yes."

"And you believe I'll just let her go with you? Paying the bills doesn't make you any wiser than me, Callum. She's on the last legs of her time frame. You don't have enough chances left to learn and get it right."

"Then compromise with me," I snapped. "Let me at the very least love her before time runs out."

Brighton's jaw clenched; his hands fell to his sides. "Are you really so blind? Why do you think you're not facing a slew of charges right now? Kicked out of school?"

"Because you like games of manipulation," I answered tiredly. I was so done with this argument.

His feet stopped just before mine. We were about the same height, but his shoulders spanned wider, making his presence loom over mine. "I gave you three times as much work as any other student and the worst rotations I have made any student suffer in nearly five years. I gave you a differential that was impossible to solve. I threatened your future and your family. Today you will graduate at the top of your class and have a spot guaranteed in Atlanta. If you had left my daughter alone, I would have happily offered you a job at Presbyterian. So tell me something, were my brutal efforts to make you better in vain?"

"I don't owe you anything," I argued, "because you weren't the one who pushed me to become a better doctor. Just as you aren't responsible for Everly being alive—not completely. It's her spirit. It's her fighter's heart. It's her hope, an anchor that you care nothing about."