Fic: Diner Talk
Jul. 9th, 2014 06:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cardinalgirl75Title: Diner Talk
Series: Standing at the Crossroads
Author: writergirl2006 (Dee)
Rating: PG.
Characters: Luke, Reid, Bob, Henry, and Luke’s annoying old algebra teacher
Word Count: 3593
Summary: Reid’s day takes many twists and turns—none of which he expects.
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of the ATWT writers and P&G, and so on and so forth. I hereby vow that I only write about them because they gave me enjoyment while on the air in spite of everything the aforementioned idiots in charge did to them in the storyline, and I make no money by doing so.
Author's Note: This chapter, in a very roundabout way, includes the Fun Fic Friday prompt of “Everything and More.” It is unbeta'd, so all mistakes are mine. Enjoy!
~*~*~*~*~*
Reid awakened the next morning determined to put the whole Farm Boy fiasco out of his mind. He didn’t know why he’d let it bother him, since the personal lives of his patients and other people meant nothing to him. He took a lot of pride in not giving a damn about anything except medicine. He almost managed to convince himself that he had put it aside, and the only thing that bothered him now was losing the chess match to someone who was normally so hopeless at chess.
The small, Annie Judd-sized hole in his heart wouldn’t let him get away with it. And when Reid saw Casey treat Noah with the affection one reserved for a friend even as he made googly eyes at the blonde nurse assigned to Reid today, Reid felt pity for Noah and anger at Casey for claiming that he cared for Noah. He took his anger out on those he felt deserved it—Casey, obviously, for being a jerk. The blonde nurse because she seemed so friendly to Noah even as she flirted with Casey. Everyone else because they were constantly underfoot, especially that weepy nurse from yesterday. The only person spared was Noah. He hadn’t asked for this situation, and the fact that his boyfriend was taking advantage of his disability to cheat on him only spurred Reid to want to him more.
Which was why discovering just how bad the damage had been to Noah’s brain was such a disappointment to him. Reid wasn’t going to get to operate on Noah anytime soon—not the surgery he’d been summoned to perform, at any rate. Minor surgeries to attempt to repair some of the problem were likely to be needed, not to mention other treatment to repair the kid’s vascular system. It would take far longer for the grand finale than Reid wanted to spend in a town that probably didn’t even have a decent Chinese restaurant.
Reid decided to cut his losses. He’d take the Trenton case in spite of the age of the patient. He’d been a coward not to take it in the first place for that reason.
On his way to deliver the bad news to Noah, Reid ran into Bob Hughes.
“Dr. Oliver,” Bob said pleasantly, smiling at him. Reid was surprised at Bob’s greeting as he figured the old man would cut him dead for bailing out on their dinner date.
“Dr. Hughes,” Reid replied, a little wary.
“I guess hunger got the better of you and you weren’t able to wait for me to finish my shower,” Bob said. “One of the disadvantages of age, not being able to do things as quickly as you once could. My apologies. You looked a little peaked when we met, but it didn’t occur to me that I should hurry.”
Reid blinked. While it was true that he’d been on the verge of collapsing from hunger, his primary motive had been to avoid what he was sure would’ve been a deadly dull evening.
“I was glad to hear that you had an enjoyable dinner companion. It was good of Katie to ask you, even if it upset Kim—my wife, a good friend of Katie’s—a little. Katie hasn’t been herself of late—understandable, of course, but it’s good to hear that she invited you to dinner.” Bob glanced around and lowered his voice. “I don’t believe the rest of it for a minute, mind you.”
Reid was at a complete loss as to what Bob meant with that, but if agreeing to go to dinner with a lonely widow excused blowing off dinner with the Chief of Staff in Oakdale, Reid wasn’t going to question it. He wondered if it would work back in Dallas.
“Do you have an update on Noah Mayer?” Bob asked.
Reid nodded. “I was about to give him the news. Surgery isn’t possible at this time. Not with what I saw on the MRI. He’s going to need more surgery and treatment than I first thought.”
“That’s quite unfortunate for him. I know he was hoping for better news.” Bob gave him a speculative look. “I suppose this means you’ll be moving on.”
“The thought had occurred to me.”
“I don’t suppose I could convince you to stay long enough to see it through.”
Reid snorted. “Not even for a fat fee, my own neurosurgery palace, and a nameplate on my door that reads ‘genius.’”
Bob shrugged. “Then perhaps you could tell us what treatment you’d recommend. We could start Noah on it, then whenever he’s made enough progress, you could return and operate on him.”
That would be a sound suggestion but for one glaring problem—it would mean trusting Noah’s treatment to that idiot Kenyon. Reid knew there had to be another neurosurgeon at Memorial, but he feared that Kenyon might be the best of the lot.
“And who knows? Maybe the time the treatment’s run its course, the damage might have improved enough to where someone else would be able to perform the surgery.”
Was this man out of his mind? Did he think he could call up some two-bit hack to perform this operation? Did he not understand how much time Reid spent analyzing the steps needed, the talent and sheer balls it required to successfully complete this surgery? Reid took that time. He had that talent, and by God, he had the balls to pull it off because if you didn’t have all three, you could kill someone attempting this surgery. And here this crazy old man thought...
Jesus, was Bob Hughes insinuating that with enough recovery, Kenyon could operate on Noah?
Like hell.
“I know Luke Snyder is paying you well for your time here, and while it isn’t possible to build a palace in the amount of time you potentially would be here treating Noah, I think we could arrange for the genius nameplate.” Bob got a wily look in his eyes that Reid knew he should be running from. “You’d have full privileges for as long as it took, and you might be surprised at what comes through our doors at times. You shouldn’t be climbing the walls while you’re here.”
Reid told himself he’d planned to say no. He had to say no and move on to more important cases, because the run-of-the-mill wasn’t for him, even if he’d enjoyed the adrenaline rush of yesterday’s emergency. Even if the thought of someone, especially Kenyon, taking over his case grated at his pride, he was going to leave.
"And if you were to succeed, if Noah regains his vision after everything that's happened, well, think of the accolades that would come your way." Bob cleared his throat and added, "And Memorial's, of course. It would do wonders for everyone around--most of all, for Noah."
Okay, that was laying it on a little thick. That was downright insulting, and now Reid was definitely going to leave. He opened up his mouth to tell Bob Hughes exactly that, and heard himself say, "I think we could come to some sort of arrangement."
~*~*~*~*~*
Reid was still puzzling over how he’d been outmaneuvered by a man who should’ve retired a decade ago when he walked into Al’s for lunch. The place was packed, but he managed to find a stool at the front counter and reached for the menu. He wondered if there was more of that fabulous chili he’d had yesterday.
Perusing the menu, he saw that today’s special was chicken and gnocchi soup with the customer’s choice of sandwich. An usual choice of soup for a small-town diner, he thought idly as he looked over the sandwich selection. No tomato? Chicken noodle? Minestrone?
Reid was debating between getting the special or a hamburger and fries when the person to his right elbowed him in the ribs. “Hey!” he snapped, turning his head to glare at the offender.
“I’m sorry, I was just reaching for my cell phone and didn’t realize there wasn’t as much space as I thought there was.”
It was Luke Snyder. Wasn’t that always the way it went? You wanted to avoid anyone and everyone having to do with a sticky situation, and they kept popping up everywhere you went. Reid had thought originally that Mr. Snyder was some throwback to the dark ages when the rich and arrogant “patronized” the poor. Richie Rich who thought his money would let him get away with anything.
Then today he’d found him sitting on Noah’s bed, holding Noah’s hand. Reid had been equal parts surprised and relieved. Surprised because who would’ve thought some Podunk town like Oakdale would have such a thriving gay population, and relieved because it meant he was less likely to have his nose broken if he gave Mr. Snyder the once-over. It was also confusing and frustrating, because if Noah was holding Mr. Snyder’s hand, why was he with Casey? And why the hell did he give a damn about any of it?
Hence Reid’s deep desire to avoid anyone and everyone involved, at least until Noah’s next appointment. “I should’ve known it would be someone connected to the whole mess,” he mumbled.
“Whole mess?” Mr. Snyder sounded anxious. “What whole mess? Is Noah going to be all right?”
Reid wanted to kick himself for voicing his thoughts aloud. “I can’t discuss a patient with you, no matter how close the two of you are.”
Mr. Snyder smiled. “You can tell me anything. We all signed releases a long time ago when Noah first got hurt.”
Reid’s eyebrows rose. “I’ll be damned. Finally, someone with a healthy respect for HIPAA laws. I was beginning to wonder if this place had ever heard of them.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, because I had no fewer than five complete strangers ask me how Mr. Mayer is doing today, and all of them were shocked when I wouldn’t tell them. They acted like they had every right to know merely because they knew him, or had heard about my arrival in town to treat him, or whatever. There was one woman who practically spat venom at me when I directed her to Google the laws in question.”
“I suppose things are different here than they are in Dallas,” Luke said. “Here, people know each other.”
“And they know each other’s business, whether the person in question wants them to know or not.” Out of the corner of his eye, Reid saw Hank heading in their direction. He could hardly believe it, but Hank’s shirt was even worse today than it had been yesterday—yellow and green stripes. If Reid had had any doubts that Hank was straight, that shirt would’ve laid them to rest.
“Luke! You’re back in town already?” Hank had a wide grin on his face.
No, he’s a mirage, Reid thought sourly as Mr. Snyder answered politely in the affirmative.
“It’s good to see you. What can I get for you today?” Hank whipped an order pad and pen out of his back pants pocket.
“Large strawberry milkshake with an order of fries.”
Hank’s smile faded a bit as he looked up from the pad. “Something wrong?”
Mr. Snyder shrugged. “Just not very hungry today.”
“Noah?”
Luke nodded, and Hank gave him a sympathetic look.
What the hell? Reid wondered. It wasn’t like Noah was dying. Sure, it was disappointing that he hadn’t been able to operate on him today, but it wasn’t like it was the end of the world.
“As someone who is very hungry, go ahead and add a bacon double cheeseburger, large order of fries, and a chocolate shake to that order,” Reid said.
Hank’s lips thinned but his eyes never left Mr. Snyder. “I’m sorry, I’m currently serving a different customer. Please wait your turn.”
“Ah, but see, Mr. Snyder here is footing the bill for my stay here in Oakhell, which includes my meals.” Reid looked at Mr. Snyder, whose lips were suspiciously twitchy. “That was the impression I was given when I agreed to come. If this isn’t the case, well, then I may have to bust out of here.”
“I’ll help you pack,” Hank muttered under his breath, still not looking at him. “Luke?”
Mr. Snyder didn’t speak for a long minute. “Are you saying you won’t operate on Noah unless I pay for your meals?”
Reid saw no need to tell him that he’d been suckered into staying on in Oakdale at least until Noah’s treatment was complete, and that part of the deal he’d arranged with Bob Hughes was to be put on Memorial’s payroll. (If Ronan Whiting and Dallas General didn’t like him contracting his services elsewhere, they shouldn’t have done this to him in the first place. That’s what Reid told himself, anyway.)
“That sounds like what I said.” Reid set the menu back in place. “So, chop chop. Get the grill fired up and the milkshake machine doing its thing, Hank.”
Hank spun on his heel and left, shaking his head in disgust. Reid smiled. “You know, it’s a good thing his food is so good, because his customer service leaves something to be desired.”
“Maybe if you hadn’t spent the night with Katie, he’d be nicer to you.”
Reid stared at Mr. Snyder in disbelief. To the other man’s credit, he looked horrified by what he’d said. “How the hell do you know where I was last night?” Reid demanded.
Mr. Snyder squared his shoulders and brazened it out. “Before Ha—er, Henry showed up, we were talking about small towns and how everyone knows your business. Figure it out.”
“But I don’t live here. Why would anyone care?” Reid rolled his eyes. “Never mind. The arrival of a newcomer must’ve been enough of an event here to warrant a front-page article full of my exploits and an honorary mention in the gossip column of your local newspaper.”
“Something like that.” Mr. Snyder turned his stool in Reid’s direction and leaned against the counter. “Then again, it might be that people talked because they’re concerned about Katie. They know nothing about you, which leaves you wide open to speculation about your motives for putting the moves on a recent widow.”
Reid would’ve laughed at the notion that he had any sort of nefarious motives where Katie, or any other woman, was concerned. Now Mr. Snyder, on the other hand…
Don’t go there. Just because you’ve figured out that he’s gay doesn’t mean you want to get any more involved in that mess.
“Don’t you find everyone knowing your business creepy?” Reid asked.
“Why would you find it creepy?” Mr. Snyder asked in response.
“Because I like my privacy.”
Mr. Snyder leaned forward slightly. “So you’d consider yourself something of a man of mystery.”
Is he flirting with me? “Yeah, me and Austin Powers.” Worse still, am I flirting back?
Mr. Snyder pulled back abruptly, a quizzical look on his face. He rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head slightly as though clearing it of some thought. While Reid tried to figure out what that was about, a tall, skinny waitress with her blonde hair in a sloppy ponytail arrived with their drinks, which she set in front of them without speaking before hurrying off to take care of another customer.
Each of them took a couple of sips from their drinks before Mr. Snyder said, “I suppose there are pros and cons to small town life. It’s good that people care enough about you to worry. We’re part of a community, and if they care, it means you belong. On the other hand, I have first-hand experience that people knowing everything about you causes them to make snap judgments about things that are perfectly innocent.” He sighed. “Which means I owe you an apology. There could be a reasonable explanation for why you spent the night at Katie’s apartment that doesn’t include the obvious.”
The pause after that sentence nearly cracked Reid up. Mr. Snyder was obviously waiting for Reid to fill him in on what had happened last night. Well, Reid was sorry to disappoint. “There could be,” he said, and took another drink of his milkshake.
Mr. Snyder toyed with the straw before asking, “Do you have a best guess for when Noah might be ready for surgery? Is there an average length of time before you could do it? I know you said…”
Reid wasn’t sure who he was putting out of his misery by stopping the babbling. “This isn’t your run-of-the-mill surgery,” he said, cutting Mr. Snyder off mid-sentence. “Every surgery is different, every patient is different, and Noah’s circumstances are unique. It isn’t enough that fireworks exploded in his face, doing who knows what kind of damage initially. It was then compounded by the fall from the ladder. Things got worse as he began healing. If I’d been called right away, I’d have had a better chance of repairing the damage than I do now.”
For some reason, Mr. Snyder looked as though he were to blame for this. “We didn’t know how bad it was then,” he said quietly. “We thought it might be temporary. Dr. Kenyon hoped…”
“I’m sure he did. Everything that could make this surgery more difficult is present in Noah’s case—everything and more.”
“I’m amazed you didn’t decide it was hopeless and move on.”
“Yeah, well, Bob Hughes conned me into staying, so here I am.”
Mr. Snyder burst into laughter, his eyes brightening and dimples appearing in his cheeks as he continued to smile after his laughter stopped. Reid felt a familiar—and not entirely unwelcome—stirring in his groin and turned his attention back to his milkshake. He took a couple of fortifying—and slightly helpful—drinks before adding, “And I like a challenge. If I can restore Noah’s sight after everything that’s happened, after I’m sure you’ve been turned down by every other person in the field, then I’ll be a god.”
“Well, whatever reason made you stay, thank you. I’ll let Henry know he can send all your lunch bills to me, no matter how long it takes.”
Reid nodded. He might be drawing a salary from the hospital now, but he never turned down free lunches when they were offered. And since Mr. Snyder was kind enough to make the offer, he decided to do something he never did.
“So you and Noah are pretty good friends, I take it.”
Mr. Snyder’s lips had been wrapped around the straw of his drink, but he didn’t get anything from it. He set it down and stared at it as though he’d never seen a milkshake before. “Friends,” he murmured so low Reid almost didn’t hear him over the noise from the crowded diner. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
“Then as a friend, you might want to tell him that his boyfriend’s cheating on him.”
Mr. Snyder’s jaw dropped open as he turned to face Reid. “I’m sorry, what?”
Reid ignored the shock on his face and went on. “His boyfriend’s cheating on him. Definitely with that annoying twerp of a nurse and who knows who else. He seemed the type who would decide to take advantage of his boyfriend’s misfortune to scratch an itch.”
Something must’ve clicked with Mr. Snyder, because he closed his mouth and then, inexplicably, laughed again. “You think Casey’s…you…” He stood up off of the stool and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out his wallet and threw a twenty on the counter. “Tell Henry that he can give you my fries. I’m feeling better now.” Shoulders still shaking with laughter, he walked away, saying, “Can’t wait to tell Casey this one.”
Reid shrugged. If Mr. Snyder chose to be figuratively as blind as his friend Noah was literally blind, so be it. He knew what he knew.
A loud plunk indicated that his dinner had arrived. Hank glared at him. “I see you managed to scare off your dinner companion.”
“Not soon enough,” a voice to Reid’s right said. He looked over the now-empty seat to see a woman straight out of a movie about homophobic, narrow-minded small town people—petite, graying hair, permanent furrow between her brows from scowling. Despite vowing long ago to ignore all such people, Reid felt anger welling inside him.
To his surprise, Hank glared at her as fiercely as he’d glared at Reid. “You don’t have to eat here, you know.” And I’d prefer it if you didn’t, his tone implied. Before he could say more, his attention was pulled away and he disappeared into the kitchen once again.
The woman stood up and smirked at Reid. “For a so-called smart city doctor, you can be remarkably obtuse. Casey Hughes isn’t one of those types. He’s a nice boy from a good family.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a coin purse, then proceeded to count out the exact amount she owed for her meal.
Reid felt like he was missing something here, but he’d be damned if he got answers from this woman. She was long gone, as was Reid’s meal, by the time business slowed down enough for him to get Hank’s attention by grabbing hold of his sleeve when he tried to get past Reid.
“Hey! Let go of me.” Hank batted at Reid’s hand.
“I need to ask you something.”
“Same here. Did anything I said to you last night mean anything? Taking advantage of a new widow is deplorable.”
“Oh, relax, Hank. Nothing happened last night that Katie didn’t want to have happen.” Which was the honest-to-God truth. “That person who sat next to Mr. Snyder said that Casey Hughes isn’t gay, but…”
“He isn’t. Oh, he may have pretended to be Luke’s boyfriend once, but that was a long time ago and it was for a good reason.”
Reid had no idea what the hell the rest of that meant, but he focused on what Hank said first. “If he’s not gay, then who is Noah Mayer’s boyfriend?”
Hank looked at him as though he were incredibly obtuse. “Luke Snyder, of course.”
Series: Standing at the Crossroads
Author: writergirl2006 (Dee)
Rating: PG.
Characters: Luke, Reid, Bob, Henry, and Luke’s annoying old algebra teacher
Word Count: 3593
Summary: Reid’s day takes many twists and turns—none of which he expects.
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of the ATWT writers and P&G, and so on and so forth. I hereby vow that I only write about them because they gave me enjoyment while on the air in spite of everything the aforementioned idiots in charge did to them in the storyline, and I make no money by doing so.
Author's Note: This chapter, in a very roundabout way, includes the Fun Fic Friday prompt of “Everything and More.” It is unbeta'd, so all mistakes are mine. Enjoy!
Reid awakened the next morning determined to put the whole Farm Boy fiasco out of his mind. He didn’t know why he’d let it bother him, since the personal lives of his patients and other people meant nothing to him. He took a lot of pride in not giving a damn about anything except medicine. He almost managed to convince himself that he had put it aside, and the only thing that bothered him now was losing the chess match to someone who was normally so hopeless at chess.
The small, Annie Judd-sized hole in his heart wouldn’t let him get away with it. And when Reid saw Casey treat Noah with the affection one reserved for a friend even as he made googly eyes at the blonde nurse assigned to Reid today, Reid felt pity for Noah and anger at Casey for claiming that he cared for Noah. He took his anger out on those he felt deserved it—Casey, obviously, for being a jerk. The blonde nurse because she seemed so friendly to Noah even as she flirted with Casey. Everyone else because they were constantly underfoot, especially that weepy nurse from yesterday. The only person spared was Noah. He hadn’t asked for this situation, and the fact that his boyfriend was taking advantage of his disability to cheat on him only spurred Reid to want to him more.
Which was why discovering just how bad the damage had been to Noah’s brain was such a disappointment to him. Reid wasn’t going to get to operate on Noah anytime soon—not the surgery he’d been summoned to perform, at any rate. Minor surgeries to attempt to repair some of the problem were likely to be needed, not to mention other treatment to repair the kid’s vascular system. It would take far longer for the grand finale than Reid wanted to spend in a town that probably didn’t even have a decent Chinese restaurant.
Reid decided to cut his losses. He’d take the Trenton case in spite of the age of the patient. He’d been a coward not to take it in the first place for that reason.
On his way to deliver the bad news to Noah, Reid ran into Bob Hughes.
“Dr. Oliver,” Bob said pleasantly, smiling at him. Reid was surprised at Bob’s greeting as he figured the old man would cut him dead for bailing out on their dinner date.
“Dr. Hughes,” Reid replied, a little wary.
“I guess hunger got the better of you and you weren’t able to wait for me to finish my shower,” Bob said. “One of the disadvantages of age, not being able to do things as quickly as you once could. My apologies. You looked a little peaked when we met, but it didn’t occur to me that I should hurry.”
Reid blinked. While it was true that he’d been on the verge of collapsing from hunger, his primary motive had been to avoid what he was sure would’ve been a deadly dull evening.
“I was glad to hear that you had an enjoyable dinner companion. It was good of Katie to ask you, even if it upset Kim—my wife, a good friend of Katie’s—a little. Katie hasn’t been herself of late—understandable, of course, but it’s good to hear that she invited you to dinner.” Bob glanced around and lowered his voice. “I don’t believe the rest of it for a minute, mind you.”
Reid was at a complete loss as to what Bob meant with that, but if agreeing to go to dinner with a lonely widow excused blowing off dinner with the Chief of Staff in Oakdale, Reid wasn’t going to question it. He wondered if it would work back in Dallas.
“Do you have an update on Noah Mayer?” Bob asked.
Reid nodded. “I was about to give him the news. Surgery isn’t possible at this time. Not with what I saw on the MRI. He’s going to need more surgery and treatment than I first thought.”
“That’s quite unfortunate for him. I know he was hoping for better news.” Bob gave him a speculative look. “I suppose this means you’ll be moving on.”
“The thought had occurred to me.”
“I don’t suppose I could convince you to stay long enough to see it through.”
Reid snorted. “Not even for a fat fee, my own neurosurgery palace, and a nameplate on my door that reads ‘genius.’”
Bob shrugged. “Then perhaps you could tell us what treatment you’d recommend. We could start Noah on it, then whenever he’s made enough progress, you could return and operate on him.”
That would be a sound suggestion but for one glaring problem—it would mean trusting Noah’s treatment to that idiot Kenyon. Reid knew there had to be another neurosurgeon at Memorial, but he feared that Kenyon might be the best of the lot.
“And who knows? Maybe the time the treatment’s run its course, the damage might have improved enough to where someone else would be able to perform the surgery.”
Was this man out of his mind? Did he think he could call up some two-bit hack to perform this operation? Did he not understand how much time Reid spent analyzing the steps needed, the talent and sheer balls it required to successfully complete this surgery? Reid took that time. He had that talent, and by God, he had the balls to pull it off because if you didn’t have all three, you could kill someone attempting this surgery. And here this crazy old man thought...
Jesus, was Bob Hughes insinuating that with enough recovery, Kenyon could operate on Noah?
Like hell.
“I know Luke Snyder is paying you well for your time here, and while it isn’t possible to build a palace in the amount of time you potentially would be here treating Noah, I think we could arrange for the genius nameplate.” Bob got a wily look in his eyes that Reid knew he should be running from. “You’d have full privileges for as long as it took, and you might be surprised at what comes through our doors at times. You shouldn’t be climbing the walls while you’re here.”
Reid told himself he’d planned to say no. He had to say no and move on to more important cases, because the run-of-the-mill wasn’t for him, even if he’d enjoyed the adrenaline rush of yesterday’s emergency. Even if the thought of someone, especially Kenyon, taking over his case grated at his pride, he was going to leave.
"And if you were to succeed, if Noah regains his vision after everything that's happened, well, think of the accolades that would come your way." Bob cleared his throat and added, "And Memorial's, of course. It would do wonders for everyone around--most of all, for Noah."
Okay, that was laying it on a little thick. That was downright insulting, and now Reid was definitely going to leave. He opened up his mouth to tell Bob Hughes exactly that, and heard himself say, "I think we could come to some sort of arrangement."
Reid was still puzzling over how he’d been outmaneuvered by a man who should’ve retired a decade ago when he walked into Al’s for lunch. The place was packed, but he managed to find a stool at the front counter and reached for the menu. He wondered if there was more of that fabulous chili he’d had yesterday.
Perusing the menu, he saw that today’s special was chicken and gnocchi soup with the customer’s choice of sandwich. An usual choice of soup for a small-town diner, he thought idly as he looked over the sandwich selection. No tomato? Chicken noodle? Minestrone?
Reid was debating between getting the special or a hamburger and fries when the person to his right elbowed him in the ribs. “Hey!” he snapped, turning his head to glare at the offender.
“I’m sorry, I was just reaching for my cell phone and didn’t realize there wasn’t as much space as I thought there was.”
It was Luke Snyder. Wasn’t that always the way it went? You wanted to avoid anyone and everyone having to do with a sticky situation, and they kept popping up everywhere you went. Reid had thought originally that Mr. Snyder was some throwback to the dark ages when the rich and arrogant “patronized” the poor. Richie Rich who thought his money would let him get away with anything.
Then today he’d found him sitting on Noah’s bed, holding Noah’s hand. Reid had been equal parts surprised and relieved. Surprised because who would’ve thought some Podunk town like Oakdale would have such a thriving gay population, and relieved because it meant he was less likely to have his nose broken if he gave Mr. Snyder the once-over. It was also confusing and frustrating, because if Noah was holding Mr. Snyder’s hand, why was he with Casey? And why the hell did he give a damn about any of it?
Hence Reid’s deep desire to avoid anyone and everyone involved, at least until Noah’s next appointment. “I should’ve known it would be someone connected to the whole mess,” he mumbled.
“Whole mess?” Mr. Snyder sounded anxious. “What whole mess? Is Noah going to be all right?”
Reid wanted to kick himself for voicing his thoughts aloud. “I can’t discuss a patient with you, no matter how close the two of you are.”
Mr. Snyder smiled. “You can tell me anything. We all signed releases a long time ago when Noah first got hurt.”
Reid’s eyebrows rose. “I’ll be damned. Finally, someone with a healthy respect for HIPAA laws. I was beginning to wonder if this place had ever heard of them.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, because I had no fewer than five complete strangers ask me how Mr. Mayer is doing today, and all of them were shocked when I wouldn’t tell them. They acted like they had every right to know merely because they knew him, or had heard about my arrival in town to treat him, or whatever. There was one woman who practically spat venom at me when I directed her to Google the laws in question.”
“I suppose things are different here than they are in Dallas,” Luke said. “Here, people know each other.”
“And they know each other’s business, whether the person in question wants them to know or not.” Out of the corner of his eye, Reid saw Hank heading in their direction. He could hardly believe it, but Hank’s shirt was even worse today than it had been yesterday—yellow and green stripes. If Reid had had any doubts that Hank was straight, that shirt would’ve laid them to rest.
“Luke! You’re back in town already?” Hank had a wide grin on his face.
No, he’s a mirage, Reid thought sourly as Mr. Snyder answered politely in the affirmative.
“It’s good to see you. What can I get for you today?” Hank whipped an order pad and pen out of his back pants pocket.
“Large strawberry milkshake with an order of fries.”
Hank’s smile faded a bit as he looked up from the pad. “Something wrong?”
Mr. Snyder shrugged. “Just not very hungry today.”
“Noah?”
Luke nodded, and Hank gave him a sympathetic look.
What the hell? Reid wondered. It wasn’t like Noah was dying. Sure, it was disappointing that he hadn’t been able to operate on him today, but it wasn’t like it was the end of the world.
“As someone who is very hungry, go ahead and add a bacon double cheeseburger, large order of fries, and a chocolate shake to that order,” Reid said.
Hank’s lips thinned but his eyes never left Mr. Snyder. “I’m sorry, I’m currently serving a different customer. Please wait your turn.”
“Ah, but see, Mr. Snyder here is footing the bill for my stay here in Oakhell, which includes my meals.” Reid looked at Mr. Snyder, whose lips were suspiciously twitchy. “That was the impression I was given when I agreed to come. If this isn’t the case, well, then I may have to bust out of here.”
“I’ll help you pack,” Hank muttered under his breath, still not looking at him. “Luke?”
Mr. Snyder didn’t speak for a long minute. “Are you saying you won’t operate on Noah unless I pay for your meals?”
Reid saw no need to tell him that he’d been suckered into staying on in Oakdale at least until Noah’s treatment was complete, and that part of the deal he’d arranged with Bob Hughes was to be put on Memorial’s payroll. (If Ronan Whiting and Dallas General didn’t like him contracting his services elsewhere, they shouldn’t have done this to him in the first place. That’s what Reid told himself, anyway.)
“That sounds like what I said.” Reid set the menu back in place. “So, chop chop. Get the grill fired up and the milkshake machine doing its thing, Hank.”
Hank spun on his heel and left, shaking his head in disgust. Reid smiled. “You know, it’s a good thing his food is so good, because his customer service leaves something to be desired.”
“Maybe if you hadn’t spent the night with Katie, he’d be nicer to you.”
Reid stared at Mr. Snyder in disbelief. To the other man’s credit, he looked horrified by what he’d said. “How the hell do you know where I was last night?” Reid demanded.
Mr. Snyder squared his shoulders and brazened it out. “Before Ha—er, Henry showed up, we were talking about small towns and how everyone knows your business. Figure it out.”
“But I don’t live here. Why would anyone care?” Reid rolled his eyes. “Never mind. The arrival of a newcomer must’ve been enough of an event here to warrant a front-page article full of my exploits and an honorary mention in the gossip column of your local newspaper.”
“Something like that.” Mr. Snyder turned his stool in Reid’s direction and leaned against the counter. “Then again, it might be that people talked because they’re concerned about Katie. They know nothing about you, which leaves you wide open to speculation about your motives for putting the moves on a recent widow.”
Reid would’ve laughed at the notion that he had any sort of nefarious motives where Katie, or any other woman, was concerned. Now Mr. Snyder, on the other hand…
Don’t go there. Just because you’ve figured out that he’s gay doesn’t mean you want to get any more involved in that mess.
“Don’t you find everyone knowing your business creepy?” Reid asked.
“Why would you find it creepy?” Mr. Snyder asked in response.
“Because I like my privacy.”
Mr. Snyder leaned forward slightly. “So you’d consider yourself something of a man of mystery.”
Is he flirting with me? “Yeah, me and Austin Powers.” Worse still, am I flirting back?
Mr. Snyder pulled back abruptly, a quizzical look on his face. He rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head slightly as though clearing it of some thought. While Reid tried to figure out what that was about, a tall, skinny waitress with her blonde hair in a sloppy ponytail arrived with their drinks, which she set in front of them without speaking before hurrying off to take care of another customer.
Each of them took a couple of sips from their drinks before Mr. Snyder said, “I suppose there are pros and cons to small town life. It’s good that people care enough about you to worry. We’re part of a community, and if they care, it means you belong. On the other hand, I have first-hand experience that people knowing everything about you causes them to make snap judgments about things that are perfectly innocent.” He sighed. “Which means I owe you an apology. There could be a reasonable explanation for why you spent the night at Katie’s apartment that doesn’t include the obvious.”
The pause after that sentence nearly cracked Reid up. Mr. Snyder was obviously waiting for Reid to fill him in on what had happened last night. Well, Reid was sorry to disappoint. “There could be,” he said, and took another drink of his milkshake.
Mr. Snyder toyed with the straw before asking, “Do you have a best guess for when Noah might be ready for surgery? Is there an average length of time before you could do it? I know you said…”
Reid wasn’t sure who he was putting out of his misery by stopping the babbling. “This isn’t your run-of-the-mill surgery,” he said, cutting Mr. Snyder off mid-sentence. “Every surgery is different, every patient is different, and Noah’s circumstances are unique. It isn’t enough that fireworks exploded in his face, doing who knows what kind of damage initially. It was then compounded by the fall from the ladder. Things got worse as he began healing. If I’d been called right away, I’d have had a better chance of repairing the damage than I do now.”
For some reason, Mr. Snyder looked as though he were to blame for this. “We didn’t know how bad it was then,” he said quietly. “We thought it might be temporary. Dr. Kenyon hoped…”
“I’m sure he did. Everything that could make this surgery more difficult is present in Noah’s case—everything and more.”
“I’m amazed you didn’t decide it was hopeless and move on.”
“Yeah, well, Bob Hughes conned me into staying, so here I am.”
Mr. Snyder burst into laughter, his eyes brightening and dimples appearing in his cheeks as he continued to smile after his laughter stopped. Reid felt a familiar—and not entirely unwelcome—stirring in his groin and turned his attention back to his milkshake. He took a couple of fortifying—and slightly helpful—drinks before adding, “And I like a challenge. If I can restore Noah’s sight after everything that’s happened, after I’m sure you’ve been turned down by every other person in the field, then I’ll be a god.”
“Well, whatever reason made you stay, thank you. I’ll let Henry know he can send all your lunch bills to me, no matter how long it takes.”
Reid nodded. He might be drawing a salary from the hospital now, but he never turned down free lunches when they were offered. And since Mr. Snyder was kind enough to make the offer, he decided to do something he never did.
“So you and Noah are pretty good friends, I take it.”
Mr. Snyder’s lips had been wrapped around the straw of his drink, but he didn’t get anything from it. He set it down and stared at it as though he’d never seen a milkshake before. “Friends,” he murmured so low Reid almost didn’t hear him over the noise from the crowded diner. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
“Then as a friend, you might want to tell him that his boyfriend’s cheating on him.”
Mr. Snyder’s jaw dropped open as he turned to face Reid. “I’m sorry, what?”
Reid ignored the shock on his face and went on. “His boyfriend’s cheating on him. Definitely with that annoying twerp of a nurse and who knows who else. He seemed the type who would decide to take advantage of his boyfriend’s misfortune to scratch an itch.”
Something must’ve clicked with Mr. Snyder, because he closed his mouth and then, inexplicably, laughed again. “You think Casey’s…you…” He stood up off of the stool and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out his wallet and threw a twenty on the counter. “Tell Henry that he can give you my fries. I’m feeling better now.” Shoulders still shaking with laughter, he walked away, saying, “Can’t wait to tell Casey this one.”
Reid shrugged. If Mr. Snyder chose to be figuratively as blind as his friend Noah was literally blind, so be it. He knew what he knew.
A loud plunk indicated that his dinner had arrived. Hank glared at him. “I see you managed to scare off your dinner companion.”
“Not soon enough,” a voice to Reid’s right said. He looked over the now-empty seat to see a woman straight out of a movie about homophobic, narrow-minded small town people—petite, graying hair, permanent furrow between her brows from scowling. Despite vowing long ago to ignore all such people, Reid felt anger welling inside him.
To his surprise, Hank glared at her as fiercely as he’d glared at Reid. “You don’t have to eat here, you know.” And I’d prefer it if you didn’t, his tone implied. Before he could say more, his attention was pulled away and he disappeared into the kitchen once again.
The woman stood up and smirked at Reid. “For a so-called smart city doctor, you can be remarkably obtuse. Casey Hughes isn’t one of those types. He’s a nice boy from a good family.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a coin purse, then proceeded to count out the exact amount she owed for her meal.
Reid felt like he was missing something here, but he’d be damned if he got answers from this woman. She was long gone, as was Reid’s meal, by the time business slowed down enough for him to get Hank’s attention by grabbing hold of his sleeve when he tried to get past Reid.
“Hey! Let go of me.” Hank batted at Reid’s hand.
“I need to ask you something.”
“Same here. Did anything I said to you last night mean anything? Taking advantage of a new widow is deplorable.”
“Oh, relax, Hank. Nothing happened last night that Katie didn’t want to have happen.” Which was the honest-to-God truth. “That person who sat next to Mr. Snyder said that Casey Hughes isn’t gay, but…”
“He isn’t. Oh, he may have pretended to be Luke’s boyfriend once, but that was a long time ago and it was for a good reason.”
Reid had no idea what the hell the rest of that meant, but he focused on what Hank said first. “If he’s not gay, then who is Noah Mayer’s boyfriend?”
Hank looked at him as though he were incredibly obtuse. “Luke Snyder, of course.”
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2014-07-09 04:52 pm (UTC)If he paid attention he heard Luke say he isn't with Noah anymore. But it was before he found out the boyfriend was indeed mr Snyder.
The attraction is there. But it looks like it might take a while before the good Doctor en mister Snyder will be getting it on.
But I love reading this verse so thank you for your writing.
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Date: 2014-07-14 10:29 am (UTC)It might be. Luke still has to deal with the fallout from his relationship with Noah, but I don't think it'll take him as long as he expects. Glad you're enjoying the story! :)
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Date: 2014-07-10 07:31 pm (UTC)So glad to see an update.
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Date: 2014-07-14 10:31 am (UTC):D :D :D
I'm working on that question right now! :)
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Date: 2014-07-10 07:52 pm (UTC)Of course, I'd much rather Reid talk to Luke, though. What a great scenario in having them sit together and have to talk. It's funny how into everyone's business Oakdalians are, ha ha.
Mr. Snyder burst into laughter, his eyes brightening and dimples appearing in his cheeks as he continued to smile after his laughter stopped. Reid felt a familiar—and not entirely unwelcome—stirring in his groin and turned his attention back to his milkshake.
I love imagining this (and I love me some happy Luke!)
That cliffhanger! Ahh, it was worth the wait.
Fabulous chapter!
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Date: 2014-07-14 10:34 am (UTC)Me, too! Well, when Reid isn't with Luke, that is. ;)
It's funny how into everyone's business Oakdalians are, ha ha.
I think there are some Oakdalians out there who like to keep to themselves...but they aren't nearly as interesting.
Thanks!
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Date: 2014-07-11 03:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-14 10:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-11 09:13 pm (UTC)>>what a delicate line!
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Date: 2014-07-14 10:39 am (UTC)>>what a delicate line!
Thanks! :)
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Date: 2014-07-14 11:46 am (UTC)I think Bob's reached a stage at his life where he's seen just about everything--and has learned how to handle it. That would include a brash, brilliant doctor like Reid. :)
I wooooooooooonder how long it will take for Reid to unravel the identity of Farm Boy?
Shouldn't take him too long, now that he's in possession of all the facts... :)