Page 149 of Priest
“That does not mean…”
“It means the town needs a freestanding ER.”
The silence after that was complete enough that Little Jax snuffled in his sleep and somehow sounded louder than the rest of us staring at Priest like he had just announced he planned to wrestle the moon into compliance.
Evan blinked first. “A what?”
“A freestanding emergency department,” Priest said, as if discussing something as simple as replacing a fence post. “On our side of town. Fallen Harbor needs access to emergency care without everyone driving across county lines when something goes wrong.”
I stared at him.
He looked back at me with the maddening composure of a man who thought this was perfectly reasonable.
“You cannot build an ER because you are annoyed at geography,” I said slowly.
“Why not?”
“Because medicine does not work that way.”
He folded his arms. “Seems like that’s exactly how medicine ought to work.”
From the doorway, Ink made a low sound that might have been a laugh if he were the kind of man to admit to one.
I looked past Priest. “How long have you been there?”
“Long enough to hear him accidentally solve a staffing problem with real estate.”
Priest ignored that. “You said there are no jobs in Bay of Saints. A new ER would need people who know how to run one.”
“Oh my God,” I muttered.
“It would need a medical director,” he said, looking directly at me. Then his gaze moved to Lila and Evan. “It would need people you trust beside you.”
The three of us just looked at him.
Behind him, Ink was still posted near the doorway, a duffel for Priest at his feet and a folder from Last Rites tucked under one arm, visibly trying not to grin.
I stared at Priest like he had grown several additional heads and possibly a zoning board. “You can’t solve every emotional problem by building infrastructure.”
He considered that. “Wanna bet?”
That got an actual laugh out of Evan.
Lila dropped her head into one hand. “He’s serious.”
“He is,” Evan said, sounding delighted despite everything. “That’s the best part.”
Ink pushed off the doorframe. “Prez gets like this when he decides something matters.”
I turned my head slowly toward him. “I am sitting right here.”
“And?” Ink asked, not remotely intimidated. “He’s gonna build you a damn ER, Doc.”
Priest’s mouth twitched, just once, because apparently the mutiny amused him now that he had decided he was right.
“I’m not saying we break ground tomorrow,” he said. “I’m saying there’s a solution.”
“There are permits,” I snapped. “Licensing. Equipment. Compliance. A thousand things you can’t glare into submission.”
