But then she had completely lost it the afternoon of that rampage when Robert had fired Kim for refusing to accept post-surgical patients in the psych ward. She had followed him into the men’s room and exploded before she even knew what she was doing.

That’s where you’re wrong Robert. I’m both, the chief of emergency medicine and a *****.

Kerry laughed at the memory and Kim was startled by the reaction.

“Kerry?”

“Sorry, I was just remembering the first time I told somebody that I’m a *****,” and she proceeded to share the story.

“Oh my God, Kerry. What the ***** were you thinking? He could have fired you too.”

“I know,” Kerry said stirring her coffee. “He spent the next year making snide remarks and I spent too much time worrying that he would tell someone. In the end, I made sure that he made up for it.”

“Really, how?” Kim was skeptical that anything short of Kerry actually dropping the helicopter on that little Napoleon would make up for what he had done.

“When he died he left a chunk of his estate to the hospital. As chief-of-staff I sit on the board and persuaded them to put the money to use in an area I felt we were clearly lacking. You should come by and visit the Robert Romano Center for *****, *****, Bisexual, and Transgender Healthcare.”

“Kerry, you’re chief-of-staff? Congratulations,” Kim said reaching over and taking Kerry’s hand.

“Thanks, but what do you think?” Kerry asked enjoying the touch of even this small bit of Kim’s skin against hers.

“I think you’re ***** brilliant and that he’s spinning in his grave.” They were both laughing and Kim decided that maybe this had been a good idea after all. “But you still haven’t told me how it is that you came to be out to everyone.”

“Sandy.”

“Sandy?” Kim felt a twinge as the knots started reforming in her belly.

Kerry took a deep breath and let it out slowly. And then her pager went off.

“Have dinner with me tonight and I’ll tell you about her,” she said getting up from the booth.