“You’ll Give Him the Wrong Impression of Our Famil…

Silence.

“You’re okay with this?” Mom sounded surprised. “You’ve made your position clear. I won’t attend Christmas Eve.

Is there anything else?”

“Oh. Thank you for understanding, sweetheart. We’ll make it up to you.

I promise.”

I hung up without responding. A moment later, my assistant, David, knocked and poked his head in. “Dr.

Morrison, Dr. Chin from Mass General just confirmed his consultation appointment for the 27th. He’s evaluating our cardiac monitoring AI for his department.”

I looked up sharply.

“Dr. Marcus Chin? Cardiothoracic surgery?”

David checked his tablet.