Page 46 of Hearts on Fire

Right on cue, her mind reminded her of Barb urging her to trust the process.

“No one is promising anything immediate, Naomi. If you want a change in a couple of days, you may want to go back home and save your money. But if what you want is true healing, then, that, I may be able to offer.”

Naomi waved off Barb’s voice plaguing her mind and reached for her phone on her bedside table.

There was only one contemplation topping the rest of her thoughts at this moment. She turned the phone over in her hand a number of times, feeling the flat surface. With a click to the side, it came alive.

Naomi clicked the contact button and turned the phone off again.

Her glow-in-the-dark clock said that the time was some minutes to midnight. Naomi wondered what Scotti would be doing at this time.

If she had a long day, she'd be asleep by now. However, she'd been with Scotti for most of her workday. She didn't think the day qualified as a long day. It was one of those kinds of days when they still had enough energy afterwards to grab dinner or go on a date or get home to have fun.

Naomi believed that Scotti would still be awake if she called. She toyed with her phone for a couple of seconds more, then, taking a deep breath, she turned it on. She scrolled nervously till she found Scotti's number.

She clicked it nervously, barely looking at the phone. She turned it over as the dial began to buzz rhythmically. She tapped the side of her bed with nervous fingers. The phone rang for too long. Then it stopped, and Naomi let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

It wasn't a hot night, but beads of sweat had started to gather at her forehead. She didn't bother trying a second time. That kind of courage she'd just mustered was an act of desperation; it didn't come twice in a row.

Naomi left the phone lying there as she laid back and forced herself to sleep.

Maybe she would have fallen asleep from embarrassment and exhaustion if her phone didn't ring nearly thirty minutes later.

Naomi shot up from her bed, nearly losing her breath and balance.

There could only be one person calling that number. Sure, it could be a work-related emergency, but then they would have just paged her, surely.

Her hands shook as she reached to pick up the phone. The words dried from her mouth and throat as thoughts of all the things she wanted to say to Scotti disappeared from her mind.

The ringing was nearly coming to an end when she finally answered it, only glancing briefly at the caller.

There was silence for a moment on both sides as her heart thudded frantically. Finally, it was Naomi who said, “Hello,” in a voice that was too foreign to have come out of her.

“Hello?”

Naomi froze, nearly dropping the phone.

The voice that replied wasn't just strange, it was deep and male. That wasn't Scotti's voice.

In that second, a thousand and one things that could be wrong ran through her mind. Had Scotti gotten hurt on her way home? Was Scotti trapped somewhere?

And most of all, who was this man with Scotti by past midnight?

“Scotti?” Naomi called with a shaky voice.

“Doctor Crane?” the male voice responded. Maybe it was because it suddenly sounded too familiar that she pulled the phone from the side of her face and checked the number.

Her heart dropped to her stomach.

“Ah shit, I'm so sorry, Scott. I didn't mean to wake you or dial your number.”

Naomi slapped her forehead. In her unease, she'd dialed a wrong number. Scott Sanders was a man she'd worked with on a project a while ago and an employee of the hospital where she worked.

She was still apologizing profusely when she heard a muffled conversation. She swore as she remembered that Scott was married.

“I'm sorry, Scott. I was trying to reach someone else,” Naomi said and hung up. She tossed her phone away from her and it bounced to somewhere her eyes didn't quite catch.

She couldn't stop swearing. She was going to have to apologize to Scott again the next day. Hopefully, his wife thought nothing of what just happened.

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