Page 66 of Hidden Desire

Blake turned to her, her cheeks red and her eyes not far behind. “Try me. Those picketers have the right idea. There’s too much chaos going on here.” She threw up her hands and stormed away. The phone started ringing, and Stassi turned to her patient. She was ready to start crying herself, not sure which direction she should go.

“Excuse me,” she mumbled. She moved over to the phone and answered it. “Please hold.” It rang again; in fact, it rang five times, with Stassi putting it on a different line each time. She quickly got back to the patient and checked in the line that had formed. But what would she do with all these patients who expected to see a therapist or nurse? She had no one to give them to. She took a deep breath and released it, the shakiness appearing. She reached for the phone and stared at all the flashing lights in front of her. She pushed the button to connect with the ER.

“Hello, this is Brooke.”

In a calm and quiet voice, Stassi said, “Brooke, it’s Stassi on Therapy. Do you have anyone? Doctor, nurse, MA, I really don’t care. I just need a body up here, to where they can at least pretend they know what they’re doing. I have a waiting room of patients and no idea where to put them and what to do with them.”

“I don’t know much. I work reception, but we’re doing okay down here, so I can come up. I can pretend with the best of them.”

“Great! I’ll take it.” Stassi thanked her and hung up, then turned back to the phone and began answering the calls. It wouldn’t be ideal, but it would have to do because there was nothing she could do differently. The elevator door opened while she continued to schedule patients, patients who expected to see someone qualified and would be sorely mistaken. Brooke came rushing in and immediately took the first patient. She had obviously been watching the doctors in the ER, to know what needed to be asked and done.

Stassi finished with the calls that were on hold, along with three additional calls, then went to the records room and pulled out several charts for upcoming appointments. It was a day that never had a chance of dragging on because she was way too busy for that. With no breaks and no lunch, the afternoon brought a little more breathing room. It also brought Missy stepping off the elevator. Stassi quickly attempted to put her hair back up in a ponytail, but Missy waved off Stassi’s concern of how she looked.

“How’s it going?”

“Rough,” Stassi admitted. “It’s been a hectic day, but these days should be expected, right?” Missy nodded.

She then leaned against the counter. “Smart move in getting Brooke, even if she’s only a receptionist. At least she was a body to take care of the patient load, and I heard that she didn’t do too bad. Perhaps she’ll have a calling as an Occupational Therapist.” She shrugged. “You just never know.”

“True,” Stassi mumbled. She wasn’t sure why Missy was there, as the conversation seemed flat, but she didn’t want to pry. Missy would get around to it, which she did.

“Just wanted to let you know that tomorrow should be better. I was able to get a Physical Therapist and Occupational Therapist brought into the department. They work at a neighboring hospital, and last year, they had a similar situation, and we were able to help them out. So, they’re returning the favor.”

“That’s great!” Stassi replied. Missy reached out and touched her shoulder, her face showing genuine warmth. “Just hang in there. We’ll get through this. We always do.” She turned and got back on the elevator. Stassi thought about those words. She wanted to believe that she, too, would get through it.

As she left the hospital at the end of the day, Sage glanced over and met her gaze. Stassi’s heart felt pulled toward her, and she cringed as she had to once again cross the line. She couldn’t keep the tears from falling as she got in the car. Her tears fell freely and rapidly now. She hit her palm against the steering wheel. She brought most of this on herself. She had to be strong.

She drove home, and when she entered her apartment, the quietness engulfed her. That was something she wasn’t confident she could ever get used to. The apartment was devoid of laughter, food, or warmth. All she wanted was to hear Sage call out her name just once more.

Sage

Sage looked towards Stassi. It’d been three weeks, and Stassi had gotten to the point where she wouldn’t even look in her direction. Every time Stassi crossed the picket line, it crushed Sage’s soul. It felt like every bone in her body had been smashed with a grinder, and she could only watch it all go down.

“Earth to Sage!”

Sage turned and saw Lena crossing her arms. She had a scowl on her face and started tapping her foot. “Thinking and wishing again?” Lena asked.

Sage shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been working. It’s all I’ve been doing over the past few weeks. Making sure this is the best picket line one could possibly have. You heard what the news station said yesterday. We’re making a difference, and the hospital will have no choice but to give in to all of our wishes and desires.”

“And you now sound like a politician.”

Sage rolled her eyes at Lena. She did find it difficult not to think about Stassi. But when she was working on organizing the strike, it felt like things weren’t quite as hard to overcome. Seeing Stassi cross the line was always going to be difficult. It was just something she had to force herself to get through.

But as the days turned into weeks, and the support continued to flourish around them, she could hold her chin a little higher and try to put Stassi on the back burner of her mind. She grabbed a few signs as more employees came in to join the line. She handed them off, and they joined in marching to the imaginary music. Stassi slowly faded from her mind.

Two hours into the day, Wyatt approached the line. He had been steering clear of Marcus, or so it seemed. He was probably embarrassed that Trent came back in, swooping in with a proposal that Marcus couldn’t refuse.

“Hey, Wyatt.” Marcus stopped marching, hesitating as he suddenly appeared nervous.

“So, I know I’m only an intern, but some shady stuff is going on in the hospital. You can truly trust no one, and I just feel like there’s more use I could do out here. I also have a few reinforcements that could run and get you guys lunch, or just join in the line. Admin needs to do something to fix this because this shit is seriously broken.”

Marcus glanced over to Sage, and Sage tossed him a sign. “We’d be happy to have you.”

Over the past three weeks, that’s how things seemed to progress. One by one, more and more people heard the impact they were having on one another and wanted to join the brigade. And even the patients started showing support. That was one thing that Sage worried most about. If they didn’t get the care they needed, then some of these patients wouldn’t make it. But they weren’t sad that they felt abandoned. They were all at peace with it.

It would have made everything feel worth it—except for one part that was the hardest to grasp. Sage's emergency fund was fading fast. She feared that she would be forced to go back to work if she couldn’t resolve the strike. Legally, they couldn’t fire them, but Sage didn’t want to be the first employee to go back in, crawling back for her job. And that worried her more than most things did.

At lunchtime, Sage grabbed a water and a bag of chips and just went to find a quiet spot to sit, hoping she would be alone. However, she wasn’t there by herself for too long before Lena joined her. “Room for one more?” she asked. Sage gave a slight nod, not willing to lose her friendship over wanting some alone time.

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