Page 60 of Ruled By Fate

“That’s a fair point.”

Sherry rushed out the door. The other two stood awkwardly in front of each other. At one point, both considered going in for a hug, but in the end, they opted to simply wave an excruciatingly awkward goodbye from two paces apart.

“I’ll see you tonight,” he said quietly.

Brie nodded and moved to head out the door before turning back for a moment. “Promise me something?”

He glanced up quickly. “Anything.”

She held his gaze. “Don’t try to cook.”

? ? ?

“Coming through!”

A nurse with fiery red hair flew past on a gurney pushed by two EMTs, straddling an incoming trauma victim and doing chest compressions. They disappeared into a room just as a mother and her six children walked through the bay doors.

One had a fork sticking out of his upper shoulder. He screamed through his sobs, “Jacob is gonna be so grounded. Grounded forever!” The other kids appeared to be placing bets on the injured child’s chances of survival while the poor mom struggled to maintain her grip on sanity. A trio of teenagers followed them, the middle one hobbling with his foot bent at a horrifying angle, flanked and supported by his skateboard-wielding friends.

It was going to be a long day.

Sherry and Brie each took a deep breath before the storm, gave each other a discreet fist bump, and walked off in opposite directions.

Denise was waiting for her by the nurses’ station, arms crossed over her chest, back straight as a redwood tree. “You’re late.”

Brie looked at the clock. “No, I’m—”

“You’re on time, which means you’re late until your orientation is over. Come with me.”

Brie stashed her backpack and followed.

She was starting to recognize some faces from the day before. There was Chris, the newbie who scarcely looked old enough to have his learner’s permit, let alone start an IV. Without being told, he made a beeline for the mother of six and started telling the kids a story about his “crazy Aunt Penelope and her runaway cow” so their put-upon mother could complete the intake forms and take care of her wounded son. Brie caught his eye, and he winked. She realized with a grin that Aunt Penelope didn’t exist. She was just an imaginative way to show some kindness.

She followed Denise into a room that housed the trio of skateboarding teenagers.

“Do you have to call my mom?” the injured one asked.

The waiflike nurse from the ambulance code the other day was already in there, taking a history and fielding the underage dolt’s questions.

Cindy. I think that’s her name.

“Yes, Kevin. Otherwise, she might come storming in here with a slew of very valid questions as to why we performed X-rays, ran lab tests, and conducted a reconstructive surgery on her underage son before putting him in a cast and charging her thousands of dollars. Not to mention, it hasn’t escaped my notice that it’s a school day, and you might have somewhere else you’re supposed to be.”

The three friends glanced at each other and shuffled around, looking for all the world like toddlers caught with their hands in a cookie jar.

Cindy leaned closer and narrowed her eyes. “So, are you going to give me her cell phone number,” she asked dangerously, “or should I just call your school and start from there?”

Kevin unlocked his cell phone and handed it over with a sigh, wincing in pain as one of his friends accidentally jostled his foot.

Denise observed as Brie took the boy’s medical history, a process that Cindy would repeat with his mother after she arrived. They scheduled an X-ray and prepped him for the procedure.

When they’d finished and walked back to the nurses’ station, Cindy shot Brie a look and abruptly said, “You were the one who stood up to Matthews the other day on the code.”

Brie looked up, startled. “I wasn’t… I was just surprised. I wasn’t trying to—”

“I’m glad you said something.”

The two women shared a friendly glance and continued walking.

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