Page 10 of Creatures in the Night

“I’m Catholic, so it’s hard not to believe that everything happens for a reason,” he answered. “It’s how I survive this damn job sometimes. I need to make sense of sick kids or sudden deaths, or else I’d lose my rabid ass mind with all the terrible things that we see with this job.”

“God’s plan,” I sighed.

Ethan nodded. “God’s plan.”

“Can I ask you another question?”

“You can ask me anything, always,” he genuinely replied. “You know that.”

“Why is it so hard to let the people that we love pay for their own mistakes? And I’m not talking about children, obviously.”

Ethan’s eyes narrowed a bit. “Because we’re raised to believe that family is everything,” he answered carefully. “Plus, since we’re all human, the odds of us screwing up at some point in our lives is very possible, so you might need that same favor returned in the future. You can’t be the asshole that never helps others, Shea.”

I ran my hands down my face before muttering, “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Hey,” he said as he placed a finger underneath my chin, lifting my face to look at him. “What’s going on with you, Shea Burke?’

“Maybe it’s a mid-life crisis come early,” I joked tiredly.

Ethan lowered his hand, his eyes sparkling a bit. “Uhm…are you sure that’s it?”

It took me a second, but once his tone registered, I let out a much-needed laugh. “It’s not my period, you jackass.”

The man grinned down at me. “Just checking.”

“Just for that, I should make you go out and buy me some tampons next month,” I threatened.

He laughed like I knew he would. “Tampons don’t scare me, honey.”

“Then you’re a brave soul, because they should,” I snorted.

“Why should they?”

“Because they’re accompanied by a woman that’s pmsing, and how’s that not scary?’ I teased.

“You’ve got me there,” he agreed before throwing an arm around my shoulder. “How about we go back inside and continue saving lives for the next twenty minutes?”

“Don’t you mean that we assist in saving lives?”

“We definitely don’t get enough credit,” he replied as we started making our way back to the front doors of the hospital. “It’s like we’re the middle child.”

“Maybe we should try our hand at becoming influencers,” I quipped.

“I’d rather be homeless,” he retorted. “I’ve already got my mother criticizing how I live my life, so I sure as fuck don’t need a bunch of horrible strangers judging me when they’re lives are probably worse than mine.”

“You’re not wrong,” I chuckled.

Once we walked back into the lobby of the hospital, he said, “Look, I already have some errands to run after work today, but if you’re still questioning your future tomorrow, then I’m game for drinks after work then.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I replied, really needing a normal night out with my friends.

After all, it would probably be the last one that I was ever going to have.

Chapter 7

Noah~

The plan had been to just familiarize myself with Donza Medical to determine the risk level if Shea insisted on still working, but when I noticed her standing outside the building, taking a moment to herself, the plan had immediately changed to me pulling my car into an empty parking spot to observe her some.

---