Page 19 of Embers of Love

“That was careless,” she said to herself but deep down inside, she knew she would do it again. She simply couldn’t get enough of Ember. She didn’t care if they had both used a fake name that night they met. Josephine was certain it would have changed nothing.

“Doctor Mars?”

Josephine jolted to attention. “Oh, hello?”

There was nurse talking right next to her. She had no idea how long he’d been standing there. She’d been so distracted by her thoughts she zoned out completely.

“Doctor Gale is asking to talk to you.”

“Where is he?”

“At his office.”

“I’ll be there.”

The nurse nodded and left her alone. Francis Gale was her boss, mostly in name. She did have leagues of experience over him, and he acknowledged that, but he was largely in charge of running the hospital and keeping them staffed and stocked.

“Gale,” she greeted, entering his office.

The man was older than her. Most of his hair had gone grey and the wrinkles around his eyes spoke of someone who smiled a lot throughout his life. He gave her one of such smiles when she walked in.

“Doctor Mars, I hear you’re settling in quite nicely.”

Josephine nodded. “I am.”

“Good, good.” He bobbed his head. “I was thinking, since you and Chief Thompson are close, you might as well take up her daughter’s care. Would be a nice way to start. We don’t want to overwhelm you right away.”

“Oh.” That was not good.

“Just look after her is all I’m asking. Chief Thompson is special to our city, and we want the absolute best for her family. And you’re obviously the best.”

Josephine had already done that but since Gale was asking, she elected to simply accept it. There was no need to correct him on that front. But, if she was the one handling Ember’s case, that meant they were going to have to see each other quite often. She shivered. It was going to be difficult to keep her hands off Ember now. However, in spite of her thoughts, she couldn’t find it within herself to refuse.

“Sure, I’ll look after her.”

“Perfect!” Gale waved it off. “I mostly just wanted to check on you. Ember is doing pretty okay. She should be ready for discharge in a few days.”

By the time Josephine returned to Ember’s room, her friend was gone. It was already past visiting hours anyway. She went with her clipboard and took a seat in one of the chairs in the room.

“Hey Ember, how are we feeling?” Josephine asked, trying to gently probe her patient.

Ember was laying on her back. She watched Josephine through half-lidded sexy eyes.

“Would you believe me if I said I feel great?”

Josephine shook her head. “You were in accident, and you suffered some head trauma. I’d be worried if you said that.”

“But I do feel great. I didn’t think I’d see you again so soon. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d see you again, period. Meeting you here again feels like fate or something.”

“More like karma,” Josephine countered, putting her clipboard down. “Karma for sleeping with someone way younger than myself. You’re my friend’s daughter, she’s going to be livid if she found out what we did.”

“She doesn’t need to find out.” Ember grinned mischievously and her brown eyes flashed enticingly.

Josephine laughed and picked up her clipboard. “Let’s try this again. How are you feeling?”

This time, she managed to get a decent assessment of Ember’s condition before she got sidetracked again. Ember was an extremely flirtatious young woman. She was so bold and forward, a stark contrast to Josephine. Josephine was scared. This entire affair looked like something that would blow up in their faces, and a part of her was already saying she should return to New York to get away from it all. She’d never had much luck with relationships. Each time she felt things were going well, it would all slip away through her grasp. They would either lose interest, or cheat, or move away, something always happened.

And, aside from Ember being Becky’s daughter, dating a 20-something was bound to be trouble.

---