Page 39 of Jilted By Jack Frost

“It’s complicated.” I cut him off, focusing on the patient. “His temp’s coming up. Let’s get blood work started.”

Mike takes the hint and backs off, but I feel his curious eyes on me as he leaves.

More patients arrive. More charts to review. More worried faces looking to me for answers I can’t give.

I pause at the window between cases,watching the endless snow fall. The flakes seem to mock me, reminding me of Jack’s cold eyes when he dismissed everything I’d discovered.

If he’d just listened... if he wasn’t so stubborn...

My reflection shows dark circles forming under my eyes. I’ve been here six hours, but it feels like days. The adrenaline’s wearing off, leaving bone-deep exhaustion.

A soft whimper draws my attention. In the hallway, a little girl clutches her mother’s hand, both wrapped in emergency blankets.

“Their house lost power,” the intake nurse explains. “Been walking for hours, trying to reach us.”

I grab hot chocolate packets from my locker—my emergency comfort stash—and go get some hot water. The girl’s eyes light up when I hand her a steaming cup.

“Thank you,” her mother whispers, hands trembling around her own cup.

I squeeze her shoulder and move on to my next patient, but the image stays with me. Regular people suffering because of magical power plays they don’t even know exist.

Jack needs to see this.The thought hits me suddenly.Not through a viewing portal. In person. Maybe then he’d understand what his rejection is really causing.

But would he even come? After everything he said...

A code blue alarm blares, interrupting my thoughts. I run toward the sound, pushing aside everything but the immediate need to help.

I can figure out how to fix the bigger problem later. Right now, my town needs its nurse more than she needs herdestined mate.

The antiseptic hospital smell hits my nose as I push open the break room door. Alana sits at the small round table, her blonde curls pulled back in a messy bun, both hands wrapped around a steaming cup of coffee. Her scrubs are even more wrinkled from her power nap in the patient room.

“You look less like death warmed over.” I plop down in the chair across from her.

“Thanks, bitch.” She takes a long sip. “What the hell is going on? You disappeared during the worst blizzard in Salida history.” She chuckles darkly. “Or at least it was until this one. Seriously, where have you been?”

I fidget with a loose thread on my sleeve. “Around.”

“Around? That’s what you’re going with?” Her eyebrows shoot up. “You vanish for days, then magically reappear right when everything completely goes to shit?”

“Would you believe I was on a spiritual retreat?”

“In the middle of winter? Try again.” She slides a second coffee cup toward me. “Here. Caffeine might help you come up with better bullshit.”

“Thanks.” I wrap my hands around the warmth, remembering the chill of Jack’s touch. “I just needed some time away to clear my head.”

“During a hundred year blizzard?”

“I have impeccable timing.”

“You’re impossible.” She leans back, studying me. “Something’s different about you.”

Shit. “Sleep deprivation does wonders for the complexion.”

“No, it’s more than that. You seem... I don’t know. Like you’ve seen some crazy shit.”

“Working emergency during a natural disaster will do that.”

“Vi, come on. We’ve been friends since we were kids. I know when you’re hiding something.”

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