Page 7 of Passion Restored

“Surgery is taking him up now, but from what I can see, it should just be his spleen. Why don’t you come with me to talk to the family?” he asked, his words clipped. Dr. Wilder did not like his role usurped, but at the same time, he didn’t like talking with families either.

Liz shook her head. “I don’t know them, Dr. Wilder.”

“The patient seemed to think you do, so you’re coming with me.” He walked out of the room, and Liz watched as the techs wheeled Owen out of the ER. She knew their surgical unit was the best in Denver, and he was in good hands, but for some reason, she got a little nervous kick in her gut…one she didn’t usually get for patients. Ever.

“Better go, Liz,” Lisa said from behind her, and Liz turned to face the other woman. “I’ll do the final check in here so you can go meet Mr. Gallagher’s family. Or maybe you already know them.” She fluttered her eyelashes; a smile Liz didn’t quite like appearing on her face. With all of them fully aware that someone would probably lose their job soon, Liz couldn’t let something as silly as a misunderstanding get blown up.

Liz shook her head as she took off her gown. “I don’t know them. I’ve seen him around town once. That’s it.” She had to be at least that honest since Owen had known her name, but she wasn’t about to let Lisa know she’d met Owen and his brother at a bar with a very drunken Tessa. There was only so much she’d share, after all. “You know we don’t work on family members or friends, Lisa. I wouldn’t do that. Now, if that’s all, I need to go meet with Dr. Wilder and the patient’s family.”

She turned on her heel and left Lisa behind her, smirking like the cat that got the canary. Liz ground her back molars, annoyed that she was the center of attention. Nurses with a shred of gossip to pass along were nothing to mess with, and now that they’d caught something on the wind, they would be hounding her forever. Liz had never been one of the inside clique, always focusing on her job instead of the politics that came with it, but now she was afraid she’d made a mistake by not taking more care with that.

She hurried after Dr. Wilder, aware that Lisa had probably already b-lined her way to the nurses’ station to talk about how a patient seemed to know her and wanted only Liz to talk to his family.

Because that wasn’t weird at all or anything.

She caught up to Dr. Wilder and matched her pace with his, though his legs were far longer and she was just about running. However, she was a nurse, and this was what she did on a daily basis so it was nothing new.

What was new, however, was what had just occurred.

“So, how do you know Mr. Gallagher?” Dr. Wilder asked. They were almost to the waiting room doors so, thankfully, Liz didn’t have long to deal with how to answer.

“I don’t,” she said honestly.

Dr. Wilder turned his head to her and cocked a brow. “Since he specifically asked you to talk to his family, I’m going to have to disagree with you there.”

Liz sighed. Of all the doctors in the ER, she liked Dr. Wilder the best, even if he was the coldest. He was honest about the type of man he was, and she appreciated that. However, that didn’t mean she wanted to get into this with him right then.

“I met him and his brother, Murphy, tonight while picking up Tessa.” She didn’t say where, as that wasn’t any of his business. “I spoke maybe four or five words to him before Tessa and I left to go home. I had a long day today, and planned to go to bed before I got called back into work.”

She tried not to blush as she thought of what she had actually been planning to do before bed. Way too much information.

“Seems weird if that’s all it was. We aren’t exactly a small town.”

“I know,” she answered honestly. “But that’s just how some things work. And we are the closest ER to where I live, so it’s bound to happen that I’ll see someone I’ve met at the grocery store or something.”

Or something.

Not quite a lie, but close enough.

Thankfully, they’d made it to the swinging doors at that point, and she didn’t have to say anything else. As soon as they entered the room, Liz didn’t have to wonder who was waiting for Owen.

Hell, even if she hadn’t met Murphy that night, she’d have known Owen’s family anywhere.

Four men and two women stood up or quit pacing as soon as Liz and Dr. Wilder stepped into the room. Three of the men looked a lot like Owen, and since one was Murphy, she was going to assume that they were the Gallagher brothers. They each had dark hair, beards of various lengths, and ink peaking out in places. The fourth man had a buzz cut and looked dangerous as hell as he hovered by the one Gallagher with the most ink, and a woman with dark hair and full sleeve tattoos.

The other woman in the group stood next to the largest Gallagher with the longest beard. She too had ink and looked just as dangerous as the men.

Hell, the whole crew looked like an ad for a biker gang or something equally as dark and mysterious. Of course, she was doing the one thing she hated: judging them on appearances alone.

Murphy and Owen had been the only two decent guys in a bar filled with idiots and drunken mistakes tonight. Though they were the ones with the most ink, and Owen even had a hoop in his brow, they’d been nice and polite.

Even with the hunger in their eyes.

“They’re over there,” Liz said softly.

“I could have guessed that,” Dr. Wilder said just as softly, and Liz almost tripped. The man never joked around, but she was pretty sure she caught the hint of humor in that dry statement.

Tonight was turning even weirder.

---