Page 47 of Stone Vows

“And the robe?”

She rolls her eyes at me. “It was two feet away on the chair, Kyle. Geesh, and I thought Nurse Ratched was bad.”

“Exactly who is Nurse Ratched?” I ask. “I know it’s not Abby, since she taught you how to work the monitor and all.”

“Her name is Rachel, but she’s a slave driver. She was here filling in for the night-shift nurse.”

I get her situated in the wheelchair and walk her out to the elevator. Abby and another nurse follow us with their eyes. Elizabeth seems to notice as well.

“What’s their problem?” she asks.

“Don’t mind them. They just think we’re having a torrid affair.”

She guffaws. “Theywhat?”

I laugh. “Haven’t you learned by now that nurses gossip about everything? Patients. Doctors. Other nurses. They work long twelve-hour shifts. I suppose it keeps things interesting or something.”

She joins my laughter. “I guess my room is too far away from things to hear the good stuff. Darn.”

On our ride down to the main floor, the elevator stops and the doors open. Cameron walks in. He looks down at Elizabeth and then up at me. His face cracks into a huge smile that only I can see. We ride in silence to the ground floor, then we all get off.

“See you later, porn star,” Cameron says as he walks away.

“Porn star?” Elizabeth questions me. Then her jaw drops. “Kyle,” she says, before clearing her throat. “Did you pay your way through medical school making adult movies?”

I look around to see if anyone heard her ask. Then I lean down and explain, “I have the unfortunate honor of sharing my name with a famous adult film actor.”

She covers her mouth and belts out a laugh. “Oh, no. Thatisunfortunate.”

“You have no idea,” I say. “Growing up with two older brothers, I never heard the end of it.”

“Your parents didn’t realize what they’d done, obviously.”

I shake my head. “That was over twenty-seven years ago. People didn’t do internet searches to pick the name of their kid back then. It wasn’t until I was in middle school when some idiot friend of my brother mentioned it to him. My brother researched it for accuracy and then proceeded to wallpaper my bedroom with photos of the guy.”

“As in naked photos?” she asks.

“Not just naked photos. Action photos,” I say. “I was barely twelve. I didn’t even know what the hell was going on in most of the pictures. He practically scarred me for life.”

She laughs again. “Which brother, Chad or Ethan?”

I’m impressed she remembers both of their names. “Ethan.”

“It sounds like you had a lot of fun growing up,” she says. Then she looks down the hall and beckons me down to her level where she whispers, “Isn’t that Billy Hainey?”

I look in the direction of her gaze. “So, it’s not just baseball you like. You’re a hockey buff, too?”

“Is thathim?”

“Looks like him,” I say. “It’s not unusual to see famous athletes around the hospital. They do a lot of goodwill work.”

“That’s nice of them. I’ll bet the kids love it, and maybe even some of the adults,” she says, as I wheel her past the cafeteria. “Hey, aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Right. Jell-O.” I back up and push her into the cafeteria, parking her to the side while I gather up our supplies.

“More research?” the cashier asks with a smirk.

I laugh and nod.

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