Page 3 of One Little Spark

“Look, I know it’s hard. You’ve done a great job looking after your mom and Hazel, but there comes a time when they need to look after themselves.” He clapped his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Hazel turned her life around. She went to nursing school and got a great job. She’s killing it down at the hospital. Everyone says so. She was born to be an ER nurse. She needs her own space. You know what you felt like living in the basement. You hated it.”

Jory gave a reluctant nod, then glanced at Aiden with a smirk. “Killing it down at the hospital? Nice one.”

Aiden grinned.

“Just don’t say that too loud. Rumor has it there’s beensome untimely deaths of elderly people of late.”

“Seriously? Someone is bumping off old people?”

Jory shrugged. “I don’t know any details, but that’s what I heard. Phoenix is probably on that investigation, too.”

“Shit, I am so glad I am not him.” Aiden finished his water. “Anyway, man, give Hazel a break. I’m sure she’s grateful that you looked after her in the past, but now she needs to do it for herself. If you push her, she might leave town and that would be…worse,” he finished lamely. It would be a nightmare, but he wasn’t going there.

To the rest of the world, Jory Kincaid was this easy-going, laid-back guy, but Aiden knew the truth. He was full of anxiety. His father’s death when they were nineteen had rocked Jory’s world so hard, he was still struggling to recover. It was something Aiden understood in spades. He lost his dad a few years before that, but he’d had his mom as his rock. She’d gotten him through. He didn’t know what he would have done if it weren’t for her, and now that she was gone, he felt lost. That’s why he had come home. He needed to be grounded again.

“Are you two finished gossiping back here?” their fire company captain, John Hastings demanded. “If so, we still have a scene to clean up and the guys could use your help.” Fists propped on his hips, he glared at them.

“Yes, sir,” they both said and moved around the side of the truck to help the others. Aiden let out a long breath. He’d have to keep working on Jory to get him to back off of Hazel, but he’d made progress. His friend needed a life so he could stop worrying about everyone else’s. And Aiden needed to get over the one woman he couldn’t have.

Chapter Two

Hazel Kincaid tapped her foot and glared at the man standing before her. “I’m aware, Dr. Rawlins, that you wanted to start your weekend twenty minutes ago, but your patient is in the ER. You need to come see him. The on-call doctor is busy at Penn General at the moment. You are here. You can see your patient and then begin your weekend.”

She was tired and fed up with the holier-than-thou attitudes of some of the doctors. Dr. Rawlins was one of the worst offenders. Four years ago, when he’d just started at the hospital, he’d made all kinds of mistakes. The man made morons look smart as far as she was concerned. She’d bailed his ass out enough times to know he was only in it for the money. She didn’t care if he reported her or whatever. She was done putting up with his bullshit.

“Your patient needs you. It will only take you ten minutes to get him calmed down and treated. If you leave, he’ll be agitated for the next couple of hours before the on-call cardiologist gets here.”

Rawlins glared at her. “Listen here, you upstart little—"

“Dr. Rawlins,” said the head nurse Kerry Jackson, her voice piercing the general chaos of the ER. She stepped out from behind the nurse’s station desk and crossed the foyer. “Your patient, Mr. Vancleef, is in room two.”

Rawlins’ eyes narrowed before he cursed under his breath and then turned and marched down to room two where he disappeared inside. He knew better than to take on the head nurse. No one took on Kerry Jackson without a death wish.

“Hazel,” Kerry said, “you have to watch yourself.”

“I know,” she said as she walked over to the desk. “I’m sorry, Kerry. I’m just frustrated. Rawlins was willing to walkout of here and leave Mr. Vancleef upset and anxious for hours rather than take a few minutes to see him. It just gets to me sometimes. The attitudes of some of the doctors, like they’re gods. Meanwhile, we keep saving their asses.”

Dr. Paul Bryson appeared at the nurse’s desk. “Hello, ladies. How’s everyone this evening?”

There was a chorus of ‘fines’ and a few ‘how are yous?’ but Bryson just looked at the chart in front of him.

Vivian Jenk, the other ER nurse, smiled at Hazel and inclined her head toward Bryson. Hazel just rolled her eyes. Viv was always trying to set her up with someone. She glanced at Bryson. He was good looking in a bland sort of way. None of his features stood out, and although they created a lovely face, he wasn’t what she’d call handsome. She would give him credit, however, for being one of the more conscientious doctors in the hospital. As an anesthesiologist, he actually met with all of the surgical patients. He was great about taking time to answer all their questions and alleviating their fears. Why couldn’t more doctors be like him?

“Any big plans for the weekend, Dr. Bryson?” she asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vivian’s grin and sighed to herself.

“No big plans. Thought I might play some golf and just try and have a relaxing weekend. What about you? Any plans?”

“No. I’m going to take the weekend off. It’s been a long week.”

Grabbing the chart, he smiled at her. “You enjoy.” Then he turned and strode down the hallway.

Kerry looked at her over the top of the computer monitor. “I hope you really are taking the weekend off. You’re overtired and working too many shifts. You keep going like this, and you’ll make a mistake. You don’t want to do that, do you? You’re not scheduled again until Monday. No extra shifts this weekend.”

Hazel rubbed her face with her hands. She hadn’t planned on working this weekend anyway, but Kerry made her point. Hazel leaned back in the chair. “No extra shifts. I’m out of here in the next hour, and then I have a date with a tub of ice cream and the TV. I’m sorry for mouthing off. I’ll apologize to Rawlins.”

“You’ll do no such thing. He deserved it. I’ll have a word with Dr. Klein about him. He made a mistake and almost prescribed Mrs. Armstrong the wrong meds yesterday. As the head of the department, Klein needs to take him aside and give him a stern talking to.”

The next hour flew by, and soon Hazel was driving home. When her cell rang, she hit the button on her steering wheel. “Hey, Jory.”

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