Page 19 of Rewind

“It’s been one of those days. I was helping out in the E.R. because they needed all hands on deck. There was a collision on the road involving an 18 wheeler so there were several injuries.”

“From the sound of your voice, there were a few casualties.” In their profession, losing a patient was always a possibility but no matter how many times it happened, one never really got used to it, at least he didn’t.

Frank who had been practicing for nearly 30 years, was one of the most compassionate men Ethan knew, and took each loss personally even after all this time.

“Yes, a couple, but that’s not what I was calling you about. Last night a young woman was rushed to the hospital after being hit by an oncoming vehicle. She was dead on arrival by the time the ambulance brought her in. I was just coming out of surgerywhen they wheeled her in. I only got a brief glance at the body but I recognized her right away.”

Ethan’s heart sped up. For reasons he couldn’t fathom, he instantly knew who it was. He didn’t know how but it was like someone was squeezing his insides. “Tell me.”

“It was Amina.”

Ethan slumped in his seat. She had left her position as office manager two years ago but there wasn’t a day when he didn’t think about her and wonder how she was doing. “Fuck…she was hit by a car?”

“I spoke with the M.E. and it appears the cause of death was internal bleeding as a result of the car accident but he noted there were several cuts and contusions all over her body that didn’t quite sink up with just being hit by a vehicle. Some of her bruises were several days old.”

“Was that sorry excuse for a husband with her?”

“As far as I know, she came alone in the ambulance. I don’t know if he was at the hospital or not. I wasn’t involved. Honestly, I shouldn’t be discussing this with you but I thought you might want to know since she used to work for us. And…I know you were fond of her.”

Ethan placed his hand against his chest. He opened his mouth to respond but he choked on his words.

Amina was gone?

From the moment she’d come in for the job interview, he noticed an attractive woman with warm brown skin and big eyes. Her smile revealed the deepest, most adorable dimples he’d ever seen. The instant attraction he felt toward her took him by surprise because he generally kept things professional with everyone in the office.

Her qualifications and friendly personality was enough to get Frank to agree to hire her as their new office manager. Amina seemed to get along with everyone in the office and her work wasexemplary. Whenever he’d see her, she’d greet him with a smile but it was the same smile she gave to everyone else.

He wanted that smile to be just for him. Ethan found himself debating whether he should break protocol and ask her out, causally at first to feel his way around.

Frank picked up on this and would constantly tease him about his crush. But by the time Ethan made up his mind, to find out if Amina was open to dating him, he learned she had a boyfriend.

He took that as a sign from the universe that it wasn’t meant to be. But as time progressed, he noticed a change in Amina. She stopped smiling as much and started dressing differently. She even wore her hair in a more conservative style.

When she passed out invitations to her wedding, Ethan wanted to decline but some part of him had to see her get married so that he could close the book on that chapter of his life. However, on the day of the event, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He didn’t want to see her smiling at and dedicating the rest of her life to another man. Instead he made an excuse not to attend and sent an elaborate gift.

At the end of the day, it was just a crush, and he didn’t have the courage to make a move when he had the chance.

When she returned to work, after her honeymoon, he noticed Amina had become even more withdrawn. She seemed constantly on edge, jumping at the slightest sound. She started to wear heavy makeup and he swore he’d seen bruises on her wrists once.

During his internship when he had a stint working in the ER, he’d learned the signs of domestic abuse and Amina seemed to be displaying a bunch of them. He noticed she was taking personal calls more often on her cell phone to the point where he had to bring it up to her.

The calls stopped, but then the husband began to randomly visit the office as if to check up on Amina to make sure she was where she said she was.

Ethan wanted to punch that asshole in the face but he was helpless to do anything about it. The last time the husband showed up, Ethan had made the fatal mistake of confronting him.

Ethan stood by the checkout desk to confirm his afternoon schedule with the new receptionist who for some reason couldn’t figure out the system even though she had been there for a month. Things had been chaotic around the office since Paisley resigned.

“Susan, could you please verify that that you have Mrs. Peterson scheduled four weeks for her follow up appointment? I don’t want any mix ups with this patient.”

Susan turned bright red. “I’m so sorry, Dr. Han. I don’t understand why Mr. Meeks wasn’t in the system but I will make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

“We were fortunate that I was able to squeeze him in because I happened to be in the office, but it’s imperative that you double check before you sign out of the patient’s chart.”

Susan’s eyes welled with tears and she sniffed. “I’m so sorry Dr. Han.”

Ethan took a slow breath. He didn’t think he was being too harsh with her but whenever he, Frank or Amina pointed out an error, the waterworks started with Susan. He was beginning to think she wasn’t a good fit for the office.

“This isn’t worth getting upset over. If you need more help with familiarizing yourself with the system, please see Amina.”

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