Page 35 of Forever Mine

I sat down in the corner of the lobby and started to scroll on my phone as I waited. As I did, a man walked in that looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place him. The hostess brightened up.

“Dr. Kiley! I was wondering when you’d be back. It’s almost been a whole week.”

The man, who is in his fifties and wearing a fancy suit, smiled politely at the woman. “Yes, that’s practically years for me. I had a big workload this week and just had a moment to breathe.”

“Your usual seat is open, Dr. Kiley, I can get you seated right away, if you’ll follow me.”

“Thanks.”

As he walked away I realized how I knew him. He was my ma’s doctor the last time she was at the hospital. He was the one who signed her death certificate. I couldn’t believe I forgot about him, but I was way too focused on Kota at the time, I guess.

My food was ready a few minutes later, and I hurried back to Kota. He wasn’t wrong, I was ready to get home and spend some quality time with my man.

CHAPTER 15

DAKOTA

I shuffledout of the room in a haze. Losing a patient was always rough, even if it was expected, and this one wasn’t expected. He was so young and had been doing better. The doctors expected him to have a full, albeit long, recovery. Then everything went to shit overnight. By the time the doctor called TOD, I was empty. All I wanted to do was go home, shower, eat the biggest order of cheese fries in existence, and cuddle with Jay.

Dr. Kiley squeezed my shoulder as we walked out. “I’m sorry, Doctor.” He just smiled sadly at me.

“Thank you, Dakota. I’m going to notify his parents. You go on and head home. I know it’s well past the end of your shift.”

I thanked Dr. Kiley, fucking grateful and so ready to leave. Maybe it was wrong of me to be relieved not to have to face his parents, but I just didn’t have it in me right now.

If anyone tried to talk to me on the way to my locker, I didn’t hear them. I was laser- focused on my goal; getting out of these bloody scrubs and getting the fuck home.

Another nurse that had been with me the whole time was already there, sitting in one of the chairs and staring off into space. I gave her a quick nod of solidarity but otherwise stayed silent. We both needed to process.

I wasn’t really paying attention as I opened my locker, doing it on muscle memory. I stuck my hand in, reaching for my phone, but I touched something unfamiliar, cardboard, and square-shaped. I finally forced myself to focus enough to pay attention.

It was definitely a cardboard box, and I was 99.9% sure that it wasn’t there when my shift started last night. I glanced at the other nurse, but she wasn’t even looking my way.

I was tempted to slam the locker shut and just walk away. Because I could not deal with this right now. Nope. Not after the night I just had. That wasn’t realistic though. Fighting to keep my hand steady, I grabbed the box, and promptly dropped it on the ground, causing the lid to pop off and little chocolates to roll across the locker room floor.

A note fluttered out of the box. Dread settled deep in my chest as I bent down to get the note.

My Precious Dakota,

I heard you prefer chocolates. I hope this is suitable and you’ll begin to realize you belong with me.

Love,

The one you should choose

“Dakota?” Someone said my name, but it sounded like they were talking from the other end of a tunnel.

Memories of finding that flower on my door flooded me. Me jokingly telling Jay I preferred chocolate to flowers…

I spun around, expecting someone to jump out of the shadows. But the only one there was the other nurse who was watching me like I lost my mind.

“Dakota, are you okay?” she asked. She had stood up but seemed hesitant to get close to me. I didn’t blame her, I’m sure I looked unhinged.

I cleared my throat. “Did you, um, did you see anyone going into my locker?”

She frowned. “No. I was the only one in here till you. Why, did someone break into it?”

“Uh, yeah. I think so.”

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