Page 19 of Doctor's Surprise Twins

My anger gets the best of me, and I point my finger in his face. “I was not helping you out in there! What in the hell were you doing in there, anyway? That child was choking! She could’ve died! And you just stood there, staring like a dumbass who hasn’t been trained for this?” I glare at him. “If you can’t even perform something as simple as abdominal thrusts, you don’t need to be here.” I turn and find Taylor approaching. “And where the hell have you been?”

“I needed to use the restroom. I’ve only been gone two minutes. What happened?”

“Oh, you know … just more patients trying to die. Next time, make sure the newbie is covered before he kills someone.” With that, I turn back to my office.

7

ALLY

Iwalk into the locker room at the hospital Friday to find Val changing into a pair of scrubs. “Hey, you came back.”

I laugh and drop my bag onto the wooden bench in the center of the aisle. “Yep, I’m ready to give it another go. I’m more prepared this time.”

She smiles and takes off her jewelry. “Good.”

“Did I miss anything yesterday?” I ask, pulling my sweatshirt over my head.

Her brows lift and her eyes double in size. “You missed Dr. Cole freaking out on one of the new externs.”

“What? Who? Why?” I ask, more interested in the answer than changing my clothes for my shift.

“It’s the only guy. What’s his name? Trevor? Travis?”

“Tray?”

She snaps her fingers and points at me. “That’s it.”

“Oh my gosh. Tray is my friend. What happened?”

“Dr. Cole was in an awful mood. There weren’t many people here that hedidn’tsnap at. Someone told me he cut in front of like a dozen people at the coffee shop and then paid for all their coffee to make up for it.” She giggles.

I roll my eyes because even if he was in a bad mood, he must have felt guilty about it if he paid for everyone.

“Anyway, we were short-staffed yesterday. So Travis?—”

“Tray,” I correct.

“Whatever,” she says, shaking her head. “He was with Taylor for most of the day. But when she went on break, he was with me. I went on break when she came back, and I guess that’s when all this went down. At some point while I was gone, Taylor ran to use the restroom and left Tray alone, which is a huge no-no. I guess this mom gave her kid some fruit snacks, and the kid ended up choking. Tray ran in there, but he froze. Luckily, Dr. Cole came in, gave the girl abdominal thrusts, and saved her life. But then he went off on Tray. Told him that if he can’t do something so simple, he shouldn’t be here. He laid into Taylor, too. It was all a big mess that could’ve been avoided if only she had waited ten minutes to use the restroom.”

“Poor Tray.” I pull on my scrub top and push down my jeans. “That’s so weird that Dr. Cole said that to him. When I froze up, he told me it was okay and that it happens to everyone.”

“Just be glad that you froze up on Wednesday and not Thursday.”

“I guess,” I reply, pulling up my scrub pants.

Val locks her locker. “See you out there.”

I give her a tight smile before sitting on the bench to put on my tennis shoes. I feel so bad for Tray, but I had warned him about Dr. Cole the same way the others warned me. Still, it’s not like freezing up in a stressful moment could be avoided. I did the same thing. Only I got a much nicer version of Dr. Cole. I can’t wait to see Tray this afternoon to hear his side.

I finish changing, clock in, and head to the nurse’s station. Val must feel like I can’t handle anything stressful after my last shift, so she has me working with the patients she deems safe. I do the usual checks, take temperatures and blood pressure, andhand out meds. I get some patients water or snacks, and do a bit of chart work.

After lunch, I’m approaching the nurse’s station when Tray steps into view. I smile wide, happy that we get to work together and that we get to catch up about what I missed yesterday. Then, several alarms sound, and nurses are running from one room to the next. Val stops at the nurse’s station.

“Ally? Things are a little crazy here right now, and we don’t have time to keep an eye on you two. Why don’t you take Tray and work on those inventory checks like we were doing yesterday?”

I nod. “Okay, sure thing.”

Val goes rushing off and I nod in the direction of the supply closet. “This way.”

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