Page 12 of Doctor's Surprise Twins

“What if I had been the only one there?”

“You weren’t, and you won’t be the only one there for a very long time. For reasons like these. I’m telling you; it happens to everyone with their first code. And sometimes their second. And sometimes their third. It takes practice. You’ll get there.”

“I’ve wasted years of my life and thousands of dollars. I should have gone to business school.”

I chuckle because I’ve thought the same thing many times about my life. “You know how I know you’ll be a good nurse?”

She runs her tongue across her plump lips. “How?”

“Because you’re worried you won’t be. People who aren’t good nurses don’t worry about making a mistake or letting people die. Only good nurses worry about those things.”

She bites her bottom lip. “I’m sitting here because I told myself that I wouldn’t leave until I decided if I would be coming back.”

“You’ve been sitting here for two hours?”

“Almost three. Val told me to take off early when she saw I was falling apart.”

I chuckle. “Well, what did you decide? Have I swayed your decision?”

I don’t know what it is, but I can feel something growing between us. The air is charged, raising the temperature in my body, and making every hair stand on end as I look into herblue eyes. “I’m not sure,” she says, barely above a whisper, not blinking.

“I think you should stay.”

“Why?”

“You didn’t give up after one shot of trying to ride a bike, did you?”

She rolls her eyes. “No.”

“You didn’t roll over and quit school the first time you got a bad grade, did you?”

She just shakes her head, the corners of her mouth lifting upward slightly.

“Then why quit your dream job after one bad moment?”

She turns her head and looks straight ahead. Her shoulders rise as she takes a breath, and fall when she lets it out.

“So, are you coming back tomorrow?”

She shakes her head, and my back straightens. I don’t know why I care so much, but she has to come back. I don’t know what this is, but I have to figure it out.

“I have class tomorrow. I’ll be back Friday.” She smiles widely now.

I shake my head, and she giggles at my look of annoyance.

“Thank you, by the way,” she says as I stand.

I bend to grab my bag from the floor. “For what?”

“For everything. For seeing me in that room and knowing I was freaking out. For snapping me out of it. For this. You don’t seem like the type to mow me over if I get in your way. I guess that rumor isn’t true.”

“Oh, it’s true. Rumors start for a reason.” I pull the strap up higher on my shoulder. “Good night, Ally.”

“Good night, Dr. Cole.”

I turn and walk toward the doors with a sense of accomplishment. I take care of patients every day. I performrisky surgeries. Yet, getting her to come back for another day is what turned my day around.

I shake my head as I walk down the sidewalk. I don’t know this woman, where she came from, or where she’s going, but somehow, she’s already gotten under my skin more in one day than anyone else has in the six years I’ve been broken.

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