Page 105 of Somewhere We Belong

“Tomorrow; he has the overnight shift tonight,” Colt sighed.

My phone beeped and I pulled away to see that it was Atlas calling.

“Atlas is calling, I’ll tell you what happened afterwards,” I said quickly, clicking the call over. “Hey.”

“Hey, Starlight,” Atlas said, and I immediately knew something was wrong.

“Are you ok?” I had a bad feeling.

“Yeah, just wanted to hear your voice,” he sighed.

“I miss you,” I said, laying back.

“I miss you too. Now tell me how your day was?”

“Ok, but first, are you sure you’re ok?” I asked, hoping he would tell me the truth.

“Yeah, I had to come to work at the ER in Monroe and it’s been rough,” he yawned. “I’ve also been up for about twenty hours.”

“Bad day in the ER?”

“There was a big accident nearby and they didn’t have a doctor come in and they were short,” he said softly. “There is a lull in traffic, so they told me to come take a nap. Actually, that nurse that tended to you chewed my ass out to go to sleep.”

“I’m glad she said something, you need to sleep.” I laid down on my side. “You need to go to sleep, rest and we can talk later.”

“Tell me three great things about today, first,” he murmured.

“I taught a hair class, went to dinner with old coworkers, and it felt good to feel like me again,” I said thoughtfully. “You guys have been peeling back some of my layers and each time a new layer comes through I feel like I have found a little bit more of myself again and again, but today felt like the first time I was me before I had Sol.”

“I love seeing you shine brighter, Nova,” Atlas mumbled.

“I love it, too,” I whispered, feeling emotional. “Now get some sleep, Doc, your patients need you in tip-top shape.”

“Stay on the line with me?” he muttered.

“Of course,” I said, feeling more emotional. “Good night.”

I knew this was more than exhaustion and my mind screamed for me to ask him again, but I didn’t want to push…

“Goodnight, my Starlight,” he mumbled.

I kept watching my show, falling asleep too when I heard an alarm go off.

“Fuck,” Atlas groaned.

I looked at the clock and realized it had only been forty-five minutes.

“Atlas, may?—”

“I have to go love. I’ll call you later,” he yawned before hanging up.

Something was wrong so how could I fix something I didn’t know how to fix?

It was a gorgeous day in Denver and as I was walking to class, I took in the city I had missed so much. The morning air was crisp, and the hustle and bustle of the city was not what I remembered it to be. Was it always this loud, this busy and have all the people always been this rude?

Had small town life softened me up?

A piece of me always missed Denver and the life I had here and there were times I wanted to move back, but now that I was here again, it didn’t feel like the city I remembered. It felt foreign and honestly, it didn’t feel like me anymore.

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