Page 19 of Salute, To Bravery
The group headed in together but quickly split up as they went to their separate stations. I got to the registration desk and got all the reports from the night shift. It had been a slow night, and thankfully I didn’t have a ton of patients to check in. The emergency room at Sisters of Faith was usually packed on Monday mornings, and usually full of people who were told by their bosses to get a doctor’s note or they better show up to work. It took up a lot of valuable time and resources, but once they came to the ER for a note, most were too stubborn to leave.
I kept my head down as I filed paperwork and did my best to find placements for patients who actually needed to be admitted to the hospital. A lot of this job was paperwork and playing phone tag. It didn’t pay great, but I liked the work and the people.
I was busy on hold with another floor when I heard something being set next to me on my desk. I looked over to see a large coffee and Ian smiling at me. Despite my mood, I couldn’t help but smile back at my favorite travel nurse. “What’s this?”
“I noticed you didn’t have your giant ass coffee cup with you this morning. Or your standard energy drink.” Ian smirked.
I dropped my head. I had forgotten my drinks this morning since I was so annoyed when I left the house. “Damn. I also forgot my lunch.”
“Wow, you’re just failing extra hard today, aren’t you?” Ian laughed as I glared at him.
“Don’t you have some poor patient to stick or something?” I picked up the coffee and gingerly took a sip. I furrowed my eyebrows.
“Something wrong?”
“Uh no, it’s exactly how I like it?” I looked from the coffee in my hands to Ian, not even bothering to hide the question. “Are you stalking me?” I laughed.
“Oh yes, I got a job at this miserable little hospital just to stalk you.” He rolled his eyes at my surprised expression. “You’re a creature of habit, Odette. You’re here at exactly six fifty every morning with a huge cup of coffee in one hand and your tote bag in the other. You refill your coffee at lunch or down an energy drink. You drink your coffee the same exact way every single day.”
“Am I that predictable?”
“Yes.”
I scoffed. “Well, thanks. I appreciate it. It’s been a rough morning already.”
“Yeah, I get that, but at least you have vacation coming up, right?”
“Yeah, thankfully.” I deflated a little. I wasn’t even sure that my vacation was going to go as planned.
I could feel Ian watching me. That man was too damn observant.
“We’ll discuss that mood shift later.” He pointed a finger at me before downing his own drink. The intercom over our heads announced an incoming ambulance. “Whelp, that’s my cue.” He threw his cup in the trashcan next to her desk before turning to go to the trauma bay. “I mean it, O. Later.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved him off before settling back in my chair, the hold music barely registering in my ears as I turned the cup in my hands. I knew he’d ask me about it later. He was never too nosey, but he always made sure people felt better by the end of his shift. He was just one of those guys who seemed to be the support system for everyone around him. Oddly enough, none of us knew much about him, and we just assumed he liked to keep it that way since he was only contracted for 16 weeks. 16 weeks that ended at the end of the week. I couldn’t help but feel a little sad about it.
I managed to keep myself busy enough so that I wasn’t constantly thinking about my potentially ruined vacation. That was until lunch when I checked my phone for the first time in hours.
Six missed calls from my mother.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tightened my grip on the phone, resisting the urge to just throw the damn thing. I knew exactly what it was going to be about, and I didn’t want to hear about it. It was probably best to get it over with and move on with my day, though. I took a deep breath before dialing the number.
She answered on the first ring.
“Darling! I’ve been trying to reach you.” My mom’s weird fake high-society accent came through the speaker entirely too loud.
“Yes, Mom, I saw that. I’m at work, remember? I can’t be on my phone.”
“Oh, why do you keep that dreadful job? You know you have access to your bank account that your father and I set up for you. You don’t need the money.”
“I like my job, Mom, it gives me something to do, and it pays my bills.” I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers. I was so tired of having this particular conversation with my mother.
“Honey, we give you enough of an allowance every month to pay your bills and live comfortably. It’s bad enough that you picked that terrible apartment, but you don’t even come to all of our events because of that job.” She put emphasis on the last word. I could imagine the look of disgust.
I just sighed. “I’m sorry, Mom, I’m going to have to get back to work soon, was there something you needed?”
“Oh yes, I wanted to know what you were wearing to the party on Saturday? I think it would be just darling if you and Josh could match.”
“Mom, it’s not prom we don’t have to match.”
