Page 29 of Arse Over Irish Teacup
“First of all, her name is Viki spelled with a K.”
“I don’t care.” She could be the Queen of the Nile and he wouldn’t care.
“Anyway, she’s been watching us and thinks you are quite the romantic.”
Aidan stared, uninterested.
“She also said we make a perfect couple and hopes we have a happy life together. I thought she might melt into a puddle at my feet.”
“If only she could.”
“I would probably slip in it. I’m a little clumsy.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” Aidan winked with a smile. “Come on, let’s hear it. What’s the worst clumsy thing you ever did as a nurse?”
She didn’t need to think about this one. “I tripped and broke my nose on a patient’s walker then they slipped in the blood gushing out of my nose and broke a hip, which then caused them to have a heart attack, then they went into a coma, lived for three days and died.”
He sat. Motionless. Staring. His lips only slightly apart for what seemed like forever. Beth was kidding right? She had to be kidding. He blinked hard and burst into laughter. “You’re funny.”
“The first part was true.”
“What?”
She looked at him with guilty eyes. “I really did trip. I don’t even know on what. My own two feet I guess, and I broke my nose on a patient’s walker and he slipped but the rest was made up. He was fine except for a couple of bruises and being in dire need of a bath.”
Again, without Aidan’s consent his hand laid on hers, patting it. “That could happen to anyone.” Be serious. No, no it couldn’t. They shared a sideways look and laughed together. “So, you didn’t only take care of your grandmother?”
“No, she didn’t need full time care until a couple of years ago. I had other nursing jobs.”
“What will you do now?”
“I don’t know. I guess I wanted every moment I could get with Gram. I never thought about what was next.”
A tear escaped from the corner of Aidan’s eye and he quickly wiped it away. “Well, I can’t blame you for that.” Again, his hand was patting hers. Seriously? Come on!
“What’s the clumsiest thing you ever did?” she asked.
“When I was, I think eight years old, I swung the kitchen door the wrong way causing my mother to splat an entire sheet cake onto herself.”
“I’ve done that. Rookie.”
“Okay Spinner, then what’s the clumsiest thing you’ve ever done of all time?”
That was an easy answer. “I fell in a grave.”
“What?” Aidan couldn’t believe what was coming out of his mouth but there they were. “I think I need to hear this story. An open grave?”
Beth nodded her head long and slow, staring at her lap and recalling that event in the not-so-distant past. “Yep. I fell six feet down into an open grave.” She recalled Lauren shoving Danny then looked at Aidan with a smile in her eyes. “Luckily nobody was in it.” She gestured her hand into a swan dive. “The guy I was dating, Danny, dumped me at Gram’s funeral and I was so upset that I backed away from him and …”
“You fell into a grave. That’s somehow so much worse than the broken nose story. Did the guy help you out?”
“No,” she said shaking her head and looking away as if down into the grave. “Lauren did. She’s my best friend.”
“Yes, you’ve mentioned her.”
“Oh, that’s right. She heard me shriek when I fell and came running. Then after she got me out, Lauren pushed Danny in, and we walked away arm in arm with him screaming like a baby in the distance.” Beth twiddled her fingers as if running away toward the window.
“That’s a perfect ending to that story.” Aidan held up his whiskey and said, “To good friends.”
