Page 11 of The Billionaire's Fortunate Accident
“Yeah, Nash. You’ve got success flowing through your veins. It’s just time to let it out, is all. I think it’s time to wrap and roll.”
I had no idea what he was talking about. “Huh?”
“Wrap and Roll.” His head bobbed, as he must’ve thought that would mean something exciting to me. “The name of your new place. Wrap and Roll. Get it?”
Hi, I’m the head chef and founder of Wrap and Roll. Oh, hell no!
Chapter Six
Jessa
Last night’s shift at Hamburger Hut hadn’t seemed as brutal as most nights. Maybe it was Stone's brief visit that had made it more than simply bearable. He did have a way of making me smile — that was undeniable.
It would’ve been nice if we could’ve talked longer, but I had to plan next week’s schedule, and there was the grocery order that I had to get done too. Free time wasn’t a thing I had much of. And for the first time since I’d begun this journey of becoming a doctor, I missed having free time — time to do whatever I wanted with whomever I wanted.
Coffee and a chocolate-covered donut helped quiet my rumbling tummy as I sat at a small table in the hospital’s cafeteria. With a fifteen-minute break, there wasn’t time to eat a whole meal.
“Care if I join you, Miss Moxon?”
Mavis Morgan was in the same classes as I was. “Sure thing, Miss Morgan. Have a seat.”
She put down a steaming cup of green tea — I could tell by the scent that wafted my way. She also had an English muffin with nothing spread on top. “That was some scene in emergency this morning, wasn’t it?”
“It’s not often that you see a man walk into a room with a hatchet buried in his head.” I laughed, even though it had been rather gruesome. “And when he said that he’d accidentally done that to himself, I just about fell over from shock.”
“I know.” A wide smile told me just how insane we all were in the medical community. “Not in my wildest dreams did I ever see a thing like that happening.”
“The trouble people can get themselves into never ceases to amaze me.” I took a bite of the donut then wiped the chocolate glaze off my lips with a napkin. “I guess some people have too much time on their hands.”
“Unlike us.” Nodding, as she too knew the hardships of working her way through school, she went on, “I didn’t get off work until five this morning. The morning dispatcher at the sheriff’s office was dealing with a sick kid. She had to get her daughter over to her mother’s house, which put her two hours behind schedule. Today is going to be brutal.”
Even with the usual lack of sleep, I just felt better today for some reason. Stone was probably at the heart of it — not that I was about to say a thing about him to anyone. It could never happen anyway, so why talk about it? “I’ve got the night off tonight, so I can catch up on my sleep a little. Not a lot. Not completely, by any means. But a little. Just enough to keep me going for another few days or so.”
“I envy those who don’t have to work nights to make ends meet while doing their internship.” She sipped her tea. “How wonderful it would be to come from a family who could help to support me right now.”
I hadn’t told anyone about my family. When asked, I would simply say that I had to do this thing on my own. I never put down my family for that. It was my idea to do things this way, not theirs. “I look at things this way: the hardships only make us stronger in the end.”
“That’s a nice way of looking at the sleep deprivation and the stress of not knowing if you’ll make enough money to cover all the bills and the tuition payments. There aren’t many of us who haven’t pulled out student loans to get us through this tough time. Besides you and I, I only know of three others who are doing it this way.”
“Well, I wasn’t willing to throw myself in a hole for hundreds of thousands of dollars, not for anything. If I could find a way to make this work without racking up debt, that’s exactly what I was going to do. And working at Hamburger Hut might seem like a waste of my time, but the fact that they pay half my tuition makes it a dream come true for me.”
“Exactly.” She knew what I was talking about. “If there wasn’t the incentive of tuition reimbursement from my job as an emergency dispatcher, I wouldn’t stay up nights working there.”
“We might have it hard right now, but in a couple of years, we’ll be making great money. And while others are going to be broke, paying back all that money they borrowed in student loans, you and I and others like us will be keeping our well-earned money.” I just knew my way was the best one for me. “I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and man, is it bright.”
Finishing off her English muffin, she nodded her head in agreement. “Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is enough for me. So, are you going to go back to North Carolina once you graduate? Or has Texas grown on you?”
Her reminder of where I came from made memories of home flash through my mind. The mansion I’d grown up in popped up first. Then my father, who stood stoically at the foot of the double staircase, filtered into the scene. My sister, a purse draped over one shoulder, ready to go shopping, stood beside our father.
Life back home wasn’t what I wanted anymore. My sister and I had never wanted for a single thing. It was as if even dreaming of having something would make it magically appear. And if we actually asked for something, we got one in every color or style imaginable.
Some would think that a wonderful way to live life. But I found it boring. I also found my older sister to be spoiled and bratty. I never wanted to be like her in any way.
I do believe Lily was uppity from birth. She was a demanding child and had grown into an even more demanding adult. If she had to ask anyone for anything more than once, a bitch-fit would soon follow.
Maybe our father indulged us so heavily because of guilt. Not that he had anything to feel guilty over. It wasn’t his fault that our mother wasn’t in the picture anymore. It was mine — entirely my fault.
I knew better than to do this to myself. I’d seen a therapist for many years to help heal my wounds, to take away my guilt. But all the help in the world wasn’t enough to take away the truth. How could it?
