Page 31 of Embrace
“Plus, I have an early morning, and so do you.” She held out her arms, and I stood to hug her.
“What are you doing tomorrow?” I asked.
Her eyes shone bright as she rubbed her hands together. “Photo shoot in Manhattan. Wish me luck.”
“Luck,” I said. “And wish me luck.”
“Luck, because you’re going to need it way more than I do,” she said.
“Ha,” I said as I showed her out.
Only after she left did I wonder why Zara presumed I would need more luck than her. Regardless, I was glad she was gone but only for one reason. I didn’t want to share any more of my ice cream. I dropped back onto the sofa and continued eating it until it was all gone.
* * *
Blue Butterfly,your wing’s clipped. Blue Butterfly, you’re cruel. You shouldn’t be so shaky. I shouldn’t be a fool.
That was the chorus of the song. I silenced my alarm before it could repeat. The previous night before falling asleep, I’d eaten the entire pint of chocolate blast. Rich creaminess settled in my stomach like a log. Emotional gorging always had its consequences. A wave of nausea hit me, and while I closed my eyes, waiting for the sickness to pass, I tried to assess the emotional damage from the previous night’s interaction with Jake or Asher. I groaned, clutching my belly, unable to focus on what I wanted to ponder.
When the nausea disappeared, I hopped to my feet, happy it was gone. I had no time to think about Asher, since I had to get ready to go to work. Once again, I found myself counting minutes as if they were Weight Watchers points.
First, I showered. That took eight minutes. Next, I pulled my hair back into a ponytail. That took less than a minute. I didn’t take an extra minute to primp, even though I cared how I would look when I eventually ran into Asher. Frankly, I was too tired to fix any messes the mirror revealed.
Even though the sight of food made me want to hurl, I knew I had to pack snacks to keep my energy up throughout the day. It felt as though it had been forever since I prepared my nutrition for a long shift. I still had dry snacks in my bag, but once my belly was less cranky, I would be hungry enough to win a hot dog eating contest. Just about all my baby carrots had turned mushy and slimy, but I washed the freshest ones and put them in a plastic Ziploc bag. That took three minutes.
I was out of apples and oranges.Note to self, go grocery shopping.Then I remembered I should have a big bag of raw almonds in the cabinet. I padded over to the other side of the kitchen, found them in the cabinet, then put them in my bag as well.
Even though I felt as if I was leaving tons of things behind, it was time to go, so I grabbed my bag, rushed out of my apartment, went down the elevator, and once I stepped out of the building, my hopes were thwarted.
A part of me had expected to see Asher standing out front, waiting for me. Such a romantic gesture certainly wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility. He had shown up at the airport yesterday, which impressed me. Then we’d walked to the bookstore and danced at the outdoor concert. All the flowers he left me every morning when I stayed at the penthouse, the masquerade party, the rides in hired cars—it all indicated that he was a romantic guy, but that morning, he wasn’t.
Disappointed, I moved fast up the avenue, not paying much attention to those who were heading to the hospital to start their shifts with me. I had to put my mind into surgeon mode. A long time had passed since I’d gone more than two days without being in the OR. Strangely, I hadn’t missed it much. I might have had senioritis as far as my residency was concerned. It was almost over, and I needed a bigger break than two days. I needed frivolous time to do nothing but sleep in for several days and not worry about my missing mother or how a patient was progressing throughout his recovery.
I wanted to read a newspaper and learn who was who in the world.What about those Christmases?Asher had two brothers and a sister. Never had I been more curious about them than I was then.
Freedom was on the horizon, but when I stepped onto the grassy quad of the hospital grounds, I stretched my fingers. I hoped I was scheduled to perform an early procedure. An early surgery was just what I needed to put me solidly back in a surgeon’s state of mind.
“Morning, Pen,” Kevin said as he swept past me just before I entered the lobby.
He didn’t even give me time to respond, which was odd because he wasn’t the type to not wait for me to say good morning back.
When I entered the building, Cecily and Nina, the two check-in clerks, observed me without saying a thing.
“Good morning, ladies,” I said since they wouldn’t.
They both looked down at the desk, as if something had suddenly occupied their attention. That was weird.
I passed two other familiar faces walking toward the care station, and they averted their eyes too.
I chewed on my lower lip. Right. Not only had Asher and I left the party early, but we’d made it clear we were a couple. They didn’t know that Julia Valentine had tossed a grenade into our hot and heavy love affair the previous night. As far as they knew, Asher and I were blissfully breaking the rules.
But I wanted to yell at everybody to give me a break. I was almost done. Like, I literally had my big toe on the finish line.
The care station was in sight, and Deb was standing at the counter, doing paperwork. Shit, I’d forgotten about the look on her face when she got an up-close-and-personal view of Asher and me kissing.Damn it.
“Penina, let’s talk,” Deb said without looking up from her paperwork once I made it to an EMR station.
Panic made me feel as if I had been struck with a sudden bout of vertigo. “Talk about what?”
