Page 14 of Baby By my Best Friend's Daddy

“You need to get laid.”

I burst out laughing. Rebecca flashed before me.

“I’m serious. There’s nothing like a good fuck to take the edge off.”

I snorted. “You’re the leading authority on that.”

“Oh, boy, you know it.”

I chuckled, and when the bartender brought me my usual—bourbon—Ted and I lifted our glasses and clinked them against each other.

3

REBECCA

“Thewomaninbedfour is asking for you,” Mindy said, coming to me at the nurses’ station.

I groaned. “Again?” I glanced toward the ER beds, where a woman had come in earlier with severe stomach cramps. “I’m about to knock off.”

Mindy shrugged. “She wants you specifically.”

I sighed. “Okay, I’ll go to her one more time, but then I’m off duty, and someone else will have to pick up the slack.”

“Hey, don’t look at me, I tried to step in and ask her what she needed, but she’s adamant.”

I nodded. Sometimes, we had difficult nurses. I’d just started my ER rotation—I’d been here for my first shift, and I was already over it. Maybe I was just drained. It had been a long couple of weeks with crazy accidents and maimed patients coming in, and switching over to the night shift always messed with me. My day shifts weren’t as tough as working in the ER, and sometimes I struggled with the transition.

“Are you okay?” Mindy asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Mindy gave me a pointed look. “I noticed you silenced all the calls from your mom throughout the day yesterday. I know you’re not on great terms with your parents, but it’s worse tonight.”

“Do you miss anything?” I asked with a laugh.

Mindy shook her head. “I wouldn’t be a very good nurse if I did, right?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess not. It’s fine. It’s just a tough day. It’s three years since my sister died. Today. My parents want to cry on my shoulder about her.”

“I’m so sorry,” Mindy said, her face crumpling a little. “I wish you’d said something.”

I shrugged. “What’s there to say? It’s just another day.”

“Don’t you want to be with family?”

I finished the file I’d been working on and closed it. “No way. I’m sick and tired of hearing how she was the daughter they wanted, and now she’s gone, they’re just left withme.”

“I don’t think that’s how they mean it.”

I snorted. “You don’t know my parents.”

I could tell Mindy wanted to say something else, but I wasn’t in the mood to discuss it anymore. I could keep it all at arm’s length and do my job if I didn’t concentrate on it. The moment I thought too much about losing my sister, I fell apart. It had been three years, and it still stung like it had happened yesterday.

I wasn’t ready to lose it all over again.

“I’m going to see our patient, and then I’m out. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Take care of yourself, okay?” Mindy said. “Try not to be so hard on yourself.”

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