Page 2 of Broken Dreams

She laughed. His proposal was as regular as the noontime meal. “Mr. Goetz, you know my answer hasn’t changed. I can't marry you, or anyone,” she added, sternly eyeing the other men seated at the table who often joined in with their own proposals. “Until I've met my goal of traveling to all fifty states.”

“Huh. What's so great about wanting to leave here?” Mr. Sutherland asked. “We all signed the petition so you would stay.”

She barely refrained from rolling her eyes. “I'm not leaving for another five weeks, Mr. Sutherland, so relax. Chances are you'll be home long before then. And please, stop signing petitions. This is my choice, not the Veteran’s hospital’s decision.

“Amber?” One of the nurses gestured from the main desk. “Doctor Roland is on the phone.”

“Don't let him hang up. I'll be right there.” She had paged the physical medicine specialist four times since the start of her shift to discuss Mr. Goetz's care. She forced a smile. “Enjoy your meal, gentleman. And remember, behave.”

“Aw, what fun is that?” Mr. Baker asked in a plaintive tone.

She laughed and shook her head as she left the dining room. Reaching over the desk, she pushed the blinking light on the multi-button phone. “Dr. Roland? I've been calling you all morning.”

“I'm busy.”

She should have known he wouldn't apologize and bit her tongue, forcing herself to concentrate on the matter at hand. “The results of the urine sample we sent yesterday on Harold Goetz indicate he has another urinary tract infection. I’m concerned about him. I’m not sure why we can’t seem to clear this infection up.”

“Give him ten days of double strength Bactrim. Is that all?” His dismissive tone infuriated her. He acted as if he didn’t care if Mr. Goetz ever recovered from his infection.

“I don't know. Are you going to bother calling back the next time I page you?”

There was a moment of silence, then Dr. Roland erupted. “Don't tell me how to run my unit. I always return my pages and don't you dare to insinuate otherwise.” He slammed the phone in her ear.

Ouch. Amber winced and hung up. Apparently the truth hurts.

Irene one of her nurse colleagues on the unit stared at her with wide eyes. “I can't believe you said that to him.”

“Yeah, well, I'm tired of him not answering our pages.” She sighed and came around the desk to enter the telephone order into the computer. “If Roland ever made rounds, he'd know these things for himself, wouldn't he?” Irene nodded in agreement, so she continued, “He hasn't shown his face around here for three days, at least not on day shift and not in the evenings either, based on the lack of documentation in the patient’s charts.”

“I know. But still. I can't believe you actually said that to him.” Irene was a newer graduate nurse, three years younger than Amber. Although it was at times like this that Amber felt as if she were one hundred years older. “What if he complains to our boss about you?”

“Let him.” She shrugged even though she knew Roland could cause trouble for her if he wanted to. Despite being absent more often than not, Dr. Roland was still the medical director of the physical medicine rehab unit. Dealing with him was one of those things she wouldn't miss when she left to take her traveling nurse position in Florida. Although she was worried about what would happen to her patients when she was gone. If she didn't blow the whistle and stand up to keep Roland in line, who would?

“Do me a favor. Watch for the extra strength Bactrim that should be coming up from the pharmacy. Oh, and keep an eye on our patients. I'd better find Leanne and let her know my side of the story before Roland gets to her.”

Irene let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, but if she asks me, I'll have to tell her the truth about what I overheard you say.”

“Don't worry, I would never ask you to lie for me.” She met Irene’s gaze straight on. “I’ll tell her exactly what I said, along with the fact that he hasn't made rounds in three days. I’m pretty sure there are rules about that.”

“Good luck,” Irene said.

She flashed a grim smile. Considering she'd already given her notice and her last day of employment was August 15th, she didn't really care if her boss fired her. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She’d never been fired from a job in her life, and honestly didn’t really want to start now. Thankfully, she had nearly enough vacation time to cover the gap if necessary.

Maybe getting canned wouldn’t be the worst thing, she thought knocking on the nursing director’s office door. She wouldn’t mind some time off. Even though she’d miss her patients.

Three hours later the end of her shift came all too quickly. There were never enough hours in the day to get the work finished. Instead of firing her, Leanne made her sign up for an educational session about positive communication between colleagues. She was glad her boss hadn’t been too upset, and Leanne had promised to follow up with the chief of staff about Roland’s lack of making rounds. As she headed home, she debated whether or not the chief of staff would take their concerns seriously or brush them off. Surely she couldn't be the first nurse to complain about the guy.

It bugged her that Roland was getting paid for taking care of his patients from the comfort of his chair on the other end of a phone rather than in person, using an actual stethoscope to do his own assessments.

She brushed off the annoyance. Roland wouldn’t be her problem for much longer. The summer day was warm but not too hot as she walked the short six blocks home to her parent’s house. She rolled her shoulders hoping to ease the nagging ache. Grabbing Mr. Goetz so he didn't fall had strained the muscles in her upper back. Again.

But she didn't dare complain not when she had to go home and help lift her incapacitated mother in and out of the bathtub. She winced, immediately ashamed of the selfish thought.

Shane's death had taken a toll on their whole family. Amber had grieved for what would never be. But then she’d decided this was the perfect time to break loose from her family. To take the first step in her dream of seeing the world. She'd always wanted to travel but losing Shane had been hard. Then, her mother had tripped over their dog Murphy, and had fallen down the stairs.

Her mom's broken hip was healing slowly but surely. Her dad watched over her mother while Amber was at work, but he couldn't do everything himself. At least her mother's hip fracture was on the mend. Soon her mom wouldn't need help at all.

Her parents had been upset by her decision to leave home and travel, but she couldn't let her love for them sway her from her goal. Her dream of marrying Shane had been broken, but she knew it was time to look ahead. She'd lived vicariously through her older siblings for years. It was time for her to do something for herself. She missed having her own apartment, having been forced to move back home after her mother had broken her hip. There were also five other Monroe siblings to keep an eye on her parents, while she was gone. Well, really only three, since Austin was in California and Aaron was in Boston.

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