by Radclyffe
“No,” Clete said.
Even lying down, he was big, probably six feet, two hundred pounds, dark hair, dark eyes, and an inquisitive, trusting expression. He was tough too. When Grady felt his belly, the muscles were rigid, but he showed no sign of discomfort even when she pressed a little in the area of his appendix. When she released her fingers, though, he winced.
“Rebound,” she murmured. She didn’t need much more evidence of what was going on. “So, Clete, you’ve got appendicitis. It could be a couple of other things, but the chances are really high that’s what it is.”
“Okay,” he said. “So, can I go home tomorrow?”
“Well”—Grady glanced at Court, who smothered a grin—“there is the little matter of the OR first.”
“Yeah, my sister had the same thing a couple years ago. Three days before the fair and she was showing her sheep. She made them let her go home the next day, so she could make the show. Took two blue ribbons that year too.”
His voice brimmed with pride.
“Right, okay then,” Grady said. Sheep. Really? “We’ll get you out of here soon as we can.”
Back at the nurses’ station, Grady leaned against the counter while Court called the OR.
When Court finished, she looked up at Grady. “Sorry I abandoned you last night. I’ve been on a waiting list for one of Mel’s puppies forever, and I wanted to be there when they were born.”
“No problem. Blaise gave me a ride home.”
“Oh, excellent.” Court looked around. Murmured voices came from down the hall, but no one was in sight. “So we never did finish the conversation about next time. I was thinking, there’s a concert in Albany next weekend. How do you feel about pop?”
“Thanks, but no.”
Courtney said, “Not into music?”
“That sounds like a date,” Grady said, “and I’m not dating right now.”
“Really. Okay.” Court stood with a smile. For a second she looked like she was going to say more, and then gave a good-natured shrug. “Worth a try. I’ll go talk to the nurses about Clete.”
“Great,” Grady said, “I’ll see you in the OR.”
Court disappeared down the hall, and Grady leaned over the counter to check the call sheet laid out on the worktop. Some things never changed, including the handwritten calendars every unit used to pencil in staff on call.
Grady sighed. Blaise’s name wasn’t there for the eleven to seven shift.
Chapter Twenty
“Hey,” Abby said from the doorway of the break room just as Blaise slid a fresh coffee filter into the brewer, “about ready to take your dinner break?”
“Hi,” Blaise said, turning around. “Yes. Just making my last caffeinated cup for the night. You have time for one?”
“Unless something major comes in, I might even have an hour to catch up on paperwork. One of the best things about these night shifts is it’s either quiet or chaos.” Abby, in scrubs and her trademark bright yellow rubber Crocs, leaned against the doorjamb, eyeing her with a quizzical expression. “So, how’s Grady?”
“Um…” Blaise slid her phone from her rear pocket as it buzzed, signaling a text. “Grady?”
“You know the one,” Abby said casually, her gaze sharpening, “five seven, five eight, brunette, amazingly dark blue eyes, a bit of a roguish grin. Overall pretty hot?”
“Abby”—Blaise palmed her phone and tried sneaking a look at the screen—“haven’t we had this conversation before about you being married and no longer drooling over hot women?”
Abby raised both hands, her brows arched in an appearance of total innocence. “Me? Drooling? Oh no, just making an aesthetic observation. But you do know the one I’m talking about, right?”
Blaise blew out a breath. “Yes, I know the one.”
“So?” Abby said, drawing out the word.
“She’s fine. I haven’t seen her since the night of the football game. You know I’ve been working my four on, and since I’m here nights and she’s a surgeon working days, we don’t exactly bump into each other very often.”
“So you haven’t heard from her, then.”
Blaise squeezed her phone. “Not exactly.”
“Okay. What does that mean—exactly?” Abby made a come-on gesture with her hand. Her smile began to resemble that of a cat with a canary. Or rather, what used to be a canary and now was lunch.
“We’ve been sort of talking, I guess you’d say.” Blaise resisted the urge to shuffle her feet. Good Lord, what was she—fifteen again? Although sometimes, she almost felt that way. Ridiculously giddy when a smiley face emoji could make her heart race. Sometimes she didn’t even ask herself why she felt what she felt, or if she should, or shouldn’t. She couldn’t remember a time when she had the freedom to just be.
“There’s some question about that? Talking seems fairly identifiable.”
Blaise gritted her teeth. “Well, if texting is talking, then yes, we have been talking.”
Abby burst out laughing. “You know what the kids call talking when they text, right?”
Of course she knew. She had a teenager, didn’t she? One who was constantly on her phone, texting her friends from the second she arrived home, even though she’d just seen them five minutes before. The internet provided a wealth of information for parents who wanted some glimmer of understanding about the world their teens inhabited, and a brief search explained that when teens were interested in a one-on-one relationship, they didn’t necessarily date—they talked, via text.
“It’s not the same thing,” Blaise said defensively.
“You mean you’re not exactly dating, just sort of pairing off, I believe it means.”
“She’s just been chatting, you know, when she’s between cases or if I’m awake or sometimes in the evening when I’m at work, she’ll just say, How are things in the ER? Being friendly.” She was talking too fast, as if trying to explain away what didn’t need to be explained. They were just texting, for heaven’s sake. Silly, harmless texting.
“Aha. So you are talking.”
“You know you’re annoying, right?” Blaise surreptitiously glanced at her phone.
How’s the night going?
Blaise smiled and, guiltily for absolutely no reason, slid her phone into her back pocket.
“Well,” Abby said, “we’re all going to be talking soon, because she’s out in the lobby, and she has food. It looks like a lot of food, and you know, a lot of hungry people around here and all. Can’t keep that a secret.”
Blaise stared. “She’s out in the lobby? It’s three o’clock in the morning!”
“Well, there are a lot of all-night takeout places too, and whatever she has, it smells really good, and I want some. So do Brody and Glenn and a few other people who caught a whiff.”
“Why didn’t you bring her back? What if she leaves?” Blaise hurried for the door. Grady was here. Why didn’t she say she was coming? Why not text her? For almost a week, she’d been getting texts. Casual chatty texts, which struck her as odd at first, because most of her friends never texted her unless they were asking what time she was going to pick up the kids or had she heard from the kids or something about the kids. But they didn’t talk to each other that way. Surprised the first few times, she’d replied perfunctorily.
Busy here. The usual
Just got home
Going for a run before work
But then, then she’d begun looking for the texts, and sharing more. When she’d said she was reading a book, Grady had asked what it was about, and they’d ended up discussing fiction. Then other things—snippets of articles they’d read or bits about interesting cases. What had started out as weird had become nice, in a very strange way.
Abby grinned and moved out of her path. “I told her I’d send you out, but believe me, that woman is not going anywhere until she sees you. She’ll just sit out there making us all drool.” She called down the hall after her, “Over the food. So don’t you dare send her away.
Remember, hungry people are cranky people.”
“I’m not going to send her away,” Blaise said. “You don’t mind if she comes back here, do you?”
“Why would I mind? She works here. And she was smart enough to know if she was bringing food, she needed to bring a lot. I’m half in love with her.”
Laughing, Blaise hurried down the hall, hit the button for the auto doors, and searched the lobby. Grady, in dark jeans, running shoes, and a navy V-neck sweater with the sleeves pushed up to midforearm, leaned on the counter by the reception desk, chatting to the clerk. Two huge bags with the logo of a Thai takeout place sat on the floor by her feet. When she saw Blaise, her smile widened. “Hi. Did I catch you at break time?”
“You did. And I packed a salad and yogurt.”
“That sounds good.”
Blaise pointed at the takeout bags. “That smells better.”
Grady bent to pick them up, and Blaise grabbed one. Grady held out the other. “You want to take them back?”
She could, and everyone would be happy. Except her. She didn’t give a damn what was in the bags. “No, you bring them back. Come on.”
“Hold up a sec.” Grady fished around in a bag, took out a small cardboard container and a pair of chopsticks, and passed them through the window. “Pineapple fried rice. That’s what you wanted, right?”
Warren nodded vigorously. “Hey, thanks, Dr. McClure.”
Grady waved and followed Blaise.
“Did you actually take orders?” Blaise asked as they walked down the hall.
“Just for him. I figured the rest of you could just fight it out.”
“That was really nice of you.” Blaise slowed. The break room was guaranteed to be busy, and she just wanted a minute alone with her. It had only been a few days, but somehow that seemed far longer. “It’s the middle of the night, though. What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you.” Grady shrugged. “And it’s really hard, you know, with you working nights and me mostly here days except when I’m in the OR with an emergency. I know you have to sleep, but you have to eat too.”
“You need to sleep too,” Blaise pointed out.
“I do, but I’m one of those diphasic people. I sleep in shifts usually. I think it’s just habit after years of being on call and getting habituated to being up half the night. Now I just sleep that way. Don’t worry.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” Blaise said hurriedly as they walked into the break room.
Sure enough, Brody, Glenn, and two of the other night nurses sat around a table with expectant expressions. Abby leaned against the counter drinking coffee.
“Thai? Oh yeah.” Brody rose to take one of the bags from Grady, carried it over to the table, and pulled the containers out. “Excellent choice.”
Abby dragged a chair out at another table, and Blaise and Grady joined her with the second bag.
“This will be all over the hospital tomorrow,” Abby said, digging into a carton of curry chicken. “You’ll be knighted or vilified.”
“How so?” Grady said.
“Some people are going to be very annoyed, considering they’ll feel duty bound to outdo you in some way.”
Grady laughed. “Well, in this particular instance, everybody wins.”
Laughing, Abby said, “Very true. You’re definitely due a knighthood in my book.”
“I’m satisfied, then,” Grady said.
Abby stood. “If you don’t mind me being rude, I’m going to take this back to my office and finish it while I try to answer a few emails. ’Night, Grady.”
“’Night.”
“Abby is a fan,” Blaise said.
“Good person to have on my side,” Grady said, munching on a spring roll. “The ER chief, and your bestie.”
“Ha.” Blaise shook her head. “You don’t need any help charming people.”
“Really? What about you?”
“This was rather unexpected,” Blaise said after a few seconds, “and very nice.”
“I told you,” Grady said in a low voice. “I wanted to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too.” Blaise ducked her head. She wasn’t actually blushing, was she?
“When’s your next day off?” Grady asked.
“Tomorrow night,” Blaise said.
“You have some time in the morning, then, right? Since you’ll probably push your schedule forward a little?”
Blaise tilted her head. “How did you know that?”
“Oh, I’ve been researching the usual sleep schedules of people who routinely work night shifts. That’s what it said you should do on your days off.”
“That’s very bizarre, you know that, right?”
“Well, when I don’t know something, I try to figure it out.” Grady skimmed her fingers over the top of Blaise’s hand. “And when I want to know someone better, I pay attention.”
“I mentioned I loved Thai, didn’t I,” Blaise murmured. And why did something so offhand, so casual, suddenly feel so special? “Why didn’t you ever consider just asking me about my schedule?”
Grady leaned on her palm, her expression pensive as she studied Blaise. “Would you have told me?”
“Yes, why wouldn’t I?”
“Because you don’t like to talk about personal things.”
Blaise tensed. “My sleep schedule is hardly personal.”
“I didn’t want to take any chances.”
“Chances how?”
“That you might stop talking to me.”
“Grady,” Blaise said quietly, “I like talking to you. I just…I’m not used to it.”
“Used to what, Blaise?” Grady murmured.
“Talking about personal things.”
“I bet you do with Abby.”
“Abby is my best friend,” Blaise said.
“And?”
“You don’t feel like that.”
Grady’s eyes glinted. “Not like a friend, you mean.”
“You know what I mean,” Blaise said. “I don’t kiss my friends.”
“I’m really glad to hear that. I mean, it’s totally your business and everything, but I prefer to have a lock on the kissing thing.”
Blaise laughed. Grady was so outrageous and so sure of herself, and Blaise liked it. She liked the way Grady presumed, all the while knowing if she pushed back, Grady would ease off. That’s what all the texting had been about. Remote enough for her to feel safe, but intimate too. “At the moment, you happen to be the only one I’m kissing. Or have kissed, past tense.”
“I’d like very much to make that present tense,” Grady said. “And the sooner the better.”
Blaise put her food aside and leaned forward until she was certain no one could overhear. Grady was so unlike her. If she asked anything, she knew Grady would answer. Grady gave her the power to explore—herself, Grady, the two of them. “Why?”
“Because I can’t stop thinking about you. I can’t stop thinking about kissing you. I can’t stop thinking about touching you. And it’s making me crazy.”
“So you resorted to seduction by Thai?”
“Is it working?”
Why pretend otherwise, when she didn’t want to. “I really love Thai.”
“And kissing, how do you feel about that?”
Blaise might have hesitated, not all that long ago. But there’d been a kiss, and conversations, and texts, and Grady so certain. “I think I feel inclined to try another kiss.”
“When?”
Up to her still. When had anything been completely up to her? More power, sweet and seductive. Blaise leaned back, and Grady’s gaze fixed on her face. “Do you have a case in the morning?”
“Nothing on the schedule until I have to staff the residents’ clinic at two,” Grady said. “Once I’m done with rounds at seven, unless there’s an emergency, I’m free.”
“I’m off at seven.”
“I know.”
“I have to see Taylor before she leaves for school at seven
thirty.”
“Come to my apartment after that,” Grady said instantly. “I’ll make you breakfast. And we’ll see.”
We’ll see.
Blaise nodded. She wanted to see. “How can I say no to a woman who offers to feed me?”
Grady smiled. “I have no idea.”
Chapter Twenty-one
“Want to come over for coffee and gossip?” Abby said as she grabbed her backpack and joined Blaise on the way out of the conference room while the day shift headed off to their various duties.
“Oh,” Blaise said, “um, thanks. I can’t this morning.”
“Okay.” When they reached the door, Abby held it open. “Got a date?”
Blaise jumped and made a show of sliding her sunglasses on while she hid her surprise. Not all for show, either—too much bright morning sun pretty much guaranteed her biorhythms would revert to a normal day-night cycle, and she’d never get to sleep. Although the way her blood buzzed and her body tingled with anticipation, she doubted she’d sleep for a week. She cast a sidelong glance at Abby, who pulled her shades out as well. “Why do you say that?”
Abby smiled. “I can feel the vibrations from here. And, come on, Grady showed up at three o’clock in the morning with food. She didn’t do it because she thought we were hungry. She’s courting you.”
“Courting?” Blaise laughed. “Somehow, I can’t see that in relationship to Grady.”
“Why not?” Abby slowed by a stone bench. “Sit for five minutes. She’ll wait.”
Blaise realized she wanted to talk. And as anxious as she was for whatever was about to happen to happen, she sat.
“You like her, don’t you,” Abby said quietly.
“I do,” Blaise said just as quietly. “And I’m not sure that’s a smart idea at all.”
“And maybe you’re letting your initial impressions cloud your vision.”
“Ouch. That sounds…shallow.” Blaise wished she could argue, but whenever she thought about Grady, the past fogged the present, fear obscured reality, and need overshadowed desire. Such a jumble of emotions she couldn’t be sure what she felt.
Abby threw an arm around her shoulders. “I don’t mean that in a bad way, and you know it. What I mean is, something about Grady put you off at first, but do you even know what that was? Or why you can’t let it go?”
