by Liz Durano
Other Side of Love
A Different Kind of Love Romance: Sarah and Benny
Liz Durano
Copyright © 2019
1st Digital Edition.
1st Paperback Edition.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Other Books by Liz Durano
About the Author
You are one amazing and beautiful boy. I am so grateful to be your mother.
Foreword
Sarah and Benny first appeared during the family dinner scene in Everything She Ever Wanted with their son Dyami. From the first moment they appeared on the page, I always knew there was more to their story, one that would span over a decade. It would make the decision to write their story difficult because I’ve always seen authors write in a linear fashion, moving forward instead of going back. That’s how Every Breath, their Valentine’s Day slice-of-life novella came to be.
But it wasn’t enough.
For what made Sarah and Benny special was their past, and after struggling to move forward with more stories in the series, I knew the reason I couldn’t was because I had to go back in time and tell theirs first.
As it was, I couldn’t write anything else anyway and I’m glad I finally decided to let the characters do the talking. For the moment I started writing their story, nothing has ever felt so right and I hope you’ll feel the same way.
I hope you enjoy Other Side of Love. This is Sarah and Benny’s story…
In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
~”The Beauty Way”
Navajo/Diné traditional prayer
Chapter One
“Visiting your family after this?”
I turn to see Melina, the nurse supervisor writing down notes on the whiteboard behind the nurses’ station. With my shift ending in five minutes, she’s setting up the room assignment chart for the next shift.
“Yup, after my run and a quick nap.” I stifle a yawn as I get up from the counter, the last twelve hours finally getting to me but not until after my run. Gotta get the miles in and then I can fall asleep.
“Damn, girl. I don’t know how you can still run after the night I heard you guys had,” she says, shaking her head. “Or any night shift for that matter.”
I chuckle, rolling my eyes as the other staff members chime in to express their amazement. After all, twelve-hour shifts are no joke but with the joggers I see along the irrigation canal behind the medical center, it’s not like I’m alone enjoying the outdoors. And with the last few hours being the way they were, I need the distraction—a gunshot wound, a barroom brawl resulting in stitches, two drunk driver-related car accidents resulting in broken bones and one fatality. I try not to think of that last one. Some nights, nothing much happens at all in the Emergency Room.
Still, it’s just another day as a travel nurse in Shiprock, New Mexico. If I thought this job was going to be a piece of cake, I was fooling myself. But I already knew it wouldn’t be easy and that’s why I took it. As long as it was far enough away from civilization and close enough to Taos that I could drive there during my days off, it was good enough for me. Better than being all alone in the middle of nowhere without family close by. Been there, done that and I’m not doing that again.
“Did you call Enrico back yet?” Melina asks as she settles behind the front desk. She’s only been trying to get me to go out with her son ever since he met me while dropping something off for his mother two weeks ago. Why did I even agree to have Melina give him my phone number when I have no plans on dating anyone at the moment. It hasn’t been on the agenda for the past year, and at the rate my love life has been going, not anytime soon. I’m so done with men that I’m ready to live the rest of my life alone.
“I haven’t had time, Mel,” I say, slipping on my cardigan. “Between work and driving to Taos each weekend, I’ve been busy. Anyway, I’m going to clock–”
The front doors slide open and two men stride in, one cradling a bloody arm and the other looking at his companion nervously, one of the lenses of his wire-rimmed glasses cracked.
“Linda’s not here yet,” Melina says, turning to look at the new arrivals. “Can you stay five more minutes?”
I barely hear Melina, not when my attention is riveted to the tall man with intense brown eyes and a trimmed beard. As he storms into the clinic, his button-down shirt barely hides the outline of his muscled chest and a flat stomach. A hint of a tattoo peeks from under the collar of his shirt and around his neck, a silver ring hangs from a silver chain. He’s wearing two other chains although one looks like male beads. And then there are his rings. He’s wearing at least three but as my gaze drifts to his hands, I know for sure that his index fingers will be bare.
Only when a Navajo is dead, he’d told me almost three years ago.
Sure enough, as I glance at his hands, his pointer fingers are free of rings.
Suddenly the tall man stops in his tracks, his eyes narrowing at the sight of me as his companion approaches the counter.
“Colton Johnson, Ma’am, and this here’s Doctor Benny Turner,” Benny’s tall blond-haired companion says. “We were out surveying and the truck rolled. The doc here got a gash to his–”
“The truck didn’t roll,” Benny grumbles as he looks away from me and approaches the counter. “You went off the damn embankment and nearly killed us both.”
“Sarah, hang on a sec,” Melina says as she retrieves a clipboard from the wall slot with the intake forms for new patients to fill out.
“I thought it was just a little dip on the road,” says Colton as Benny scoffs.
“Dip on the road, my ass. You need a better prescription for your–”
“Alright, gentlemen, no arguing in my lobby,” Melina says sternly. “Why don’t we get you two in the room and have that arm looked at?” She turns to Benny. “That’s a nasty bump on that forehead. Did you hit your head?”
Benny scowls as he rubs his head with his uninjured hand. “No.”
“Yeah, he hit the dashboard,”
the other man says as Benny glowers at him even more, the red spot on his forehead turning even redder. “You weren’t wearing your seatbelt, man. You were checking your phone.”
“True, but I was also in the process of putting it on when you stepped on the gas.”
“I thought I’d–”
“Alright, that’s it,” Melina says sternly. “Room five is available. You guys are lucky we’re not too busy right–”
Melina doesn’t finish what she says for a woman with a screaming baby rushes through the double doors followed by a woman pushing an older man in a wheelchair.
“I got this. Sir?” I ask politely as I take the patient folder from Melina. With Colton not needing any medical attention, that leaves only Benny and unless I want him to bleed all over the lobby, I need to get him into an examination room.
Across the counter, Colton points to an empty chair in the lobby. “I’ll wait for you out here, man.”
“Whatever,” Benny mutters as I press the button to unlock the door separating the lobby from the rest of the clinic.
“Follow me.” As I make my way down the hallway to the examination room, I see the clock turn 7:00 AM. Oh well, there go my plans for a quick run followed by a stop at the local restaurant for a breakfast burrito, a nap and then the three-hour drive to Taos. What’s a few more minutes until Linda gets here to start her shift?
“How long have you been working here?” Benny asks under his breath as he follows me to Room Five.
“Since nine last night.”
He glares at me and I sigh, pointing to the examination table. “Two months. Anyway, why don’t you sit down and we’ll get your paperwork started before the nurse gets here.”
“But I thought you were my nurse.”
“Lucky you, I was just finishing my shift,” I reply coolly, avoiding his gaze. “So I’m just filling in until Nurse Linda gets here.”
Benny doesn’t answer. He studies me, an amused expression on his face. “Two months... man, I should have gotten banged up sooner if I’d known you were here. But then, I’ve been out of town.”
“Sit down, Mr. Turner,” I say, motioning toward the chair next to the examination table. “I’ll need to take down your information before the doctor gets here.”
It takes me five minutes to get all Benny’s information down even if I know half of it already. Too bad the half that I know about him has no place in a medical chart like the fact that he earned his Master’s in Environmental Sciences from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque while I was completing my Bachelors in Nursing or that he loves anything homemade, like hominy stew and carne adovado.
“You still running?” Benny asks, studying my face. “You got color on you like you have.”
“Then I probably have been running,” I say dryly. He’d know. He was the one who introduced me to running outdoors back during our time at UNM, getting me hooked to the feel of the sun and the wind on my face, the earth at my feet, and the sight of cacti, sagebrush, and the occasional petroglyph in the distance.
He doesn’t speak for a few moments, his eyes narrowing as he studies my face, a faint grin on his lips. “You must be the new nurse they were talking about. One of my other guys had to be brought in a few weeks ago. Got a nasty gash on his leg while surveying.”
I take the stethoscope from around my neck and place the ear tips in my ears. “Do you always scope out every one of the nurses around here?”
“Only the ones I already know,” Benny says as I twist the ear tips slightly to make a good seal, his voice becoming muffled as he continues. “Anyway, they have a pretty high turnover rate at this place since it’s on the rez and so I’m grateful for every person who does show up. The locals around here need people like you.”
“Take a deep breath.”
Benny does as he’s told and then exhales. As I rest the diaphragm on another spot on his chest, I can’t help but notice how defined his pectoral muscles are. And then there’s the hint of a six-pack underneath his white shirt. He definitely still works out.
“Come to think of it, I don’t know why you’re doing that when it’s just my arm that’s injured,” he says as if noticing my gaze and I clear my throat.
“Your friend said you hit your head.”
“True, but my head’s up here,” he says, pointing to his temple, “not where your stethoscope thing is at.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll get there soon enough and find out if there’s anything between your ears.”
“Ouch,” he says, still grinning as I roll my eyes and decide he’s healthy as an ox and lift the diaphragm away from his chest.
“You haven’t changed, you know that? You’re still incorrigible.”
“Now that’s pretty harsh, isn’t it? We haven’t seen each other in, what? Two years?” Benny says. “Too long, if you ask me.”
“Not long enough, actually.” I loop the stethoscope over my neck. “I should have checked to see if you worked here before I took the job.”
This time, he doesn’t answer right away, his eyes narrowing as he studies me. For a moment, I wonder if I’ve gone too far. But before I can apologize, Benny cracks a smile. “Glad to see you’re still feisty as ever, Sarah Drexel. I like that.”
The sound of my name escaping his lips makes my heart quicken and I get up abruptly, the chair rolling away and hitting the wall. Wouldn’t you know it? Obviously, two years isn’t long enough to get rid of my body’s reaction to Benny Turner saying my name, certainly not after that night I told him my secrets. I’d almost forgotten how it sounded coming from him with his baritone voice. But I can’t allow myself to be distracted right now, not when I’ve got a job to do.
“Why don’t we fix that nasty boo-boo and get you on your way, Mr. Turner?” I say as sweetly as I can just as the door opens and the doctor steps inside the room.
“Ah, Nurse Sarah, could you stay and help me with Mr. Turner here?” the doctor asks. “Linda is doing intake on the new patient and she should be here shortly.”
As I nod and tell the doctor it’s okay, I don’t miss seeing Benny’s grin widen, as if happy that I’m stuck with him. He really shouldn’t be smiling, not when we didn’t exactly end up on good terms two years ago. If I could wipe Benny’s grin off his face I would, but that would probably only make my problems worse.
After all, he’s not the one who said the things she shouldn’t have said the last time we were together two years ago. That was the night I was so drunk out of my head I asked Benny to do things I’d never asked any man to do before.
But that night, I learned firsthand that everyone had their limits and to my shame, Benny drew the line he’d never cross…not even with me.
An hour later, my run along the irrigation ditch behind the medical center done, my phone rings as I get behind the wheel of my SUV. I don’t need to see who’s calling. Even though I’m three hours away from Taos, nothing makes my mother happier than knowing I’m back in the same state where I grew up.
“You finished with work, mija?”
“Just got done with my run and now heading home for a nap.” It’s really a four-hour nap, if anything, but I doubt I’ll be able to do that now that I can’t get Benny out of my mind. Haven’t thought of anything else throughout my run either. How could he act like that last night we spent together never happened?
“I can’t wait to see you today,” Mom says, her words breaking through my thoughts. “Make sure you’re well-rested before you leave the house, okay? The highway can be crazy.”
I turn the key in the ignition, allowing the car to warm up. “I will.”
There’s a pause and I have a feeling she’s got something else to say but she’s holding back. “Your dad is flying in tonight. Thought you should know considering the last time you both talked, you ended up leaving earlier than you’d planned.”
I take a deep breath. The last time Dad and I saw each other we had an argument and I walked out of the house. I couldn’t handle the things he s
aid about my last relationship and he couldn’t stop himself from being too direct, wanting only to fix the problem, as he saw it.
For Mom’s birthday two months ago, I told her I was working the moment I knew Dad was flying in and that I couldn’t visit until I was on my day off which happened to be the day Dad had to return to New York. It wasn’t true, of course, but I wasn’t ready to face him just as I’m not ready to face him tonight either. I hate letting him down and for being a major fuck-up twice in a row.
And always with a man.
“Why don’t I call you later, Mom, after I take my nap?” I say, not wanting to think about Dad anymore. “We had a crazy shift last night and I just want to crawl into bed.”
“Alright, mija. Te amo.”
“Te amo, Mom. I’ll see you in a few hours, okay?” But even as I hang up, I know I won’t. I’ll call her later and tell her that one of the nurses is out sick and that the clinic needs me to come in tonight.
She’ll understand why.
Chapter Two
Small world. Who’d have thought Sarah Drexel would be working right here in Shiprock? Hell, I didn’t, not in a million years, not after she pretended I didn’t exist after two years of friendship. Not that I intended to mention that little detail with the doctor present and Sarah clearly focusing on the job at hand, refusing to meet my eyes the whole time.
I first met her at a coffee shop in Albuquerque four years ago when she was studying Nursing and I was working toward my Masters in Environmental Sciences. The place was packed and she and another friend asked if they could sit at my table since I was hogging one all to myself. I almost said no but figured, what the heck, I was going to leave in five minutes anyway and head to the university library where it would be quieter. I also needed to use the printer.
