U-Turn

by Maren Lee

  “Oh, no.” Wesson let out an exasperated sigh and leaned back in his chair. “Jesus Christ, man. When the fuck did you fall in love with Jake’s little sister?”

  Ryan didn’t reply. He looked down at his half eaten plate of food. He shook his head and bit his tongue. No one was going to know the answer to that question until he had the chance to tell Katie himself.

  “Fuck. We’re all going to die.” Wesson ran his hands through his hair.

  “Oh. My. God. You love her, Ryan?”

  “Both of you need to shut the hell up,” Ryan demanded, his tone biting.

  Wesson shook his head. “You may get away with that tone when you’re talking to me, Ryan. But don’t you dare talk to my lady like that. I’ll knock your dentures down your fuckin’ throat.”

  “Fuck off, Wess. Molly, I apologize. Thanks for letting me crash your dinner.” Ryan threw a twenty-dollar bill on the table and left.

  Chapter 10

  A week later and nothing had changed. Katie and Brian were still two ships crossing in the night. The opposite shifts thing was not a long-term workable solution in Katie’s mind. Something was going to have to give. He was still grumpy. She was still attempting to stop thinking about Ryan and feeling guilty every time her mind wandered to him. Surprisingly, Brian had asked Katie about wedding plans yesterday after weeks of silence on the subject. She made up some shit about wedding dress shopping with her mom.

  She hadn’t even discussed wedding plans with her mom at Lane’s party last weekend, but after one phone call, her mom was making fitting appointments for her at some boutiques in Seattle. Katie tried to talk her mom out of such an extravagant trip, but Sarah was having none of it. So in three weeks, they were headed for a girls’ weekend in Seattle with her mom, her sister Dani (whom Katie described to most people as a fucking delight in the most sarcastic voice possible), and her sister-in-law Lane. Not that it didn’t sound like fun, but Katie was just feeling blah about the whole wedding thing.

  “I’m supposed to be super excited, right?” she asked her friend Cally, another nurse on her rotation.

  Cally was 25, married, and pregnant with her first. Her husband was a Fish and Game Warden for the Billings region. Cally had mentioned on more than one occasion that she wasn’t sure if she was going to come back to work after having the baby.

  Katie couldn’t imagine that. She loved her job. She went to school for this. She was trained to help people during their most trying times and save lives. Someday she hoped to be a flight nurse. With so many rural areas in Montana, Life Flight services were essential. Staying home to have babies? Did she really want to do that?

  “You’re just getting cold feet,” Cally assured her. “It’s perfectly normal.”

  “Cally, we haven’t even set a date yet. Why would I have cold feet already?” She slammed her locker shut and pulled her hair back in a ponytail.

  “I don’t know. Maybe you just have a bad feeling about it?”

  The door to the employee locker room opened up and Christine walked in and groaned. She was one of the most senior nurses on staff and refused to mince words or take shit.

  “Hey, Christine. How was the night shift?”

  “Long,” she drawled. “But relatively uneventful. I’m ready to go home and crash. What do you have a bad feeling about, Katie?” she asked, clearly overhearing the earlier conversation.

  “Nothing. It’s…it’s nothing.” There was no sense in dragging everyone into it.

  “If it’s about your fiancé, I think you should know something.”

  Uh, what now?

  Katie furrowed her brow. “What?”

  “Dr. Carson is getting real close and flirty with Shayna. You need to watch her.”

  Shayna. One of the Labor and Delivery nurses. They didn’t even work together.

  “You’re fucking joking.” L&D was on a completely different floor. The only time Brian would ever be up there would be for an emergency c-section if there was no OB doc on the floor and one was rushing to the hospital. In other words, it wasn’t likely Brian was performing emergency c-sections.

  “Nope. Saw her giving him doe eyes the other night in the ER when I was getting ready to admit a patient. Then Jolene told me she saw them walking into the on-call room together. But you know Jolene. Take whatever she says with a grain of salt.” Christine tsked.

  Jolene was a bit of an exaggerator, but Katie didn’t think she would outright lie about something like this. The on-call room was where the on-call doctors would sleep if they’d been at the hospital for hours on end. There was a couch and a bunk bed in there. It was also a place where Brian and Katie had fucked a few times during the hot-and-heavy stage of their relationship.

  Yeah. She was familiar with the on-call room.

  That fucking asshole is cheating on you!

  All that guilt she’d been feeling for thinking about Ryan was for nothing. She’d spent the last week convincing herself she’d be happy with Brian. Her life would be easy and uncomplicated and full of kids she’d maybe love and a nice house she’d probably hire someone to clean for her and fancy vacations that she might enjoy. All that convincing was for nothing!

  “Whoa, now, Katie,” Cally interrupted her thoughts. “I can see the gears in your brain churning. Just because Jolene said it – even if Jolene really saw it – there is no reason for you to think that Brian is cheating on you. We can tell Brian loves you.”

  You can?

  Katie shook her head. “It doesn’t look good.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” Christine added.

  “No, but it could be easily explained. She probably followed him in like the two-bit hussy she is and then he quickly ushered her out.”

  “Jolene said they were in there for ten minutes together. Alone.”

  Ten minutes. Sounds about right. Katie was done talking about this.

  “Okay, so I need to get out on the floor and hope like hell I can get in the zone enough to not have a negative effect on any patients. So good talk, yeah?”

  “Sorry, Katie,” Christine offered.

  “No, thanks for telling me, Christine. I’m assuming the entire department is talking behind my back about this now and either laughing at me or feeling sorry for me?”

  “Nah, for now it’s just me and Jolene and neither one of us are laughing at you or pitying you. Dr. Carson is a hot piece of meat so we definitely don’t pity you.” Christine winked. “I’ll tell Jolene to shut her mouth about it.”

  “I’d appreciate it. Thank you.”

  Fuck. How the hell was she going to get through the day now?

  Katie wanted to call Brian and confront him, but he was sleeping. And honestly, what good would it do anyway? He’d just get mad and they’d end up in a shouting match over the phone and Katie would still have to finish her shift before they could really talk about it.

  Her phone buzzed in her scrubs pocket.

  RB: Are you done ignoring me yet?

  Katie smiled. The man sure suddenly had his timing down.

  KH: Yep.

  The conversation bubbles on her iMessage started to animate. They stopped and then started again. Stopped. Started. Stopped. Started. Katie smirked. Apparently Ryan had not been expecting that response.

  RB: My day is suddenly looking up. How are you?

  KH: Fine.

  RB: Just fine?

  KH. Yep.

  RB: Care to elaborate?

  It was none of Ryan’s business at this point.

  KH: Nope.

  RB: Plans today?

  KH: At work. About to get in trouble by the Charge Nurse for texting on shift. Gotta go.

  RB: Text me later?

  KH: Maybe. ;)

  Katie regretted the flirty emoticon the instant she hit the send button. Everything before that had been innocent texting. It wasn’t in the private Facebook Messenger chat that Ryan had told her about, so it wasn’t completely safe. But it co
uld be easily explained if Brian ever got ahold of her phone. Friends. She could have defended it as texting between two friends.

  Who the fuck cares what Brian thinks? He’s flirting with Shayna, at best; at worst, he’s cheating on you, Katie.

  But Katie would have preferred to keep things innocent. Defensible. Not flirty. The winky emoticon was a step too far. Because Ryan’s response was something not so innocent.

  RB: ❤️ have a good day.

  A heart emoji. Ryan responded with a heart emoji.

  Shit. How do I explain that?

  ➰

  Ryan felt back on top of the world. She wasn’t ignoring him anymore. In Ryan’s mind, he went from a zero percent chance to about a forty-eight percent chance of winning Katie back with that one winky emoticon.

  Don’t scare her off, man. He was worried the heart emoji might have been too much. But he wanted her to know that a text from her when she was off work would not go unappreciated.

  If he could just talk to her again, maybe she’d understand that he was no longer fucking around. Katie was it for him. He was going to win her back.

  After a long day running speed traps, Ryan headed home by himself, cracked a cold beer, and turned on the television. There was very little in the way of sports on. ESPN was currently a barren wasteland since football hadn’t started yet. Track and Field World Championships it is.

  He picked up his cell and looked at his recent calls, selected “Baby Boo,” and hit “CALL.” His daughter picked up on the first ring.

  “Hi, Daddy.”

  Ryan’s heart was full. His daughter may be sixteen and she may be moody as fuck and kind of a bitch at times, rolling her eyes and losing her cool over pretty much everything, but she still called him ‘Daddy’ and that made him feel like a million bucks. Like he wasn’t the worst dad in the entire fucking world.

  His kids were miles away because his ex-wife Erica had gotten a great job a few years ago. After the divorce she’d taken an online program for a Masters degree in Public Administration. Her advanced degree opened up a great opportunity for her to work for the Montana State Legislature. He’d agreed that she could take the kids with her, but only because he was sure he wouldn’t be too far behind them. He hadn’t been so lucky finding a job in Helena yet. Ugh.

  “Hey, Baby Boo,” he responded, using the term of endearment that he knew she hated but he was never going to stop using.

  “Ugh. Dad. Stop.” He could hear her roll her eyes through the phone.

  “Whatcha got for me today, Hannah Banana?” he asked. It was summer, but his daughter was wicked smart and talented, so she was in writing classes and sports camps all summer long. Ryan had her calendar somewhere nearby, but he’d rather get the download from the source.

  “Ugh. You don’t even want to know. Fah-reaking Madison is such a bi-- jerk, Daddy.”

  “Language, baby.”

  “UGH! I know. But she is seriously telling all the girls in my writing class that I’m trying to steal her boyfriend away from her. I don’t even like her boyfriend, Daddy! And then at basketball camp, I didn’t latch my lock all the way on my gym locker on accident and all of my shi-- stuff was thrown all over the locker room! I know Madison did it, but I can’t prove it! I’m so mad.”

  Ryan was pissed. Boyfriend? And who was this little Madison bitch?

  “You better not have a fuckin’ boyfriend, Hannah.”

  “Language, Daddy. And, excuse me, but out of that entire story that’s the part that bothers you?” Yeah, yeah. Admonished by a sixteen year old.

  “Did you tell your mother?” Ryan and Erica had a pretty good co-parenting relationship, so he knew if Erica was involved, she was going to be all over this bullying bulslhit.

  “Ugh! She’s not home yet, Daddy. She’s speaking at some conference or dinner or something. You’re the first person I’ve told.”

  “I want you to have her call me as soon as she gets home so that we can discuss a coordinated response to this.”

  “Nooooo. Daddy, no. Please! If I do anything it’ll just make it worse. Just let it go.”

  “No little girl of mine is going to be bullied, Hannah.”

  “Daddy, it’s fine. If it happens again, I promise I’ll go to the coach. But not now. Please?” she begged.

  “Okay. But I swear to god, Hannah. If this happens again I’ll be up there and in your coach’s face as soon as I can get to Helena.”

  “I know, Daddy. Thank you. How’s work going? Catch any bad guys?”

  If anyone was going to follow in his footsteps, it would be his daughter, Hannah. She’d always been obsessed with his job. As soon as she developed even a remote interest in law enforcement, he decided he could either talk her out of it or encourage it and make sure she was as protected as possible. So he’d made sure to get her into karate and self-defense classes early on. She’d become a bit of a badass. It was too bad she was also a whiny teenager, but Ryan supposed life was all about balance anyway.

  After a fairly detailed description of his day, she passed the phone off to her little brother, Nicholas. He was thirteen now and the coolest kid in the room on pretty much any given occasion. He was big into wrestling, so he didn’t have anything going on yet, but come October, the kid’s schedule was going to be packed and Ryan’s credit card was going to be maxed with all of the road trips and flights he’d be taking to Helena.

  “Hey, Nick.”

  “Hey, Dad. Miss you.”

  “Miss you too, bud. How was camp?”

  “Good.” Nothing more.

  “You excited for school to start later this month?”

  “I guess.”

  “Gonna try to get up there in a few weeks for back-to-school shopping.”

  “Yeah? Cool.” He sounded down-and-out. Not his usual happy-go-lucky-thirteen-year-old-self.

  “What’s going on, kid?”

  “When are you moving here, Dad?”

  Fuck. “Soon as I can get a job up there, buddy. I miss you so much. Don’t think this isn’t killing me.”

  “It’s been a few years, dad.”

  Ryan sighed. “I know. I’m working on it, son.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I just miss you.” His not-quite-a-little-boy-anymore, not-quite-a-man voice cracked.

  “Couple of weeks. Back-to-school shopping. You and me. We’ll hang out. Head to the batting cages.”

  “Okay. I can’t wait, Dad.”

  “Me neither, bud. It’s gonna be epic.”

  Ugh.

  “Dad, Mom just walked in, gotta go!”

  “Wait, Nick! Let me talk to her!” he shouted to keep his son from hanging up the phone.

  He heard a rustling and then Nick’s voice said, “Mom, it’s Dad.”

  “Hey, Ryan. What can I do for you?” she asked, all business.

  “Talk to our daughter. She’s being bullied by a mean girl at basketball camp. Begged me not to say anything to her coach.”

  “God dammit. Okay. Thanks for telling me.”

  “No problem. Let me know if I need to do anything. I’ll fly up there or make the four hour drive and knock some heads if I have to.”

  “Yeah, I will.” He could hear the exhaustion in her voice.

  “You good, Erica? I’m working on getting a gig in Helena still. I don’t want this all to be on you.”

  “No, Ryan. I know. Don’t worry about me. I’m just tired. Had to give a speech tonight at the public service gala.”

  “Greg there?” Greg was the new man in her life. They’d been together about a year. The official story to Ryan was that they weren’t living together, but Ryan figured that was just a formality and Erica didn’t want him to feel bad that another man was seeing his kids more.

  “Yeah, he’s here.”

  “No, I mean, was he at the gala? To hear your speech?”

  “Oh, yeah. Of course.”

  “Happy for you, Erica. You always deserved a m
an who would be there for you.” Ryan knew he hadn’t been the best husband. He’d never strayed, but he was always too busy. His schedule was always incompatible with hers. And he never really worked hard enough to rectify that.

  “Wow, did you start a twelve-step program or something, Ry? You’re being awfully nice to me this evening.”

  Ryan chuckled. “I’m always nice to you. You gave me two beautiful babies.”