“Yeah, because she was good as gold as soon as Ethan showed up,” Brooke said, as she turned the water on and began washing her hands.
“Really? She’s been horrible all week,” Paige said.
“I’m serious. He came in, asked her in his deep sweet voice to lie down, and she just fell back onto the bed and cooperated without a fuss whatsoever,” Brooke said, and then leaned in to Paige as she added, “He even helped me change the dirty bed sheets.”
Paige’s eyes widened. “What?”
Nodding, Brooke said, “Yeah, I was shocked.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I have to say, he’s probably one of the best doctors in the hospital. Between his bedside manner and the way he jumps in to help without thinking he’s too good to do the dirty work, I can’t help but be impressed. But, don’t go blabbing that to him.”
“Blabbing what?” Ethan asked from behind her, the smile flickering beneath his stubble telling her he’d heard every word she’d said.
Turning around, Brooke frowned and said, “None of your business. How’s she doing?”
He looked at her and with a smirk said, “She’s doing well physically, but mentally, that’s another story.”
“She is on the Psych unit,” Brooke mocked, as she fell into her chair. She had so much charting to do it was ridiculous.
Laughing, he said, “Well, I’d say that’s the dementia kicking in, but let me know if anything else changes with her. Maybe I’ll run into you later, Brooke.” He lightly touched her elbow before turning to leave.
Brooke watched him walk off, not able to help herself from admiring his tight ass in the black slacks he wore.
“So, it seems that you guys are not ignoring each other now?” Paige stated, a hint of excitement showing in the up rise of her tone. “What changed?” She asked.
Brooke tore her gaze from Ethan’s backside to the eager look on Paige’s face. “Yeah, I decided to cut him a little slack, since he did apologize the other day.”
“Wait, what?!” Paige exclaimed, as she playfully smacked Brooke’s arm. “How did you not tell me about this?”
“Hey!” Brooke yelled as she held her hands up. “I’m sorry, with zip lining and dealing with that patient passing away, I’m sure you can understand that I just spaced telling you. But the other day when we were walking out and he chased us down in the hall, he ended up apologizing, even went so far as to ask me out again.”
“Brooke, he looked like such a nervous wreck in the hall that day, and you still turned him down?” Paige questioned.
“Well, yeah. I’m not ready to deal with a guy who doesn’t know what he wants,” Brooke said.
“Brooke,” Paige began, “I can tell you like him. He apologized, so obviously he’s interested, and maybe he got things in his personal life fixed—whatever it was. Maybe you should give him another chance?”
“He did say he wanted to explain everything. But, I just don’t know,” she said.
Paige took a seat in the chair next to Brooke, her face softening as she said, “Do you think this is more about what happened with your sister and Sam than with Ethan?”
Brooke’s eyes shot to Paige’s at the question. Paige knew she didn’t like talking about that subject. But, she considered the statement and sighed. “I don’t know, Paige. Maybe?” she said with a shrug. “I try not to think about that time in my life.”
“Ethan’s not Sam, Brooke. I think it’s something you should really think about. I mean, you don’t want your past to ruin your future. Maybe at least hear him out and see what was going through his head at the time. And if it’s not a good enough reason for him pulling away, then you can walk away without a second glance back.”
She blew out a long breath and rolled her eyes. “You’re probably right, as usual. I’ll seriously consider hearing what lame excuse he has,” she said.
“If it ends up being some lame excuse, then you can blame me for making you waste your time,” Paige said, giving her hand a squeeze before taking off down the hall with two boxes of gloves in each hand.
Brooke leaned back in her chair as she thought about what Ethan’s reason would be. She doubted it was anything like what had happened to her, and yet she hadn’t taken off running, like he had. But, here she was being reluctant to even hear him out. She chewed on her lower lip as she thought about it. She didn’t want Screw Up Sam to ruin her future. He’d already done enough damage to her life.
She tossed a piece of paper in the trash, the symbolism not lost on her as she finally made the decision to toss her past in the trash as well, and try to move on.
Chapter 13
Ethan
“Hey, we’re grabbing that beer tonight, right? You’re not going to bail on me for work, again?” Nick asked, as he stepped into Ethan’s office.
Ethan looked up from his charting and sighed. “Yeah, I probably need a little downtime anyway.” He shut his computer off and grabbed his briefcase. “What sounds good? That small pub on 8th street or the dive bar on Walnut?”
Nick rested a finger to his chin and said, “How about the pub, we haven’t been there in a while.”
“Sounds good. I’ll meet you there in twenty?” Ethan asked, as he headed towards the door. He stopped, sniffed, and asked, “New cologne?”
“No, my ex-wife bought it for me two years ago,” Nick said with a laugh.
Ethan slapped his shoulder and led him out into the hall. “Well, your ex-wife had good taste. Maybe that’s why she’s your ex-wife.”
“Hey!” Nick said, and then called over his shoulder. “I’ll see you there and the first beer is on me. You need something to loosen you up, you’re a little uptight.”
“You should know me well enough by now that I’m always uptight,” Ethan said with a laugh.
Twenty minutes later they were sitting at the bar at Ryan’s pub, beer in hand. The music was low and everyone was talking casually as they drank and ate dinner. Ethan took a sip of his beer and said, “Anything new in surgery?”
Nick waved a finger in the air. “No, no, we came here to get away from work, not talk about it some more.” He looked over at Ethan as he took another drink. “Man, you need to take it down a notch. Life isn’t all about work.”
Sighing, Ethan said, “I know. It’s just hard to let it go when I leave. There’s always so much that needs done.”
“Ethan, bro, I could stay at work 24/7 and still not get everything done. It’s impossible. But, you have to have a life outside of the hospital so you can give 100% when you’re there. If you don’t, you’ll burn out.” Nick looked at him for a moment, before motioning for the waitress.
“Can I help you?” the young, blonde asked. Her blue eyes flew over to Ethan, and when he looked up, her red lips twisted seductively.
“I’ll have a double cheeseburger and fries.” Nick looked to Ethan. “You want anything?”
Ethan shook his head. “No, I’m good.”
“I bet you are,” the waitress said, before walking off to place the order.
“Looks like someone might be getting laid tonight,” Nick said.
“Nah, I’m good,” Ethan began to peel the label off on his beer as he thought about Brooke. He looked over at Nick and said, “She is hot though, you should go for it.”
With his hand clutching his chest, Nick stared at him with wide, brown eyes. “You’re not interested in the hot blonde with the baby blue, needy eyes, large breasts, and silky-smooth skin? Dude, what the hell is going on? Everything about her screams Ethan.”
Ethan shrugged.
Nick stared, his eyes probing for answers.
Pulling out his phone, Ethan looked up at Nick and said, “Nope, she’s all yours.”
He ignored Nick’s questioning stare and began thumbing through the day’s horoscopes. He stopped scrolling when he landed on Aquarius. As he read the horoscope for Aqu
arius, he began to smile.
“What’s so funny?” Nick asked as he tossed a fry into his mouth.
Ethan had been so engrossed in looking at Brooke’s horoscope, that he didn’t even notice the waitress bringing Nick’s food or replacing his empty beer for a new one.
“The horoscope for today, that’s all,” Ethan said, as he went to his text messages. Finding Brooke’s name, he quickly began typing.
Ethan: Just in case you didn’t see your horoscope today, I have to say, that first part is pretty accurate—
Still operating your mouth without engaging your brain first, especially if your feelings are involved? Well, try your best to get it under control—but if it doesn’t work, don’t worry. The entire world will be quite chatty today, not just you. For once, in fact, you’ll blend right in. They may even think that you’re a bit quiet.
Maybe you should really think more about my offer to explain things?
He made sure to end it with a sarcastic smiley face before setting his phone down and bringing his attention back to Nick, who was still talking. About what, Ethan had no idea.
“But yeah, so the Tarot Cards were pretty weird for a first date, but we ended the night with amazing sex, so I guess the weird voodoo shit was worth it. Hell, who knows, maybe that was the reason it was so good. Anyway, I didn’t know you were into that sort of thing,” Nick commented, before taking a long sip of his beer as he leaned back in his chair and eyed Ethan suspiciously.
“I’m not.”
“So why look at it, then?” Nick probed, waving a hand in front of Ethan’s face.
After checking for a response and seeing nothing, Ethan put his phone down and purposely took a long sip of his beer. He smirked when he saw Nick’s expression turn impatient.
“A girl I went out with is,” Ethan said.
“Well, that could be half of Sweet Haven, you need to be more specific,” Nick teased. “And just because a girl you went out with once is into horoscopes, you’re suddenly checking yours?”
“No, I was checking hers. For fun,” Ethan said, as he stared down at his phone hoping for some kind of reply. When there was nothing, he looked back up to see Nick studying him, brown eyes full of questions.
“For fun?” Nick asked incredulously.
“Her name is Brooke and we went out twice before I screwed things up,” he said.
He watched Nick’s eyebrows knit together in thought before finally shooting up in astonishment. “You went on a date with a woman more than once?”
“As a matter of fact, I did,” Ethan said.
“So, who is this wonder woman who hooked you in for date #2? And why didn’t I know about this?” he asked, looking genuinely hurt.
“Don’t take it personally, a lot was happening around that time and I just didn’t think about it. She works at Anderson Hospital. She’s the nurse on Psych.”
Nick rubbed the stubble on his jaw as if he was rubbing a crystal ball to find answers. After a moment, he said, “I don’t know her. And what did you do to screw things up? And why do you even care? I feel as if I don’t even know you, man.”
Ethan laughed. “Curiosity killed the cat, you know.”
“Cats have nine lives, so I’m good with the risk,” Nick teased.
Ethan looked down at Nick’s forgotten plate of food and said, “I told her I wasn’t ready for anything serious.” He shrugged, as if to say that was it.
Nick tilted his head in confusion. “But if you ended it, then why are you looking at her horoscope? That seems awfully into her, to me.”
Still no response, Ethan shoved his phone into his jeans and said with a long sigh, “I haven’t a clue, really. I thought I wasn’t ready for anything serious, but I just can’t get her off my mind. I don’t know.”
“Hmm, this girl must have really gotten to you. Have you tried talking to her?”
Ethan nodded. “I have, but to no avail. I think I might be making progress, but she’s a tough one to persuade.”
Nick held up his beer towards Ethan and said, “Well, here’s to second chances.”
They clinked their bottles together and settled in to casual conversation that involved everything but work and women.
An hour later, he pushed his front door open, and felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Tossing his keys on the counter, he sat down on the couch and pulled out his phone. His eyes lit up at Brooke’s name on the screen and he quickly opened the message.
Brooke: Haha, you’re hilarious, Ethan. And maybe you should give me more of a reason to hear you out, instead of being condescending. Sweet dreams, lover boy.
Ethan stared down at the message for a few minutes, contemplating whether or not he should respond to that sarcastic response. His thumb hung midair over the message before he finally decided on what he was going to say.
Ethan: I’ll give you plenty of reasons to give me a second chance.
Brooke: I’m sure you’re full of them, lol.
Ethan laughed at her response and then typed,
‘Always the sarcastic one.’
Brooke: Always
He went to bed scheming up ways to get her back, hoping he would get his second chance.
Chapter 14
BROOKE
“Deb, hit the code button, he’s coding!” Brooke yelled across the room.
Brooke yanked the pillow out from beneath Mr. Wilson’s head and leaned down to check for a pulse, again. There was nothing. She couldn’t have this happen just a few days after her last one. Clasping her hands together, she quickly began doing chest compressions, chanting a quick prayer in her head.
“I’ve called the code, they should be on their way,” Deb announced.
Brooke watched her jump in and place the plastic mouth piece on before gently pushing air into his lungs. She waited patiently and then began her next round of compressions. Footsteps sounded behind her and she took a quick glance to the door, seeing three more nurses rushing in. They fell into place on each side of Mr. Wilson and they all took turns doing their part. Brooke looked down at Mr. Wilson’s ashen skin and thin gray hair, which was slicked back.
She watched Seth pull out the paddles and place them against the old man’s thin skin. “One, two, three...”
The machine beeped and she watched Mr. Wilson’s body jerk. She waited, her breath caught in her lungs in anticipation. She looked up at Seth who shook his head.
It seemed like a lifetime that she stared down at a lifeless body, but minutes later, they finally had a pulse.
Brooke’s rigid muscles relaxed slightly, and she hurried to take his vitals. As she charted all his vitals, she watched as the other nurses began cleaning the room and organizing everything. Brooke’s heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest, but she was glad that this time the outcome was good. Mr. Wilson was alive, and for the moment, his vitals were stable.
“Thank you, everyone,” she said, as she gathered her things and headed out the door.
“Let me know if you need anything,” Seth said, giving her a quick pat on the back as he walked past her.
“I will,” Brooke said.
“Well, I’m glad that went okay,” Deb said, as she walked beside her.
“You’re telling me,” Brooke agreed. “I don’t think I could’ve handled another patient dying.”
“Well, you did great. You were on your toes and Mr. Wilson is stable now,” Deb said.
Brooke looked up at her and said, “Well, it wasn’t just me, you guys were all there helping, too. I definitely couldn’t have done it without you.”
“You’re a great nurse, Brooke, don’t let a couple of incidents lately get you down. Things happen, but it’s nothing you’ve done.”
Deb smiled at her before vanishing into the break room.
She ran a shaky hand through her hair as the reality o
f the incident hit her. She was thankful the situation turned out to be a success, but she was mentally and physically exhausted now. This day had to get better, because it was only eight am, and so far, her day was not going great.
As she continued down the hall towards the nurse’s station to chart Mr. Wilson’s vitals, she saw Ethan coming towards her. Despite her will to push him away, she couldn’t help but feel an inkling of relief when she saw him. His calm, gentle manner was soothing, and with her nerves as frayed as they were, she needed something to alleviate the bundle of tension that had built inside her. And almost like an answered prayer, Ethan came bounding down the hall towards her. His arms swung wildly, as his long strides quickly erased the distance between them, and as their eyes met, his expression quickly softened. He knew how hard this was on her.
“I heard what happened; how are you doing?” he asked, both hands clasping her elbows.
She couldn’t help but notice how he’d asked about her before he asked any questions about the patient. Of course, he already knew the patient was stable, but as his worried eyes peered down at her, she could tell he had been genuinely worried about how she’d had handled the situation. Brooke inhaled sharply, and said, “Um, I’ll be okay. And, he’s stable now, so I’m just happy everything turned out better this time. It’s just overwhelming, though, you know?”
“Yes, I know all too well,” Ethan agreed. “But, you’ll get better and better at dealing with it with each time.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure I want to get used to this,” she admitted.
Ethan smiled. “Well, unfortunately, it’s part of the job description.”
Brooke folded and refolded the piece of paper that held Mr. Wilson’s vitals as she contemplated what he’d said. He was right. This was part of the job. And with everything that had been happening lately, it was a part of the job she wasn’t sure she could deal with.
When Love Ignites Page 11
