by Amy Vastine
He was on the schedule today, and Emma made sure she was the nurse working beside him. Their first patient was an older woman brought in by a kindly neighbor. Mrs. Yates had suffered a minor stroke a few years ago and still had some muscle weakness that often affected her balance. Last night, she had slipped and fallen and couldn’t find the strength to get to the phone to call for help. Luckily, her neighbor knew she lived alone and often checked on her in the mornings to see if she needed anything.
It was a good thing, because the X-ray showed there was a definite break in her hip that would require surgery. Emma came in to adjust the pain medication while Dr. Spencer explained that a surgeon would be coming down and meeting with Mrs. Yates soon. The older woman was having a hard time understanding why she needed to see more doctors. One was enough for her.
“Dr. Lang is the best orthopedic doctor in town. You’ll be in very good hands,” Scott said.
“You won’t be doing the surgery?”
“No, ma’am. You need someone who specializes in fixing your bones. I am an ER doctor. I stay in the emergency room.” He got Emma’s attention. “Can you make sure Mrs. Yates gets another blanket? She told me she was feeling a little cold before you came in.”
His compassion made her smile. He cared about little old ladies who were cold. That was good to know. Charlie would have probably gotten the woman a blanket the moment she asked for it. Emma kicked herself for letting thoughts of Charlie creep in.
Emma retrieved a blanket from the closet as Scott said his goodbyes to the patient. Emma covered her up. “How’s that?”
Tears welled in Mrs. Yates’s eyes. “Being old is no fun.”
Emma gave the woman’s hand a squeeze. “You aren’t the first person to feel that way. Do you want me to try to call your daughter again?” Mrs. Yates had one daughter who lived in Indiana. They hadn’t been able to reach her when she first arrived.
“She won’t want to make the drive. She hates this city. Lives on a big farm in her own world. My husband always said he was sure we took someone else’s baby home from the hospital. She’s never been like either one of us.”
“I have a sister like that.” Lucy wasn’t like anyone in the family. She’d always been her own person, while Emma was like their mom and Kendall was like their dad. Kendall thought Lucy was just better at hiding her family traits. Maybe that was true. The age difference between Lucy and Emma often made it hard for them to connect on the same level as Lucy and Kendall.
“I wish we had had more children. Don was a great father.”
“Has he been gone long?”
“A little over three years. Being widowed is even worse than being old.”
Emma grabbed the woman some tissues. “My sister lost her husband a few years ago, as well. It was hard enough watching her go through it, so I can’t imagine how tough it must be for you.”
“Are you married?” Mrs. Yates asked, dabbing her eyes dry.
“No, ma’am. Not yet.”
“I loved being married.” There was wistfulness in her tone. “I had friends who did nothing but complain about their husbands. ‘He didn’t help out around the house enough’ or ‘he didn’t pay attention to the kids.’ They didn’t like when their husbands went golfing or played cards. No one wanted to sleep in the same room with their husband because every one of those men snored too loud. I often wondered how any of them ever got together in the first place—they were so miserable.”
Emma felt sad for people like that, too. She’d heard some of the other nurses complain and complain. The women claimed their husbands could do no right and the men griped that their wives didn’t appreciate them. That wasn’t the kind of marriage Emma wanted.
“Not you, though? You were happy?” Emma asked.
The increased dosage of pain medication was making Mrs. Yates’s eyelids heavy. Emma thought she’d fallen asleep for a second, but she answered with her eyes closed. “I was very happy. Don was my best friend. He used to make me laugh, even when I was mad at him.”
Don Yates was good with children, had an excellent sense of humor and spent his life making his wife happy. True love at its finest. “He sounds perfect.”
“He was,” she whispered before dozing off.
Emma slipped out and let the poor woman sleep. The pain of her hip fracture had kept her up all night. She needed to rest every chance she got.
“Emma!” Dr. Huntley, the psych resident, called from down the hall. He jogged over. “Have you seen Tessa?”
“Have you seen Tessa?” Last Emma had heard, Dr. Gavin was still avoiding him at all costs.
Confusion creased his face. He had such boyish features. It made him seem so innocent. Emma didn’t understand why he risked his heart with Tessa. “Not today. Do you know where she is?”
“Why do you need her?”
“I have to talk to her about something.”
“I’ll let her know you’re looking for her if I see her,” she promised. Tessa would probably still dodge him every chance she got. God help the man who convinced Tessa to settle down. He would have his hands full.
* * *
IT TOOK UNTIL lunch to track Tessa down. Emma set her cafeteria tray on the table next to hers. Tessa was on her phone, playing some game that involved connecting a bunch of colored dots. Emma didn’t get it.
“Dr. Huntley was looking for you earlier this morning.”
Tessa growled and set her phone down. “I hate this game, but I can’t stop playing it until it makes me. I refuse to pay the ninety-nine cents they want me to pay for another life. Can you imagine if we only charged a dollar to save someone’s life? I wouldn’t be able to afford lunch. I would have to save a life every minute I worked to make a decent living. That would be crazy.”
Tessa’s mind was a very scary place. Emma tried not to encourage her when she went off on these tangents.
“He said he needs to talk to you about the elusive something.”
“He probably wants to know where I want him to make dinner reservations.” She picked up her phone and started texting. “What’s the name of that place your sister’s boyfriend runs? You think he would give us a free bottle of wine or something if I say I know you?”
“Hold on a second.” Emma set down the French fry in her hand. “Did you get back together with Ian?”
Tessa shrugged. “He confronted me the other day and told me I was an egotistical brat with a possible personality disorder, but he was in love with me, anyway.”
Emma stared at her, bug-eyed. “And this somehow convinced you that you should get back together with him?”
“He stood up for himself,” she explained. “It was kind of a turn-on. He’s not as wimpy as I thought he was.”
“I will never understand you.” Emma shook her head. “I do agree with his assessment, though. You’re a mess.”
Tessa stole a fry from Emma’s tray. “But you love me, too. I may be a mess, but I am also so darn lovable.”
Scott entered the cafeteria. He waved but took his food to go. Emma wasn’t sure if she felt disappointed or not.
“So what’s new with you and Dr. Delicious?” Her nickname for Scott made Emma think of Charlie. Something told her that was not the nickname he would give the handsome doctor.
“I don’t know. I think I’m going to have to make the first move. I was going to ask him to dinner.”
Tessa’s lips curled up in glee. Whatever dangerous thought had popped into her head should have scared Emma off. “Maybe we could double-date. Me and Ian, you and Scott?”
Surprisingly, it wasn’t the worst idea she’d ever had. “I could get us reservations at Sato’s.”
“What’s Sato’s?” Tessa asked with a scrunched-up nose.
Emma rolled her eyes. “The restaurant you were just asking me about.”<
br />
“Oh! We could totally get free wine if you come. So, are you in?”
“I guess. If Scott says yes.”
Tessa went back to her phone. “How do you spell Sato’s?”
Maybe Emma should have thought this through. Unfortunately, it was the best option at this point. A double date wasn’t ideal, but maybe having other people around would loosen Scott up.
The opportunity to ask him out on this date didn’t arrive until Emma’s shift came to an end. Charlie and his partner had brought in a heart attack and once again interrupted the shift change.
Seeing Charlie was the push she needed, though. Going on this date would help her change these feelings she was having for him. It would put everything back on the right track.
Scott was walking out at the same time. With his phone in one hand, he scrolled through some messages.
Emma jogged up beside him. “Boy, work a long shift and then off to the gym. You’re quite impressive.”
Scott startled, then relaxed when he saw who it was. “How did you know I was going to the gym?”
“The bag. The clothes.” She motioned toward the duffel bag hanging from his shoulder. He was dressed in shorts and a University of Minnesota T-shirt.
“Right.” He slipped his phone into his bag and laughed at himself. “Of course.”
Emma’s nerves were getting the best of her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d asked someone out on a date. “Do you go to the gym every day?”
He smiled and, thankfully, seemed just as nervous. “A few times a week.”
“I bet you work up an appetite.”
He gave her a curious look. “I guess...”
Emma took a breath and gave it her best shot. “I know this great place that serves some of the best sushi in town. In fact, Tessa and Ian were thinking about checking it out the next time we all have the same day off. Would you be interested in joining us?”
The grin on his face was broad and promising. “Are you asking me out on a date, Nurse Everhart?”
She had been so proud of herself for getting the invitation out of her mouth that she hadn’t noticed Charlie standing next to his ambulance a few feet away. They walked past him and Emma could feel his eyes burning a hole in the back of her head. She shouldn’t feel guilty, but she did. The last thing she wanted was to hurt Charlie’s feelings. If Kendall was right about how Charlie felt about her, this was going to do just that.
“I guess I am,” she replied, hoping they were far enough away that Charlie couldn’t hear her.
“Then, I accept.”
She should have felt relieved, but as Emma glanced back over her shoulder and caught sight of Charlie slamming the back door of the ambulance shut, all she felt was sorry.
CHAPTER TEN
NEVER IN HIS life had Charlie wished he was someone else. Not until he witnessed Emma asking Dr. Perfect to dinner. It felt as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to his heart.
He had no idea how to let her go. These feelings he had for her had soaked through his skin. They were ingrained in every cell of his body. This wasn’t some surface crush. Emma and her mad jump-roping skills, sweet-smelling perfume and infectious laugh had hooked him.
Yet he was stuck on the sidelines. A friend, a buddy. The guy you share a couple laughs with but don’t take home to meet your mother. It was a terrible place to be.
He slammed the back doors of the ambulance shut and stalked over to the passenger side, climbing in with a grim expression on his face.
“You want to talk about it?” Serena asked.
“I do not want to talk about it, Serena Hayes.” He put on his seat belt. He had no plans to talk about Emma ever again.
Serena pulled out of the hospital parking lot and on to Lake Shore. “Can you at least tell me if you intend to pout for the rest of the shift, or if I’ll get a reprieve from your melancholy at some point?”
Charlie rested his head on his fist and stared out the window. He saw Emma walking by herself to the bus stop in front of the hospital. She wanted to date Dr. Perfect instead of him. He didn’t stand a chance against a well-respected doctor. She must have thought Charlie couldn’t give her the things she wanted.
“This could be permanent,” he replied.
“That answer is unacceptable. There will be no permanent pouting allowed in my bus.”
“Your bus, huh?” Charlie’s eyes shifted her way.
“I drive it,” she answered with a shrug. “That makes it more mine than yours.”
“I guess you’d better put in a request for a new partner when we get back to the station, then.”
Serena blew out a frustrated breath but let him continue to wallow in silence. At the station, she let him know she’d clean up and restock the ambulance on her own. He could take his bad attitude somewhere else and fill out the incident report.
The thought of Emma and Dr. Perfect eating dinner together caused Charlie to lose his appetite. He went to the kitchen to get something to drink instead.
Alvarez was there, taping a wanted poster on the refrigerator. It had a fuzzy cell-phone picture of Jones on it claiming a hundred thousand dollar reward for capturing Phillip Jones, the worst dater in the world.
“He’s going to pound you for this,” Charlie said, opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. “That, or the lieutenant is going to make you clean bathrooms the rest of your career.”
Alvarez was the shift’s resident jokester. It wasn’t that long ago he’d set mousetraps with flour bombs in a bunch of the guys’ lockers. Before that, he’d pranked the B shift by pouring salt in all the sugar containers when they forgot to lock up their stuff. He got reprimanded by the captain that time—only a slap on the wrist—but both incidents were surely still fresh in everyone’s minds.
Alvarez snickered, slipping the rest of his prank flyers under his arm. “Keller won’t be mad when he hears Jones took his date to a fast-food restaurant on their second date. Seriously, this kid needs to be stopped.”
Pete came in as Alvarez went out. “You missed dinner,” he said to Charlie. “We ate as soon as we got back from the call.”
“We got hung up at the hospital,” Charlie explained. They had brought in a guy who had a heart attack while coaching his kid’s Little League team. He had dropped right there on the field.
“How’s the coach?”
“Looks like he’s going to make it. Lucky for him, there was a doctor in the stands.”
“Always remember, there are angels everywhere,” Pete said. “There are also leftovers in the fridge for you and Hayes.” He noticed the wanted picture and shook his head. “Alvarez?”
Charlie nodded. He was about to check out what was for dinner when the shouting began in the common room. Jones had stumbled upon one of the posters and now he was running through the station, tearing the rest of them down faster than Alvarez could put them up.
Alvarez continued to provoke him even though it was clear he was not amused. “You are a menace to the dating world. I am simply trying to protect all the nice women out there who might accidentally accept a date from you.”
Jones ripped the posters into pieces. “For your information, things went very well the other night. I think Kelly and I might be getting kind of serious.”
“I saw the picture you posted on Instagram. You took her to a burger joint,” Alvarez said, throwing the rest of the flyers at Jones. “There is nothing serious about a place that asks if you want fries with that.”
“It wasn’t just some burger joint. It was her favorite burger joint. We went there because she wanted to go there. You know, not all women need to be wined and dined. Some women enjoy the simpler things in life.”
Alvarez snorted. “You’re simple, that’s for sure.”
“At least I don’t stalk
other guys’ Instagram accounts. Nice life.”
Everyone on shift had come to see what all the shouting was about. They all oohed and aahed at the comebacks. Charlie was sure this fight was going to come to blows.
“Maybe I did scroll through your pics. I wanted to see for myself that you were telling the truth about having a second date. And maybe I checked a few of them out, but I had to stop. Here’s a little suggestion—don’t post pictures of your chocolate-mocha frappuccinos. Your account looks like it was hacked by a thirteen-year-old girl.”
That was it. The final dig. Jones couldn’t take any more. He got right up in Alvarez’s face. “What is your problem with me, huh? All you ever do is ride me.”
“Take a joke and step back,” Alvarez said with a sneer.
The alarm rang out and everyone started moving except Jones and Alvarez, who continued their standoff.
“Come on, guys. Get moving,” Pete said, giving Alvarez a little push in the right direction. He gave in and started moving but continued his staring contest until he was through the door.
Charlie found Serena organizing the ambulance. He helped her get it ready to go. “You missed another battle of the boneheads,” he informed her as they pulled out onto Armitage Avenue.
She wasn’t too sorry she’d missed it. He told her about the wanted posters and the Instagram insults. She started to laugh so hard she had to wipe her eyes.
“Sounds like the exact same fight my niece had with her friends the other day. Those two are worse than two teenage girls with raging hormones.”
Charlie managed to crack a smile. “Sorry for being a jerk earlier. I promise not to sulk forever.” There were worse problems to have than the woman he liked liking someone else. Crying over that made him no better than Alvarez, Jones and all the teenage girls in the world.
“There’s someone out there for you, Charlie. Stop trying to be something you’re not and worrying if you’re too nice or not nice enough. Be yourself, and if that nurse isn’t into that, it’s her loss. The right woman will appreciate you for you.”
