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“Say, bye, Mama.” Bernadette waves his little hand in my direction.
“Yeah, hopefully, you have better luck getting him to say Mama.”Just my luck, he’ll say it to her.“I keep trying.”
“He’s just waiting for the right moment. See you this afternoon.”
I make my way back to the car before driving around the medical complex. It’s fantastic having a daycare on site of my job. Yet, it’s the weekends that are the real issue for me. My mother has bent over backwards to help us since Dillon died. But I can’t keep expecting her to put her retirement on hold. It’s a shame the babysitting services haven’t been reliable. I’d hoped I could find someone who wanted extra money working weekends, but a twelve-hour shift means they’re at my home for thirteen or fourteen hours on a Saturday and Sunday. That makes for a long two weeks if you are employed or in school Monday through Friday.
Thank heavens Anne has been so flexible with the schedule. I know I can’t count on this forever, but I’m grateful for whatever grace she’ll extend my way. So, for now, I find out which weekend shifts my mother is available to help and provide those dates so Anne can place me on shifts as she sees fit.
In all honesty, I don’t think my availability has really impacted the schedule. I’m not working an assigned rotation, which bothers many of the nurses who are. But I work an equal number of weekend shifts and holidays as anyone else. “It’s the principal,” I’ve overheard some say. “The rules should applyto everyone,” from some others.Heck, they’re probably still saying it.
I’ve heard all the rumors. It made me feel guilty early on. However, the people doing most of the grumbling have no idea what it’s like to lose a spouse, while managing three young children around shift work. At age twenty-six, no less. Now that I’m twenty-eight, I’m a little better prepared, but know I need to find a permanent weekend sitter at some point. It’s just proven much harder than I imagined.
There should honestly be a special place for single moms. Like a private club with a spa where they can rejuvenate after all they’ve gone through to accomplish even menial tasks alone. But those are probably reserved for celebrities, not nurses.
After pulling into the main hospital parking, I lock up and make my way to the front entrance. Spotting the volunteer desk, I push my phone into my back pocket with the gold chain I assume belongs to Luke. “Hi, I’d like to see if I can visit Luke Barrett. He should be on the surgical floor.” I greet the older woman dressed in a blue lab coat wearing a volunteer tag.
“Oh, let me check.” The kind white-haired woman pecks on her keyboard and it hits me he could be on any floor. As busy as we were yesterday, for all I know, he had to spend the night in the recovery room.
“You say his name is Luke Barrett?”
“Yes.” It’s at that moment his words come back to me.You can call me Luca.Yet, I’m certain his demographic information said Luke.
“I don’t see him here, dear.”
“Could you try Luca instead of Luke?”
She peers at her computer screen for several more moments. “I believe he must’ve already been discharged. I don’t see either name. I looked on the surgical floor before scanning the entire hospital inpatient list.”
Man. I can’t believe I missed him.
“Thank you. I appreciate you looking.” Turning toward Anne’s office, I’m surprised by how disappointed I feel. And not just because I’m walking around with someone’s personal effects in my back pocket. I have no idea why, but I was really looking forward to seeing him again. There was simply something about him.
My steps slow as I reach the nurse manager’s office. “Hi, Anne. I thought I’d bring next month’s availability,” I say, poking my head into her small space.
“Ah, Jillian. It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages.” Anne’s been the nurse manager here for what seems like forever. She primarily manages the schedule, new hires, educational meetings, and I’m sure many other things I’m not privy to. She rarely works in a nursing capacity in the ER anymore. Yet I’m so grateful to her for going the extra mile for me. She’s like a fairy godmother to many of us.
Sadly, there’s a lot of new blood in our department now. They don’t have any respect for how Anne tries to manage things to keep everyone happy. It’s their way or the highway. And I’m well aware, if she retires, I’m in big trouble.
“I think it was a month ago.” I laugh.
“Maybe so. It feels like longer. Sit. Sit. How are you doing? The kids doing okay?”
A chill in the air causes me to rub my hands up and down my arms. Glancing up I see Roslyn standing in the doorway. She hands Anne a folded piece of paper. “This patient called this morning and stated he can’t locate a necklace he was wearing when he was here yesterday. I advised him to contact security, but he said he’d already tried that. He probably left it upstairs, or it’s under his seat in his car or something, but he’s adamant he left it here. So, I told him I’d pass along his contact information.”
Swallowing hard, I cautiously angle my head to one side in an attempt to see his phone number, but the paper is folded too tightly. Heck, if I admit that necklace is in my back pocket, I’m as good as fired.What was I thinking with this?
“Thank you, Roslyn. I’ll give him a call.”
Roslyn glances in my direction, and I give her a timid smile which is abruptly answered with a glare before she strides back in the direction she came.
“Oh, don’t give her any mind. Her life has to be pretty miserable to take it out on innocent people here.”
She has a point. I guess I never thought about it that way.
Ring. Ring.
Anne reaches for her desktop phone and while her attention is focused elsewhere, I attempt to lift the corner of the note Roslyn left with my fingernail. My stealthy effort is quickly thwarted as Anne turns back in my direction.
