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“Oh shit, sorry,” he says, attempting to wrap the gauze back over the wound and apply pressure. “I was hoping if I wrapped it up and put some ice on it, the bleeding would slow down.”
Looking down at my scrub top, I shake my head. I literally had ten more minutes before my shift was over. “I think you hit an artery. I’ll go see if I can get someone in here to get you fixed up.”
I head into the hallway, and Meghan’s hands fly over her mouth. “Oh, Jill.”
“Yeah.” I huff. “I’m going to change and head out. But obviously, you have a bleeder in there. I’d get Kat as soon as you can to close that one up. Or it’s going to look like a Freddie Kreuger movie set in there.”
Jeez. What else?I’m the walking poster child for ‘If I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.’
“Cheer up. At least Roslyn was in a good mood today, right?”
“Yes. I need to be like you. Have more of a glass half full kind of attitude.” Versus the one I’ve been carrying around with me everywhere since Luca went away. “Okay, I know this sounds bad, but why does it make me nervous when she’s in a good mood?” I grimace.
Meghan laughs. “Yeah. Me too. But it was nice to work without having to look over my shoulder for fear she’d pop out and reprimand me for something.”
Okay, good mood or not, I still did that.
“I’m going to head out.” I notice Meghan cringe and look behind me. But don’t see anyone. “What?”
She hesitantly points to the top of my head. “Oh, babe. I think you got some of it in your hair.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. For real?
“Of course I do. What else could go wrong?”
Jessica rushes around the corner from where she’s been working. “Megs. Did you hear the news?”
I should be headed for the locker rooms to decontaminate myself and change before heading home. But Jessica always has the best gossip, so I walk slowly, hoping to catch some intel.
“No, what?”
“I just heard Anne is retiring.”
My head falls. Oh god.See what you get for asking what else could go wrong?Things are about to get a whole lot worse around here.
I drive home feeling almost as depressed as the night of my birthday. After showering and changing into a spare set of scrubs at work, I went to the grocery store to get what I needed for dinner before picking up Truitt.
Staring at my little man in my rearview mirror, I wonder if he’s coming down with something. He’s resting his head on the side of his car seat, looking out the window. “You okay, Tru?”
He doesn’t even turn in my direction.
It’s probably contagious. This funk we’re all in. I figured he’d be the one person immune to Luca’s absence. I try changing the radio station, but there’s nothing but ads on right now.
Pulling into the drive, I park and get Truitt out of the car before returning for the groceries. Hopefully, Lucy can hold him while I unpack.
“Hi, guys. Everyone have a good day at school?”
No one answers.
“Do you mind holding him for a second so I can get the bags out of the car?”
Lucy reaches out for Truitt. “Of course. But I need to talk to you when you get a minute.”
My heart sinks. Did the kids do something? “What is it, Lucy? Is something wrong?”
“No. I just wanted to give you plenty of notice that I’ll have to quit babysitting near the end of the school year.” Holy crow. That’s like two weeks from now. “I’m going to be visiting my grandmother in Florida for most of the summer. My father’s taking early retirement, and they want to travel. I might go a few places, but when they go without me, I’ll be with Gran.”
“Oh. That sounds like you have a great summer planned.” The total opposite of here. Where I now have no sitter except my mother, Roslyn as my new boss, and no plans to go anywhere. It’s hard enough going out to eat as a single parent of three small kids, much less attempting travel. Not only the logistics, but the expense.
