He grabbed them from my arms and walked to my car. After putting them in the back seat, he turned to me. “Thanks again for lunch, Audra. It was incredible, from the food to the company to the tablescape. I would love to do this again.”
“It was great, Donovan. Thanks for letting me crash lunch.” I stood there, not knowing what to do. Do I wave? Hug him? A part of me wanted to kiss him, but that was crazy talk. He made the decision when he reached out to pull me in for a hug. It caught me by surprise, but I wrapped my arms right back around him. Iwasn’t tiny, but Donovan was huge. I fit snugly against his body, and when his arms wrapped around me, it formed a little cocoon. And it wasn’t a quick hug. It was a lingering one. This did not suck.
“Have a great day,” he said as he pulled away, leaving me a little dazed.
“You too, Donovan.” Getting in my car, he closed my door and waved as I drove off with butterflies rioting in my stomach. That was so much fun, and Maeve’s words about him not acting like this around people kept rattling in my brain. As soon as I got to work, the shit was already hitting the fan, so I had to jump right in. But that pep in my step sure helped carry me through that shift.
7
DONOVAN
Acouple of days later, a knock on my door pulled my eyes away from the budget screen I had been staring at.
“Tucker?” I greeted him with question. What was he doing here? Tucker was Maeve’s long-term boyfriend, but she was out grabbing lunch with Cora and Audra. “Please come in. What’s going on?” I stood up as my stomach dropped, realizing something might have happened to her. She’d only been gone like twenty minutes, but that guy on the bike was struck in a fraction of a second.
“Hey, Donovan. Yeah, everything is fine. Sorry to drop in unexpectedly, that’s usually Maeve’s MO, but I have to make this quick before she makes it back. I can’t call because I don’t have your number, and even if I called the office, I’d have to go through her. Anyway, I’ll make this quick—I want to surprise Maeve with a two-week-long vacation, and she will have to take ten days off work. I want to clear it with you because I’m going to tell her that all she has to worry about is packing. She talks about how you guys have a ton going on with theresort, so I’m asking if there is a time frame that would work better than another. Right now, I have a little wiggle room with dates. I’m not going to make you pull out your calendar right now, but here is my phone number”—he handed me a slip of paper—“when you get a chance, can you look through your schedule and let me know if there are any hard no’s or any weeks that might work better?” He sped through what he had to say, appearing nervous.
I really appreciated this heads-up. No one in New York gave a fuck about running dates by people. “Yeah, that sounds great, Tucker. Can I let you know by the end of the week? Where are you guys going?”
“For sure, by Friday would be great, thanks. We’re heading to Hawaii and doing three of the Islands with an emphasis on the Big Island. It’s on her bucket list,” he smiled.
“That’s great. Does she have a big birthday coming up? Or something to celebrate?” As the words left my mouth, I should have just inserted my foot in it because I’m pretty sure I already knew the answer. He had to be proposing. Good. They were perfect for each other. He stuttered and started to turn red, so I interjected, “Let me know if you want any recommendations. I love the Big Island, and know a couple of great, off-the-beaten-path spots.”
Maeve’s voice drifted up the steps, clearly on the phone with someone. God, she was so damn loud. Worked out well today, though. Scrambling to put Tucker’s number in my top drawer, I turned to him with wide ‘oh shit’ eyes. He looked unfazed by it as he went to sit at her desk, which was wild because two minutes ago, when he was telling me, he appeared to be frazzled. It was then that I noticed a couple of wrapped cookies in his hand. Normally, I was the one who had the best poker face in a room. Not today, apparently, because if hewasn’t giving off that calm energy, I can’t say for certain I wouldn’t have given away that something was up.
She busted through the door, tilted her head, and brightly smiled at Tucker; like seeing him had just made her day. I had another unfamiliar pang in my stomach with how she looked at him. Not that I wantedherlooking at me like that, but when’s the last time anyone looked at me like that? Maybe before my mom started interfering in my life.
Making her way back to her desk, she said goodbye to whoever she was talking to and leaned in to give Tucker a quick peck.
I heard the conversation start. “I stopped by to give you a treat because I was thinking about you, but you weren’t here. Lunch with the girls again?” He asked.
“Thanks, babe! Yep, having them here is the greatest,” she replied happily. “I just need Jules to move here, too.”
Closing the door to my office, I tried to give them a little privacy. My office space wasn’t big at all. There was a conference room for meetings, my office, and a reception area that Maeve sat in. I could have shopped around for something bigger, but I wanted to be right on Main Street. There was a certain charm to this building on this little street. It was the opposite of my old office in New York and such a breath of fresh air. Sure, there was substantial wealth in this town, but it felt different here; there was a genuineness that I wasn’t accustomed to. I really enjoyed running my businesses out of this snug second floor space.
But my gears were already turning. I would need to find someone to step in while Maeve was away, and I was not looking forward to that. A temp agency was out because I needed it to be someone I trusted. Truth be told, there would be no good two-week period for her to be gone until afteropening, but I wasn’t that much of an asshole that I couldn’t prioritize important things. And getting engaged or celebrating a recent engagement is a priority.
It was just not what I wanted to be dealing with this morning.
8
AUDRA
Today was a rough one. I picked up an overnight shift for someone, and it was not the night to pick up. One of my charges was a two-year-old boy who had been on the regular floor and discharged. But whatever he was dealing with came back with a vengeance and landed him on my PICU floor. His parents were losing patience, and you could see the anger and defeat in their eyes. I tried to keep things sunny and positive, but hospitals, as a patient or caregiver, could break your spirit. There’s no doubt it’s a horrific thing to go through, but last night, I ended up being the verbal punching bag while his dad unloaded all his frustrations on me, which was inexcusable. I wish I had an answer, or could make some miraculous discovery, but right now we were just scrapping along and treating reactively instead of proactively. It was not a good situation to be on either side of.
I knew firsthand how difficult hospital stays were because the summer I was sixteen years old, my mother, brother, and I were walking on the sidewalk when a car barreled into us at around thirty-five miles an hour. The woman who was drivingthe car had had a massive heart attack, losing consciousness and control of the car. My mother successfully pushed my brother and me out of the way to save us. But she lost her life. My brother was relatively unscathed, and though I had a glancing blow, I still sustained major injuries, including a punctured lung, broken femur, and other body bleeds. They didn’t know if I was going to make it, and it was a long road to recovery. It’s also the reason I went into PICU nursing. My nurses were literal angels on Earth. They were my biggest cheerleaders, most valuable lifelines, and shoulders to cry on, saving me in more ways than one. I don’t remember all their names anymore, but I’ll never forget how they made me feel. And in a fun twist of fate, five years after the accident, one of those nurses, Trina, connected with my father on some widower app, and they married last year. It made my brothers and me happy that our father had found a companion, and though no one would ever replace my mother, Trina was great for our family.
It’s also part of the reason I was so ridiculously close with my three best girlfriends, Cora, Maeve, and Juliette. When on the road to recovery, it was the three of them who showed up without question to walk it with me. They stayed with me in the hospital, kept my spirits up, and had me tag along on outings when I could, wheelchair and all. When school started and I couldn’t attend yet, they brought my work home, and Cora tutored me as needed. Dealing with the injuries I had on top of losing my mother almost took me out, but thanks to their support, and of course, professional therapy, I am on the other side.
My sweet Cora. She had recently been through the wringer herself. She just split with her jerk of an ex-fiancé and moved back into town a couple of weeks ago. I was so happy she came back because not only did it offer me the opportunityto return the favor of supporting her in person, but I just loved that she was here.
By the time I finished charting and made it home Friday morning, all I wanted was to sleep for a week—I was drained. I loved nursing, but truth be told, I had a little trouble compartmentalizing the emotion of it. There was no doubt in my mind that I was superb at my job and a fantastic person to have around in any emergency or high-stress situation, but when it was time to take a collective breath, my co-workers knew to find me in the bathroom or supply closet with leaky eyes. My heart was tender, and I felt people’s emotions. Sometimes I wondered if that empathy made me a better nurse, or if it would lead to burnout from the intensity of the job. I’d only been working for a tick under four years, and the fact that I was even circling around phrases like weaning capacity, lower motivation, and lack of passion alarmed me. It made me feel like I was on the precipice of failing at this. But though it often felt overwhelming, I couldn’t leave the hospital high and dry. Our staff and resources were stretched so thin as it were. What would I have done if my nurses had left me when I needed them most?
But those were heavy thoughts after a long shift. At that moment, I really just needed to wash my night away in a scalding hot shower. After a night of sleep, things should look better in the morning.
9
DONOVAN
