The people who had known me from previous events must have thought I was on drugs. It was so completely out of character for me. Young me would not have thought twice about being silly like that, but Savannah Springs me never let thatguard down. But there I was, fist pumping because of a rock, paper, scissors victory for a cookie.
I walked up to the booth with a fistful of funny money in my hand while Audra stayed back to talk to some of her new best friends. The plan was to get the cotton candy for her anyway, but the worker who had watched the whole thing had something to say. She was older, in her 60s, and I wondered what her connection with the organization was or if she was just part of the catering staff.
“I’ll have one rainbow cotton candy, please.”
“Pretty sure I just watched you win your cookie, handsome,” she said in a thick southern drawl as she handed the cotton candy bag to me.
“I’m in it for the bragging rights on this one. She was always going to get the cotton candy.” I smiled again. “I’m having the best time here tonight. Are you involved in Warrior Academy?”
“Yes, sir, I am. I used to teach in an underprivileged area, and one of the best tools I had was Warrior Academy. I am eternally grateful for everything that the organization did for all my students.”
“Fantastic Ms…”
“Barbra. Just Barbra. And you are?”
“Donovan. Donovan Wright. I supported Warrior Academy back when I lived in New York, and now I’m grateful I can continue that support here in South Carolina. I know what an incredible impact this organization makes. That and working in conjunction with remarkable teachers like you, of course. Thank you for your years of teaching service, Barbra. I bet the kids loved you.”
“Well, you’re just making an old lady blush now, aren’t ya? It’s my turn to put you on the spot, Mr. Wright. I have beendoing this event for a long time, and that was the most fun I’ve ever had watching two people. When are you going to lock that one down? I don’t see no ring. She’s the prettiest gal in here, and the way you two were carrying on, ya’ll mademesmile.”
“Oh, no. We’re not … she’s just … my date couldn’t come.”
Barbra gave me the judgiest, wide-eyed, pursed-lipped face a stranger had ever given me. “I promise you that you ain’t gon’ be looking at no other date the way you been looking at that one. And no one would be prettier either.” And as if on cue, Audra looked our way from where she was standing. She tried to keep her lips together in a close-lipped smile while shaking her head at me, but she lost the battle and broke into a full grin that scrunched up her nose and crinkled her eyes while she shook her fist in the air.
I couldn’t help but mirror her joy. “No, I mean, my usual date is my co-worker, and she’s going to get engaged. But we’re not together; she’s just an employee. I’m not dating anyone.” Good Lord, what an idiot I sounded like. “Alright, Miss Barbra. Here’s the truth: that one over there, she’s a friend, but between you and me, I’m thinking I might want something more.”
“I’d imagine so, sugar. You’d be a lucky man. And I’d bet she’s thinking the same thing based on how she’s looking at you. Anyway, here’s that cookie you wanted as well. That one’s on me. Enjoy your treats, and make sure you make that move, Mr. Wright. Go for that something more.”
Walking up to Audra, I had my hands behind my back. When I got close enough, I presented the cookie to her and tried to get her to take a bite. She took the littlest one to spite me before coming back for a bigger one.
“Ok, I admit defeat here. That cookie is amazing,” she laughed.
“I accept your admission, and since you have lost so gracefully,” I pulled the cotton candy out from behind my back, and her eyes lit up.
“How?” she asked, floored.
“I could make something up about my master negotiation skills, but the truth is when I bought the cotton candy, which I was getting for you regardless of the outcome of our battle, the woman, Barbra, said she enjoyed watching us play. She wanted to give me a little something after I bought your treat.”
“Seriously? That is the sweetest. No pun intended.” She laughed at her joke and turned to wave at Barbra, who smiled and waved back. “Maybe we should get ‘what time is it guy’ over here to show him how to actually win someone over with something other than shitty pick up lines,” she snickered at herself. “But honestly, Donovan, thank you for getting the cotton candy. I lost fair and square, but it really is my favorite.”
How unfamiliar. I wasn’t in the business of wooing women anymore, but it took a hell of a lot more than a little bag of rainbow cotton candy to be an acceptable gift back where I was from. This silly bag of sugar really seemed to make her night. It was so simple in the most wonderful of ways. A quiet smile bloomed across my face.
By the time we left Vegas Night, we were indeed sticky with cotton candy, buzzed from all the cocktails, and I was head over heels for this woman.
25
AUDRA
We got home far too late, and I was way out of sorts the following day. The physical exhaustion was one thing, but the cartwheels my mind was doing were another. Last night was nothing short of amazing. Things were just so much more fun with Donovan around. Even thinking about him made me break into a spontaneous grin.
But as high as I was after Vegas Night, work brought me right back down to Earth. The next few days, I worked overnight shifts, and they were particularly stressful ones. I swore that I saw Theo in the hospital parking lot again, but I convinced myself I was delusional from being overworked and just seeing things that weren’t there. The aggressive parents and the boy switched to the regular floor for a little while, but were coming back to the ICU, and of course, they were assigned to me. I’m not sure if the familiarity of my face emboldened the father to act the way he was, or if it was my gender, age, or what, but he sure was a dick. There were a few times I almost shouted at him, ‘I’M NOT THE DOCTOR…TAKE IT UP WITH HIM.’ But I didn’t. I always tried to approach it with grace and composure, but it was rough to get berated like that for the last however many shifts I’d been with him. Admin did nothing to have our back in those situations too.
“Don’t you know what you’re doing? How old are you? Why can’t you figure out what’s wrong with my son?” Every time the call button rang, my stomach dropped, and every time I went in, my body tensed up. Screw it. After the shift, I refused to work with him again. I didn’t get paid enough to deal with his shit, and even if I made millions, there is no excuse to treat another human like that.
As I was mounting my stand in my head and watching the clock tick down the last forty minutes of my shift, all the alarms started going off from that room. My feet were moving before I even registered it. The little boy was coding, and the survival rate for children coding was dismal. Our entire crew crashed on the room and worked on him. Tensions were through the roof, but our staff was top-notch. It is what we were trained to do, after all. Mom was screaming as she was being pulled away, and Dad was slinging insults at us as we worked. It was a horrific four minutes.
But it wasn’t his time. We successfully resuscitated him, and the decision was made to med-flight him to a level one pediatric hospital, something I had suggested a dozen times. As we prepped him for the move, the father caught my gaze from across the room. “I will never forgive you for this,” he muttered through gritted teeth.
I was confused, pumped full of adrenaline, and sick of the guy. Tensions were through the roof. “Excuse me? Never forgive me for what? Helping to save your child’s life?”
