“That fuss.” The young, toothy blonde nurse pointed to the huge pictures of the hospital brass that hung on the wall in front of them. There were six in total, but they all knew which one she meant. “Edmund Keating, M.D. Chief of Surgery. Chief of Cardiology. What a hottie!”
Then she curbed her enthusiasm. “At least he’s hot in that photograph. He might look like Jabba the Hutt in person. But I heard that photo didn’t do him justice. What do you think?” she asked her supervisor.
“I’m a married woman,” the charge nurse said. “Does it look like I care what that man looks like in person or otherwise? They’re all rich, obnoxious doctors to me. No more. No less. I stay in my lane.”
“Well I’m breaking out of my lane,” the young nurse said with a grin. “I’m busting loose if he’s all that! I want me one of them rich, obnoxious doctors for myself. But he’s got to be hot. I am not settling for less than total hot.”
Then she looked toward the double doors again. “Has he come out yet? I didn’t miss him, did I?”
“Miss who?” another nurse said, causing the others at the station to laugh.
“Y’all know who,” the nurse said and they laughed at that too. “Keep laughing. Y’all think I’m joking. But watch and see. I’m gonna reel in a big fish this time.”
The exhausted charge nurse, who was trying to input patient stats into the computer, looked impatiently at her much-younger charge. “You are truly wasting your time with that one,” she said.
“And why is that? He’s cute. I’m cute. He’s single. I’m single. What’s the problem?”
“You’re young enough to be his daughter,” said another nurse. “That’s the problem!”
“That’s what they love about me. My youth. These doctors don’t want some stuffy old lady their age. They want somebody my age. And since I’m the only young nurse around here, and by far the hottest if I may say so myself, I know I stand a chance.”
“Not with that one, you don’t,” said the charge nurse. “He doesn’t groove like that.”
“Like what? Even the married doctors around here have sidepieces.”
“Yes they most certainly do. But he’s not like that. He’s the chief of surgery. He’s a serious surgeon. He comes, he operates, he goes back to his office. Or he leaves the hospital and goes wherever. He’s a very private man. He’s not about to fool around with you.”
“If he’s so private, how do you know who he fools around with?”
“I could be wrong. But I don’t think I am. He doesn’t chase these nurses like the rest of these doctors do.”
“So what are you saying? He’s gay? He doesn’t like women?”
“Oh for crying out loud!”
“Then what are you talking about? Every straight man in Baltimore is fooling around with somebody. Are you telling me he’s a one-woman man and he already has that woman?”
“I’m telling you I don’t know,” said the even more-exhausted charge nurse. Why did she even entertain this child with this nonsense? “He doesn’t allow us to get all up in his business like that. That’s why I’ll say now and I’ll say forevermore that he’s never going to be fooling around with some young hot nurse like the stereotype. Not Doctor No-nonsense.”
“Doctor who?”
“There’s Doctor Who. And there’s Doctor No. But he’s Doctor No-nonsense.” The other nurses laughed. “And his no-nonsense comes with a lot of arrogance thrown in. In his eyes, we’re beneath him. He doesn’t have time for nurses.”
“For real,” said another one of the nurses.
“He’ll have time for me after I rock his world,” the younger nurse said with a grin, and they all laughed. Not with her. But at her.
“She’ll see,” said yet another nurse.
“Here he comes!”
Everybody looked toward the flapping double doors as Edmund Keating walked through, no longer in scrubs but pristinely-dressed in his Valentino suit, and he did not break his stride. Nor did he speak to a single lady at the nurses station as he walked right by.
But the young nurse couldn’t resist. She’d heard so much about him. She wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass her by. “Good morning, Dr. Keating!”
He ignored her. But she refused to give up. She began hurrying toward him. The charge nurse tried to pull her back. “Don’t do it,” she warned her.
But the young lady wasn’t listening. She jerked away from her supervisor and hurried up behind him. “Doctor?”
