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“Yup.” Ann gave her a smile. “Don’t eat it all while you wait for me.”
“Never.” Heidi grinned as she grabbed the bag and walked out of ICU. It didn’t take her long to make it to the main floor again and grab the only table left in the corner of the cafeteria. She rested back and waited. She should probably start eating since she only had a short window of time as well. She’d managed an extra thirty minutes for lunch that day, but it also meant she’d be staying a bit later than she normally did.
“Hey.”
The voice startled her. Heidi twisted her gaze, surprised she’d been so lost in her thoughts she hadn’t noticed the petite woman come up to her. She was usually more on her guard than that. But Ann did that to her—distracted her. “Hi?”
“Do you mind if I sit here for a few minutes? It’s the only chair open, and I only have five minutes to scarf down this food.”
“Oh, um…” Heidi looked around, noticing just how full it was. Ann had said she’d be fifteen minutes, which usually meant thirty. “Sure.”
“Thanks.” The young woman plopped down into the chair and set her plate of cafeteria food onto the table. “I’m running later than I thought I was, and I don’t have as much time as I’d hoped, but I am starving. I missed dinner last night.”
“Why would you do a silly thing like that?” Heidi eyed her carefully. She couldn’t be older than thirty, but she didn’t look like a nurse. She definitely didn’t look or act like a doctor, and she was barely old enough to pass for one—though it wouldn’t be the first time she was fooled by someone’s age.
The woman shrugged. “I got busy with a date.”
“Ah.” Heidi’s cheeks heated. She really didn’t need to know any more than that, and she hoped this woman wasn’t about to go into a long explanation about her night.
“It was fun while it lasted, but she had to go home at the end of the night.”
She?Well, that was a tidbit of information Heidi wasn’t going to miss no matter what she didn’t want to hear. “Oh, yeah, that’s one of the woes of dating. It’s been a while since I’ve dated, so no real reason to be sad about no sleepovers.”
The woman’s gaze softened. “Are you waiting for your special someone?”
“Why would you ask that?”
She pointed at the bag of food. “You haven’t even opened it to eat.”
“Oh.” Heidi’s cheeks reddened. “Yeah, I’m waiting on someone. Thought it’d be polite to wait to start, but I may have no other choice. I have to get back to work at some point.”
“Doesn’t sound all that different from dating.”
“It’s probably not.”
Heidi was curious. It wasn’t every day she had cute women who stopped to chat with her who was also interested in women. She wondered if she were that easy to read, if this woman knew she was equally interested in the same.
“I’m Heidi, by the way.” She held out her hand, trying to be extroverted for a few more minutes.
“Lila.” Her eyes crinkled at the corners as her lips curved upward.
Heidi could fall into those eyes if she wasn’t careful. They were so blue, a deep sapphire color that she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen on another person before, but she was absolutely intrigued. “It’s good to meet you. You work here, I guess.”
“I do the supply ordering for the hospital. Last week one of our trucks didn’t come in, so we were running short, and lo and behold, we’re out of some things. So I’ve spent most of my morning calling offices and nearby hospitals to see if we can borrow supplies or something because apparently we can’t wait for the truck to come tomorrow.” Lila rolled her eyes. “Sometimes you’d think it was the end of the world because an item doesn’t get delivered.”
“Sometimes it can be.” Heidi’s voice was quiet and gentle as she thought about Ann. If Ann didn’t have the right pieces of equipment to do what was necessary, then yes, it could be the end of the world for someone. Ann had seen too many people die in her career, and Heidi would rather a lack of supplies not be the reason for another.
“You’re right. I meant it more in the metaphorical sense of disaster on the frustration front.”
“Right.” Heidi tried to shake the cobwebs from her head to figure out what on earth Lila was talking about, but before she could ask, Lila was on to the next topic.
“Do you work here?”
“No. I’m a social worker for the county. So I do spent some time here when the need arises.”
“Oh, that’s a tough job.”
“It can be.” Heidi played with the edge of the bag containing her food, wondering just when Ann was going to come down. “But it can also be very rewarding.”
