AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fired.
Arrested.
Imprisoned.
All these words whirled around in my head as I crossed the threshold and stepped inside. The hospital would know about the missing narcotics by now. And the magical disappearance of the boy who’d been my patient.
Amadeo broke the law on a regular basis. How did this gnawing paranoia not consume him?
The tall, blond nurse I worked with frequently fell into step close by me. Not with me, but headed in the same direction toward the ER. I was still fairly certain his name was Tom.
“Good morning, Dr. Dawson,” he said when he realized I’d noticed him.
“Good morning…”Say it? Don’t say it? “…Tom.”
His step faltered. A furrow formed between his pale eyebrows.
Bloody hell. I’d gotten it wrong. I could feel my cheeks warming.
“I didn’t realize you knew anyone’s name,” he said as the furrow vanished.
“Only the names worth knowing,” I replied.
Was that a joke? Did I just joke with this man?
He laughed.
Dear Lord, I did just tell a joke.
He stood up straighter, shoulders back. Not offended, but chuffed.
“Have a good day, Dr. Dawson,” he said, then veered toward the men’s washroom.
Have a good day? My throat grew tighter.
“Have a good day,Heidi-girl,” my father had called to me from our car as I hopped out of the passenger seat and scurried toward school. That was the last time anyone had wished me a good day.
I shook off the memory and hurried toward the ER, but the moment I stepped onto the ward, I could feel every eye on me, though no one was looking at me.
No one was looking, but they knew. They had to know.
My breathing came faster as some of the oxygen in the room seemed to evaporate. My palms were cool and clammy again.
Raven spotted me from the nurse’s station. She smiled, raised her hand to wave, then dropped it and made a beeline in my direction.
Without a word, she grabbed hold of my hand and towed me along toward one of the empty treatment areas. She pulled the curtain behind us and turned around to face me.
Fired.
Arrested.
Imprisoned.
The words were back, swirling in a chaotic, formless mess in my head.
“You’ve got to calm down,” she said, her lips moving slowly but not exaggeratedly. “You’re pretty pale on a good day; today you look like you’ve been moonlighting as a marble statue.”
She was right; this wasn’t me. I took a deep breath. Let it out. I was cool under pressure. The Ice Queen.
