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Correcting their behavior would only delay their departure. Not that I was rushing them out, but Bennett was right, I had important things I needed to do. Ryker was discharged, and was now in Bennett's care.
At the door, Ryker turned back to me and said, “See you in three days.” Before leaving, he gave me that sexy wink and I was left speechless.
Damn him.
It would serve him right if I had Dedra go and check his wound. It also would make perfect sense as I had so much on my plate already. But I had a feeling that Ryker wasn’t a rule follower, and that checkup was going to require a bit of nagging on my part. I had no problem with that at all.
What I learned from doing my internship in a US hospital was that they had more help than we did. If someone was discharged, they would call housekeeping to clean the room, wash the bed, and make it for the next patient. In Tabiq, as a nurse, we did all of that ourselves. It would be easy for me to ask another nurse to do it, but that was not how we did things. Finn had a rule, don’t ask anyone to do something that you won’t do yourself. And if you can do it yourself, then do it.
The room wasn’t needed at the moment, and if I had something that took priority, I could always come back and clean it later. I did have my cell phone on me, and I checked for messages. There was none.
I remember Finn telling me that Brice would contact me when he wanted to meet. It was possible Bennett had used Brice as an excuse to move Ryker along. Because for a man who said he was anxious to get out of the hospital, he had been stalling a lot.
Placing my cell phone on the table and turning on the volume, I cleaned the room while listening to a lecture that I had downloaded on running a political campaign. Not that I thought I could really help Reesa in any way, but I was willing to at least try. If I heard anything that sounded worth sharing with her, I would. I knew she had no time to listen to these. Heck, I didn’t either, but it was better than listening to just music like I normally do when I clean.
Once again, I hadn’t closed the door and I had company.
“You must be Nurse Meri,” his deep, American, voice filled the room. It wasn’t Bennett or Ryker. With very few American men strolling the hallways of the hospital, there was no reason to panic. It had to be a Henderson.
I spun around. “Yes. I am. And you must be Brice Henderson.” He looked like his brothers, just a bit older. I didn’t want to guess, but I’d say he was around fifty or so. I used to think that was ancient, but the closer I got to forty, the younger the fifties seemed. “I can finish this later if you’d like me to join you in an office to talk.”
“No. This is fine.” He had a serious look on his face, but that wasn’t unusual with that family. They were serious about business, but once you got to know them, they relaxed and actually were pleasant to speak to. Most of my interaction had been with his brother Alex since he lived in Tabiq with his wife Ziva. Not knowing enough about Brice, I wasn’t going to even attempt to guess what he was thinking. He asked, “Are you planning on throwing your hat into the ring?”
“Excuse me?” I asked, puzzled. What did he mean, throw my hat? Americans had such odd sayings, and even though I had spent a couple of years studying nursing there, I still didn’t understand a lot of slang.
“That’s an odd choice for a nurse.”
Cleaning the room? No. It had to be something else. He pointed to my phone, and it clicked. “Oh. The lecture. No. I’m listening to that for...a friend,” I said.
“Hopefully that friend is your current president,” he said, peering directly at me.
I could tell from his piercing eyes he was trying to gauge if I was going to tell him the truth or not. I had no reason to lie. Not about this at least.
I held my head high and met his strong gaze with my own. “Yes. Of course, it is for President O’Connor. I can’t picture anyone else running this country as well as she does,” I stated.
His jaw relaxed slightly. “And you’re wanting to be her campaign manager?” he questioned.
I laughed as I shut off the lecture. “I said I want her as president. If I had the job, she wouldn’t win. I know nothing about politics.”
“Then why listen to the lecture?” he asked.
I couldn’t tell him that I met with her and the pressure she was feeling wasn’t good for the baby.So here comes more lying. I was about to learn how good I was at it since it wasn’t something that came naturally to me.
“It’s not that I want to help her. It’s that I have the utmost respect for her and what she does. But I really didn’t know anything about the campaign process. So, I decided to learn about it. You know what they say, ‘knowledge is power’.”
“Very true. And it is just confirming what Finn said about you,” he replied.
I wanted to know what that was, but I wasn’t about to ask. It was better to let Brice think it wasn’t eating at me. Even though I knew it would haunt me all day.
“I’m finished in here. Did you have any other questions for me?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Yes. How can I help you? I know you’ve got a lot on your plate. I don’t have any medical training, but I’m great at recruiting people who can help you.”
“Thank you, but your brother Logan will be here in less than a week. There hopefully won’t be any emergencies that require additional staffing,” I stated.
He nodded. “I want you to feel comfortable reaching out at any time. I’m here to support you.”
That sounded so odd. A Henderson here to help me. Little ole me. Not the entire hospital? “Thank you. I will reach out if something arises. And I hope you feel comfortable doing the same,” I stated.
