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“You got the call too, huh?” Amy turned to Jenna.
Jenna nodded in response. “Yeah... sounded like an emergency.”
I wrinkled my face in confusion. They wouldn’t call two nurses in for potential sepsis.
“Two of the ICU nurses got the flu.” Amy nudged me hard with her elbow. “I think they’re swapping more than just shifts.”
“Unusual time of year for influenza to spread.” I rubbed at the pain in my side and glanced at Jenna, who met my gaze briefly before looking furtively away. She crossed her arms around her body, tense and uncomfortable, a blush spreading across her cheeks.
Amy jabbed the elevator button. “This thing is taking forever.”
“Should we take the back stairs?” I suggested. As if responding to my question, the elevator doors opened jerkily to reveal another doctor. One who was supposed to be in the ICU all day.
I stared at Dr. Judd in surprise. “Why aren’t you upstairs?”
He scowled at me. “I’m going to Wawa for a Rokk Bar.”
“Ooh, those are good,” Amy commented, smiling at Judd.
“They sell them in the hospital cafeteria,” I informed him. I’d noticed them at the checkout many times, even though I didn’t buy them. The carbs and sugar in the popular snack bars made them about as healthy as a pastry, and I’d rather just eat a donut.
“Not the organic kind.” Dr. Judd leered at Jenna. “I’m really careful about what comes into contact with my body.”
Jenna’s forced laughter rang in my ears, an obvious symptom of discomfort. Though we weren’t truly acquainted and our relationship was spurious, I wanted Judd to leave her alone.
Battling the urge to step closer to Jenna and shield her from his creepy stare, I couldn’t keep from giving Judd a stern look. “You’re not supposed to leave the hospital during your shift.”
He rolled his eyes and hefted a large sigh. “Fine, Dr. Stickler. I’ll go back with you.”
Jenna, Amy, and I joined him in the elevator, followed by a man with a bright yellow visitor badge.
“Excuse me.” The visitor pushed past us to the back of the carriage.
As we waited for the doors to close, Jenna stared at the buttons as if she were trying to telepathically move the elevator along before anyone got suspicious that the two of us had ever spoken outside of the hospital walls. This close to her, it was hard to ignore how pretty she was, with dark lashes blinking against pale skin, and pink lips pinched in concentration.
I gave my head a little shake, reminding myself that such close scrutiny was neither professional nor necessary. I forced my gaze away, focusing instead on the elevator doors, but her image stayed stubbornly in my mind.
“Fifth floor,” the man in the other back corner demanded. “Any day now.” He was older, perhaps seventy, and his bloodshot eyes marked him as someone who’d missed sleep. His sticky nametag said “Paul Murray,” visitor to a patient in the intensive care unit.
Wait. I’d seen him last night. He was married to the patient who might have sepsis.
Jenna had already selected the fifth-floor button, but Judd reached across her and hit it again with a sullen sigh, forcing Jenna to take a half step back or allow his arm to brush across her chest. The doors slowly closed.
Amy moved to stand at my side. “What’s everybody doing after work?”
I frowned, debating what to say. Obviously, I couldn’t tell her Jenna was coming over to my apartment later, but if I didn’t indicate I was busy, Amy might take it as an invitation to invite me to do something with her.
“I have a lot of paperwork to catch up on,” I lied.
Judd gave a loud, unimpressed snort beside me. “I’m hitting the bar to drink until I forget about this place. Patients read something online and think they’re experts in medicine. I can’t handle the whining.”
I eyed him in disgust. It wasn’t professional to discuss our patients in such a derogatory manner, especially not in a public space like an elevator.
Jenna broke her fixation on the elevator buttons to glare at him, too. Her eyes flicked from the visitor to the hospital back to Judd, as if trying to bring him to the realization his comments were inappropriate.
Judd just smirked, rolled his eyes, and leaned against the elevator wall. Fortunately, Mr. Murray had his eyes glued to his phone.
Amy took a half step closer to Judd. “A bar sounds fun. Maybe I’ll join you?”
