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“Hey, Raina, how are you doing?” Barbara asked while she laid out her supplies. Barbara was in her midsixties, tall, with her salt-and-pepper hair cut in a fashionable style. She was one of Raina’s favorite people in the hospital.
“Doing all right.” Still alive, so more than all right, but she bit her tongue on those words. “Barbara, this is Vince. He’s a good friend. Vince, this is Barbara, the best stitcher in the hospital. You’ll be impressed at her needle-wielding skills.”
“Needle-wielding skills. Right.” Vince shot Barbara a weak smile. “Nice to meet you.”
Since he was going to be a little while, Raina decided it was a good time to run an errand. “I’ll just leave you to it.”
“Wait, where are you going?” Vince’s almost panicked question stopped her.
“I’m going to see someone who’s a patient here.” She’d already learned he was on the orthopedic floor.
“The DUI guy?”
She nodded and Barbara moved in, syringe in hand. “All right, Raina, why don’t you go visit your patient while I take care of this young man.” She turned to Vince. “This is just going to numb up the area before I give it a good cleaning and sew it up.”
His eyes widened and he cleared his throat. “Um ... Raina?”
“Yes.” He looked really pale. What in the world—
“I ... uh ... tend to pass out when needles are aimed my way.” He swayed and Raina rushed in to catch him against her before he fell off the bed.
“Vince?”
Barbara had set her syringe down and hurried to help.
“He’s out cold,” Raina said. They got him horizontal, elevated his feet, and she checked his pulse. “Steady and strong.”
“Not the first time I’ve had that happen,” Barbara said. “Let me just get this done while he’s unconscious. Trust me, it’ll be better for both of us.”
“Go for it. I’ll hold his hand in case he wakes up.” It wouldn’t be long before he’d stir.
“What about going to see the other patient?” Barbara worked fast, numbing the area and taking the first stitch.
Raina gazed at the man on the table, who was already blinking. “This guy is more important right now,” she said, her voice low. “Hey, Vince, look at me.” His eyes locked on hers. “You’re fine.”
“I passed out, didn’t I?” A red flush climbed up his neck and into his cheeks, chasing away the pale gray color.
“You did.”
“Great. There goes my superhero status.”
She grinned at him. “Never. You’ll always be a superhero in my eyes.”
“I don’t know. That’s a pretty big thing to live up to.”
“I’m not worried.” She held his gaze, her heart thudding atthe look in his. He cared about her. The knowledge was daunting. Scary. Exhilarating.
She lost track of how long they simply looked at one another before he cleared his throat. “Don’t tell me when she starts. I don’t want to know.”
Raina kicked herself. She was not a “get lost in someone’s eyes” kind of person. At least not usually. She was the one who made fun of those kinds of people.
Not anymore.
“Raina?”
“Oh, sorry. Right. I won’t tell you when she starts.” She glanced at Barbara, then back to Vince. “But can I tell you when she’s finished?”
“Huh?”
