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I lean in closer to get a better look at the ring. It’s massive. How did he even afford a ring like that? Either he’s in a ton of debt now, or he’s been lying to me about his financial situation for a long time. It must have cost a fortune. His music career is gaining traction, but I didn’t think it was gainingthatmuch. I feel my face heat, and the blood coursing through my veins is practically boiling.
“Get that out of my face right now, Merri,” I growl, pushing her hand away from my face. This is not helping me ignore the situation.
“Oh, sorry.” She slips her phone into her pocket with a sheepish look on her face.
“What are you going to do?” Jolene asks. And frankly, I don’t have an answer. The plan was always to get Brandon’s band on the charts, get a record deal, and move out to Hollywood where he can completely focus on his music career. I’ve been so wholly focused on Brandon’s goals and plans that mine were all but forgotten…if I ever even really had any. For the first time in my adult life, I don’t have to think about him when it comes to my future, and I have no clue what I want. It’s scary to be twenty-six years old and have no idea where you’re headed.
“I don’t know. I can’t think about that right now. I just want to sleep.”
“But you will tell us if you need our help exacting revenge, right?” Merrily asks in an overly eager voice.
“You will be the very first person I call, Merrily.” No, she won’t. If I really wanted to go full Carrie Underwood on him and key his car, I’d call my best friend, Valerie. She’s just devious enough to know how to keep us from getting caught. But Merri would be the second. Apparently, she has some rage she needs to work out.
“Good.”
This shift has been one long, drawn-out nightmare that I’m never going to wake up from. I love being a nurse, but sometimes I just wish I had a rich husband to be my sugar daddy so I could spend my days at a spa or getting brunchwith girlfriends. Maybe noteveryday, but at least some of them. A mani-pedi that I didn’t have to contemplate the practicality of would be nice every once in a while. I’d get involved in philanthropic endeavors as well. I wouldn’t use all my husband’s hard-earned dollars on selfish desires. I should stop watchingRealHousewivesreruns. All they do is set me up for disappointment—especially now that I’m single and no closer to getting a ring on my finger.
Okay, time to stop daydreaming and get back to work.
It’s a full moon, and if one more woman comes into this labor ward in labor, I just might throw myself onto the floor and cry with the newborn babies. No one seems to know the real reason, but on every full moon, the labor and delivery department gets overrun with laboring mothers. Tonight is no different. We currently have five women in labor, and they are running us ragged. Everything seems to be going smoothly for all of them, but it’s still exhausting monitoring all of them, running between rooms to check on them, updating the doctors on each of their statuses, dealing with overly dramatic and stressed-out family members, etc. I had a patient’s mother-in-law yell at me in the hallway because I wouldn’t let her into a patient’s room earlier. The patient explicitly told me she didn’t want her anywhere near her room. What was I supposed to do? Disguise her as a nurse and sneak her in? No, thank you! I’d like to keep my job.
I gulp down the last few dregs of my now cold coffee. It’s absolutely disgusting, but caffeine is caffeine—a necessity on the first night shift of the week after spending my days awake and my nights sleeping like a normal human being. As much as I’d love to keep to my normal nocturnal schedule on my off days, life doesn’t exactly allow for it. At least, if you want to spend time with friends and family and get errands done, it doesn’t.
It’s time to go check on one of the patients. I knock on the door to her room and step inside. She’s breathing heavily, and her husband stands next to her rubbing her head, telling her she’s strong and powerful. These are the couples that make me long for a wedding and a future growing old with someone. The couple next door, however, makes me think I dodged a massive bullet when I discovered Brandon’s cheating ways. Judging by them, I think it might be best to stay single and alone forever. When I went in there earlier, the laboring mom begged me to call for an epidural, which I happily did for her. She looked exhausted and sweaty, and I could tell she had been crying. I comforted her through a few contractions before I had to leave her again, and her boyfriend never looked up from his phone once. Seeing this loving couple gives me so much hope, though.
I finish up in their room, letting them know that everything is looking great. Baby’s heart rate is good, and she’s progressing quickly. It shouldn’t be too much longer until she’s ready to deliver. I need to grab myself a snack and sit down for a minute to give my feet a rest while I still have time. It’s looking like it’s going to be nonstop action later.
I’m walking down the hallway toward the break room, hoping there’s a fresh pot of coffee made. I turn the corner, and I’m greeted with a glorious sight. Josiah is walking in my direction with a pink box in his hand, and I know there are cookies from my favorite cookie place in that box. My mouth immediately starts salivating just anticipating shoving all those delectable cookies in my mouth. How does he always know exactly what I need? It’s like he can read my mind!
I squeal in excitement, causing the nurses at the desk to look up in horror at me. I get it. It’s one o’clock in the morning, and I’m squealing like a teenage girl. There’s no happiness allowed at this hour…unless you have delicious cookies and a fabulous friend waiting for you. Have I mentioned that Josiah is the most thoughtful friend in the whole world?
I rush to greet him and wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze as tight as humanly possible. He wraps his free arm around me. After a moment, he pounds on my back. “Can’t breathe, Ellis,” he says in a raspy voice. I pull my arms away and reach over my shoulder to rub the spot on my back he just beat with his massive bear paws.
“Sorry,” he says sheepishly.
“Sorry I almost suffocated you,” I joke.
He sets the box of cookies down on a table, and we both sit before opening the box to see what delights await me. There’s a lemon one, some sort of a chocolatey peanut butter flavor, one that has some sort of berry topping, and a sugar cookie with frosting. I cut the lemon one in half with Josiah’s pocketknife he hands me. I’m hoping and praying it’s relatively clean. I won’t think about that too much. It’ll just haunt me later when I’m trying to sleep and there’s a mysterious tickle in my throat.
“So, what are you doing here at this hour? Shouldn’t you be sleeping like the normal humans of the world?” I ask before taking a massive bite of the cookie. It’s so amazing my eyes roll back in my head. The lemon filling is tart, and the frosting is sweet. It gets everywhere, dripping down my chin. I lick my lips, trying to get it all.
“It’s a Saturday night. They’re meant for staying up late,” he says.
“Maybe when we were in college, but I know you haven’t stayed out late in years. You’re strictly a home-by-ten, in-bed-by-midnight guy these days,” I say.
“Fine, I stayed up late to bring you these cookies. I knew you would be having a rough night.” His cheeks turn pink, and he forces a smile onto his face. His dimples make anappearance, so I wish I could take out my phone and snap a picture. I force my eyes away from him and take another bite.
“How are you handling everything tonight?” he asks.
My eyes cut over to him, warning against saying anything about “you know who.” Talking about him would do nothing to boost my mood or make this night better. In fact, it would do the exact opposite. And tonight of all nights, I need to be in the best mood possible.
“Handling the full moon, I mean,” he tacks on, letting me know he got the message loud and clear. It’s good for him that I told him all about labor and delivery during full moons earlier.
“Everything is perfectly fine,” I reply. I take the last bite and wipe at the frosting on my face.
“You missed some,” Josiah says, gesturing to his face. I use the back of my hand to clear my face, but he shakes his head to let me know I didn’t get it. I wipe again, and he laughs before reaching over and using his thumb to get the offending frosting off. He brings his thumb to his mouth and sucks the frosting off. He makes a pleased humming sound, and I turn into a puddle. My entire body just melted onto the floor. Someone should call a janitor to come clean me up before someone slips and falls.
“Wow, that’s really good,” he says, not noticing that I am frozen in shock. He reaches into the box for the other half of the lemon cookie. Normally, I’d smack his hand away, claiming the cookie for myself like the greedy girl I am. But I can’t seem to make my muscles move or form any words. I guess I’m just going to let him have it. Something about the way he just nonchalantly ate that frosting that was just on my face set something off in me.
