AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I guess I’ll have to see what DoorDash has to offer.” Now that I’m back in this thing, I’ll have to get creative since I’ll be at work for the next eight hours. With Graham. Oh gosh.
“Good luck.”
“WELL, I’M OUT OF HERE,” Dr. Monroe says, setting her laptop down on the counter that lines the nurses’ station. She reaches up and pushes back some of the dark-brown hair that’s fallen in her face. She’s got on navy-blue scrubs, and her white coat looks like it has some dried blood on it. Either that, or it’s chocolate. It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes.
“Lucky,” I say. It’s not a platitude—I really mean it. I would also like to be out of here. I’m usually not like this; I love my job. But this place is giving me the ick today.
Calista Monroe started working at the hospital the week before Thanksgiving. She’s a bit of a legend in this town due to all her former exploits. Especially at the high school. She once put beef bouillon cubes in the showerheads of the boys’ locker room. That was years before I went there, but I swear you could still smell remnants of it.
I’ve developed sort of a girl crush on her. She’s all the things I’m not. The woman recently helped someone deliver a baby in the middle of an intersection, for heaven’s sake. I’m pretty sure if she tried to kiss someone in the supply room, it would have gone better than it did for me.
She also intimidates me a little. When she first started here, we were talking about dating and I told her I was on a man detox. Why would I say that? I just felt so dumb—so naive—telling her, the town legend, I haven’t been on a proper date in a decade, unless you’re counting Mason, the New Year’s Eve ditcher, which I’m not. That burnt piece of toast.
“Have fun with Dr. Shackwell,” she says, and then gives me a wink.
“What do you mean?” I ask, wondering why she added the wink and suddenly nervous she’d heard something. But what could she have possibly heard? Graham wouldn’t say anything. He hardly talks to anyone. Evie has probably already forgotten about it (if my fervent prayers were answered). She’s not on tonight, thank goodness.
Calista blinks and wrinkles her nose. “Nothing. I just figured you wouldn’t have any fun with him.”
Oh, right. The staff all think Graham is a stick-in-the-mud. And honestly, he’s been giving off that vibe since he started here. He never used to be that way. Not when we were younger. Back then he was the kind of guy who would turn my parents’ backyard into one giant Slip ‘n Slide using tarps and sprinklers. So many of the fun things I did as a kid were because of Graham and Kyle and their antics.
Since he’s been working here, I’ve only seen a very stern and reserved Graham. But yesterday, I saw a different side of him. One I’d forgotten about. It was good, until it wasn’t.
Every time I think about last night and the supply room, part of me dies.
“Oh.” I smile at her. “So true. Too bad you’re not working tonight.”
“As much as I’d love to stay, I’ve got my man to get home to.” She smiles dreamily.
Ah, yes, Tristan Granger. The ex-boyfriend she’s recently reunited with. The man has it bad, and by the look on her face, she does as well.
The woman just oozes cool. I want to hate her, but she’s impossible to hate. She’s so charming, and the patients who come through here have had nothing but good things to say about her.
Not so much with the man walking by us now. Graham, wearing his white coat and traditional blue-green scrubs underneath, his lips in a flat line. I’d read into that, but honestly, he looks like he always does. Super-hot and super unapproachable.
“Dr. Monroe,” he says with a nod toward her. “Price,” he says, giving me the same greeting as he passes by.
Why did it make my stomach do a little tumble when he said my last name? Maybe it’s because I thought that was a yesterday thing, when we sort of bonded over a gerbil. Could it mean he’s over what happened in the supply room? Or what didn’t happen.
Yep, I think another small part of me just died. Maybe it was my spleen.
“He’s a strange one,” Calista says.
“Oh yeah, totally strange,” I agree.
“Have a good night,” she says, picking up her laptop and tucking it under her arm as she walks away.
AS IT TURNS OUT, TRYING food I’ve never had before is proving difficult. First of all, I live in a mountain town. There are a lot of restaurants here because of all the tourists we get during ski season. However, I also realized that I’ve tried a lot of foods, and I can’t find a single thing I haven’t tried. Not one that delivers, anyway.
“What are you up to, Price?” a deep voice asks, and I look up to see Graham standing on the other side of the counter. My heart jumps while my stomach sinks, and I wonder if I’ll ever feel normal around him again.
“I’m looking for food,” I say, trying to be calm and cool.
He furrows his brow. We’ve been here for three hours, and so far the only words we’ve exchanged have been work related. It’s been a busy afternoon, now evening. It’s felt ... normal between us. I think we’re both going to pretend last night didn’t happen. I know that’s the route I’ve decided to take. Denial may be considered unhealthy, but it feels really good right now.
“Ordering delivery?” he asks, a head nod toward my phone in my hands with the DoorDash app open.
With Evie off tonight, Pam is in charge, and she doesn’t care about our personal phone usage. In fact, she’s sitting on the other side of the nurses’ station looking at her own phone.
