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I feel a hand on my shoulder. “How you holding up, Doc?” Lucy asks before pulling out the chair next to me. She looks as haggard as I feel, yet she’s a beautiful sight for sore eyes.
I blow air out of my mouth. “That was exhausting.” A man in his sixties came in with chest pain and decompensated rapidly. If he hadn’t come in when he did, if we hadn’t gotten him to the cardiac cath lab as quickly as we did, if Dr. Kapoor—the on-call cardiologist—hadn’t been able to come in as fast as he did ... who knows what would have happened.
Poor Evie. She’s had to stay the entire time, working two shifts. She may be hard to deal with sometimes, but the woman knows what she’s doing. She’s kept this ER running, which is no easy feat.
“Do you think he’ll make it?” Lucy asks, her mind on the same thing as mine.
“I hope so,” I say. I’ve lost patients before, but that’s not a thing that happens at the clinic or the spa. I kind of hate this part of working in the ER.
She scoots her chair closer to mine, and folding her arms, she leans in toward me and lays her head on my shoulder. Without even thinking about it, I lay mine on top of hers. I should probably think about it. Maybe I shouldn’t be leaning on her, shouldn’t be this close. But it feels good to have someone to lean on right now. Even better that it’s Lucy. Her nearness is the comfort I need.
“His wife,” she says. She doesn’t need to say more. When the patient’s wife found out how serious things were, she broke down, and Lucy had to help console her, since Evie definitely wouldn’t be doing it. It was a devastating sight for all of us.
“Life can change so fast,” Lucy says.
“It really can,” I say. “Do you ever regret becoming a nurse?”
“No,” she says. “I love this job.”
“Me too, most days.”
I feel and hear her chuckle. “Yeah. Sometimes it can be a little triggering.”
“Memories of your own accident?”
“Yeah,” she says.
“What do you do when that happens?”
“I have a good cry in the supply room.”
“What’s with you and the supply room?” I say, giving her a nudge with my elbow.
“You’re never supposed to speak of that.” I feel her hand trying to pinch my side, but she can only grab so much through my scrubs and white coat.
It’s the first time I’ve brought it up since telling her I wouldn’t. Seems like it was a year ago that she asked me to kiss her in the supply room, rather than only three weeks ago. It’s also strange to me that the woman I’m currently cuddling up to in the break room of an ER hasn’t been around for my entire life. It’s hard to think about a life without Lucy in it.
“Let’s skip swimming tomorrow,” Lucy says.
I smile, more to myself since she can’t see it, as we keep leaning on each other. “Going soft on me, Price?”
“No,” she says. “I’m just so tired.”
“Me too,” I say. I don’t know why I do what I do next, but I lift my head up and place a kiss on the top of her head. I’m calling it a friendly gesture. I can’t say I’ve ever done that with a guy friend, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. It doesn’t matter. I just want her to know I’m here, just like she did for me.
She snuggles more into me after that, the top of her head pushing lightly into my neck. I probably should regret the gesture, but I don’t. Maybe I will tomorrow, when the fog of this night has worn off.
But right now, sitting here with Lucy is exactly what I need.
Lucy
Friday, January 26, 9:36 p.m.
From PlainJane2 to GothamGuardian5:
Since we both marked “looking for friendship” on this app, I’m going to assume that we are now friends.
From GothamGuardian5 to PlainJane2:
