Page 90 of Under His Guard

And then Clara leaves.

Chapter 29

Clara

For the first time in quite a while, my feelings about needing to go to work and genuinely loving my job are losing their shine.

I want to be back at the penthouse with Luke, and not just because I’m still reeling from the surgery yesterday.

I don’t know what’s going on with him because he won’t talk about it, but these nightmares have been a consistent problem, and I’m not as sound a sleeper as he thinks.

He’s been struggling for a while, and his answer is always to drown his misery in booze.

I know I should have said something sooner, but there’s just been so much going on.

Life doesn’t slow down to allow dealing with one thing at a time.

If anything, it just continues to pile on, uncaring if you’ll break.

“Dammit. Luke has to sort through this, and he’s…” I sigh, hanging my head as I stand at the nurse’s station counter. “He’s going to need my help.”

My stomach roils, which it’s been doing since last night. Worse, despite the sleep I got, I’m still exhausted.

I’ve been stressed before, and I know that can make a huge difference, and I worry I’m coming down with something.

Because what I need right now is to be sick on top of everything else.

“You all right, hon?”

I look up from my arms to see Helen, and I give her a tired smile.

“Sorry, I’m just…well, tired, I guess. It’s been a rough few days.”

She gives me a soft smile, standing up from the desk and coming around to pat me on the shoulder.

“There’s been something going around, too. You better have yourself checked out. You don’t want to be operating while you’re sick.”

My brows raise, and I nod. “Oh, okay. I’ll have them run some tests.”

Helen pats my shoulder before circling back around to her chair and using a bit of hand sanitizer.

I laugh a little, knowing she’s doing it to make me aware of my potential infectiousness, and I roll my eyes.

“Okay, okay. I’m going.”

I’m actually free for a couple of minutes between surgeries and patient meetings, so I head over to the lab tech on the fourth floor.

Snagging a mask from the supply closet, I strap it to my face. Just in case.

There are a few techs in the lab currently, and I knock on the little window.

“Hey, Benjamin.”

He looks up from his station.

“Hey, Clara. What’s up?”

“Could you help me with a blood draw? Helen’s got me paranoid about being sick with something that’s been going around.”

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