2. Lincoln
2
LINCOLN
“I promise. This won’t hurt a bit.” I slid the splint down the little girl’s finger and wrapped a single piece of medical tape around the center.
Slowly, she blinked one eye open, then the other. Her gaze solely focused on the silver splint that now covered her index finger. “That’s it?” The disbelief clear in her tone.
I smiled. “That’s it. I always keep—” The words almost left my lips, but I bit them back. That used to be true what seemed like a lifetime ago. “Things simple.” I glanced up at one very worried mom. “She’ll be fine. I’ve put the referral slip from Dr. D’Agostino with your paperwork. You can have her see whatever orthopedic doctor your insurance covers.”
“How long will she need to wear the splint?”
I stood from the stool and pushed it back under the table. “That’s up to the orthopedic doctor. They’ll review the X-rays and determine the course of treatment.” I reached for the door handle and pulled it open. “I’ll walk you up to the front desk so you can get checked out.”
“Thank you.” She reached down for her daughter’s good hand and followed me up front where I handed the paperwork off to Donna.
She turned to the mom and daughter and began the process of getting them squared away so they could get out of here and continue enjoying their winter break. Cold air filtered in when the front door opened and a man stepped inside, holding his hand tightly beneath a towel. I could see the red seeping through it. A younger woman stepped in behind him.
I walked around the desk directly to the man, grabbing a set of gloves we kept back there along the way. With gloves in place, I held my hand out to the man. “May I?”
He held his injured one out. “We haven’t checked in yet.”
I looked over at the woman with him. “Do you have all of his information?”
“Dad, is your insurance card still in the same spot?” She held up a brown leather wallet.
“It is.”
“Then, your daughter can get you checked in and Donna will bring back anything you need to sign, while I get the bleeding to stop. Deal?”
The man smiled, even if it was a little pained. “Lead the way.”
If there was one thing I loved about my job, it was putting a smile on someone’s face when everything else about their day had just gone to shit. Patients who smiled were more cooperative and usually were in and out faster than those who didn’t. The man followed me back and I took him directly into one of the exam rooms.
“Why don’t you have a seat?” I gestured to the padded bench we had in each room and wheeled over the small table from the corner so I could examine his hand. Eventually, I would need to get Natalie to stitch him up, but the least I could do was get the bleeding under control while she took care of the woman in exam room three.
The guy hopped onto the bench. “Name’s John.”
“Hi, John. I’m Lincoln. Want to tell me what caused this?”
With a sterile pad opened on the table, gloves on, and John’s hand resting on top, I removed the towel, revealing the deep cut between his thumb and forefinger. Nothing a few stitches wouldn’t fix, as long as he didn’t hit any tendons.
“We were having our separate Christmas lunch with my wife’s family when the knife slipped from my hand. Not thinking, I reached down to keep it from hitting the floor and grabbed the blade.”
“That’s probably one of the most common injuries this time of year.” I took a handful of gauze pads from the cabinet and laid them over the cut. “This might sting.” I pressed down onto the cut, just hard enough to slow the last bit of bleeding. It seemed John had done a great job on the way over of keeping pressure on it. He winced slightly. I held on to the wound and reached behind me with my free hand to hit the call button for the doctor. “I’m just waiting for the doctor to come in, but my best guess is that you’ll need stitches for that.”
With his good hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Gotta text my wife and let her know we’ll be a little while.”
John typed away while my mind wandered back to lunch. It had been one patient after another since Natalie had come to get me from the break room. Devon was one man I couldn’t wrap my mind around. Sexy? Yes, but so quiet he almost seemed uncomfortable in social settings, like he didn’t know what to say. He always seemed so confident on the ice when I watched him on TV. His moves sure and powerful, yet every time he stopped in to see Nat, it was like he clammed up.
The click of the door opening brought me back to the present. Nat walked in. “What do we have here?” I lifted the gauze. “So stitches? Let’s make sure you didn’t nick anything important.”
Nat and I went to work like we always did. Focused on the patient. It seemed like once John left, the door continued to rotate with new injuries and illnesses. Round and round we worked for the next few hours. When closing time rolled around at seven, I was exhausted and more than ready to call it a night.
I grabbed my jacket and waited for Nat and Donna. Leigh and the other doctor on duty had left a couple of hours earlier. Although we were in a decent neighborhood, it didn’t feel right letting them walk to their cars by themselves, even if they both assured me they’d be fine every time.
Once they were safely in their cars, I trudged back to mine. While I didn’t find the cold that bad in New Jersey, considering I grew up in Massachusetts, my leg had had enough for the day. The day off tomorrow would be good. I climbed in the cab of my Chevy Silverado Extended Cab and started the engine.
It roared to life, and I flipped the defrost on, trying to clear the windshield. As I started out of the parking lot, I turned toward my apartment building and decided that after the last two days, I deserved something to help me unwind. Since I didn’t drink, I took the next left to hit the convenience store on the way home. A quick stop and a bag of Reese’s Pieces later and I was ready to go home and relax.
After parking my truck and walking into the small entryway, I checked my mailbox. Nothing but a couple of bills and junk mail. I headed toward the single elevator for my apartment building. It was the only reason I was willing to pay extra for the place, otherwise I would’ve had to find an apartment on the first floor. After a long day on my feet, the idea of climbing three flights of stairs didn’t appeal to me. My leg, already stiff from running around with the post-holiday accidents, needed a hot shower and rest.
It just happened that my apartment was at the complete opposite end of the hall from the elevator. The blue and green carpet beneath my feet had seen better days, but otherwise, management made sure the place was clean. The appliances were newer, and the air-conditioning kept my apartment cool in the summer months. Slowly, I made my way down the hall.
I unlocked my door and dropped the keys on the table next to it. Twelve-hour shifts for the last three days, I was ready for a break. Eventually, I’d have to head up to my parents’ for the late Christmas dinner they planned for this week. I’d volunteered for the Christmas shift, knowing I couldn’t ask someone with young kids to sacrifice the holiday with their children, which left me exhausted and ready for a couple of days off.
The first place I went to was my bedroom. Simple navy covers and curtains, I tugged them closed and stripped out of the scrubs I’d been in all day. Tossing them in the laundry, I went straight for the bathroom. The water heated quickly.
I took my time in the shower, let the water do its magic on the sore muscles of my leg. The long scar running down the outside of my leg was a clear reminder of what happened that day two years ago. Many times, I thought about getting a tattoo to cover it. Same as I’d done with my arm, but I could never decide what to put there.
By the time I climbed from the shower, I felt somewhat refreshed. I wandered into the kitchen and pulled out the leftover lasagna from the night before and popped it into the microwave. Not a good cook by any means, frozen meals and take out were my go-to. My phone lit up from where I left it on the counter.
Madison: Are you going to call or text me back at some point today?
It had been so busy I’d completely forgotten she’d texted me earlier in the day, then Devon had shown up for lunch and it seemed rude to text while we ate, even though he didn’t say a word. My fingers raced across the keys.
Me: Give me two minutes to heat up my dinner and I’ll call.
While I waited for the microwave to ding, I took my phone, a bottle of water, and the bag of Reese’s Pieces I bought earlier to the coffee table. It had seen better days, but it was the perfect place to prop my feet up.
The timer ended and I carried my food out to the living room. With everything in arm’s reach, I sat down and brought my foot up to rest on the table. It felt good to get the weight off it. The only working out I’d be doing tomorrow would be in the pool. It was the one place I could get my heart rate up without having to put too much pressure on my leg.
I dialed my sister’s number and dug into my dinner. The phone didn’t even ring once before she picked up.
“If I didn’t know better, I would think you were avoiding me.”
“And why would I ever want to avoid you, my darling sister?” As my twin, I couldn’t hide shit from Madison. Whether it was in person or over the phone, she could figure me out instantly. Which is what accounted for her silence as she processed my words.
“You never know. Maybe you finally found a man to date and didn’t want to tell me about it.”
I sighed. “You know I would never keep anything like that from you. But you also know I’m in no place to be dating anyone. Nobody needs my baggage.”
“That’s not true. You have a lot to offer someone. Unless you’ve been suddenly skipping your therapy appointments.”
“Which I haven’t. Otherwise, I’d probably be a mess right now.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. You have a way of keeping it together, but I’m happy to hear you’re still going.”
“I hope there comes a day when I don’t need to anymore.”
“Don’t worry, it will. Look at how far you’ve come. You were doing five days a week. Now you go once a week. I’d say that’s definitely progress.”
I put my fork down on my empty plate and set it on the seat next to me. “Well, I know you didn’t call to check on my therapy sessions.” My mom and dad might do that, but Madison and my brother, Kevin, never would. “So, the question is, what did you call me about?”
“I’m bringing Dustin to our Christmas dinner, and I wanted to make sure you were coming so you could meet him.”
“Of course, I’m coming. I worked twelve-hour shifts the last three days so I could have three days off when I come up.”
“I wish you didn’t have to work on Christmas.”
I reached for the Reese’s Pieces bag and tore the side open. “You know I can’t ask the moms and dads to work on Christmas. We’re all adults. Having Christmas dinner a few days later won’t kill us.”
“You could always move back here.” Madison had asked me many times to do just that, but she knew the answer would always be no. If there was one thing I learned about getting better—it was something I had to do on my own. I couldn’t make myself a burden to anyone or the guilt would consume me.
“Not if I ever want to get better. This is where I need to be. Besides, living near the beach in the summer definitely has its perks.” Not wanting to talk about it anymore, I changed the subject. “Guess who I had lunch with today?”
Growing up in Massachusetts, there wasn’t anyone who didn’t know all the professional hockey players. We may have had teams from every sport at home, but everyone knew our hearts were loyal to the men on the ice.
“Who would that be?”
“Devon D’Agostino.”
“That’s not news. You’ve met him before.”
I popped a few of the peanut butter candies into my mouth and chewed them up, letting the flavor of them bring me back to my childhood when things were simple.
“True. Except this time, he didn’t just have lunch with Nat. She had a patient to deal with, so I ate lunch with him.”
“Wait. Wait. Wait. You ate lunch with the Devon D’Agostino? Just the two of you?”
“Yep.” I put a couple more candies into my mouth.
“What’s he like? And put down the bag of Reese’s Pieces, so you can answer my questions.”
I laughed and chucked a few more into my mouth before setting the bag down. Madison knew me so well. “He’s quiet. Almost shy, like he doesn’t know what to say to people.”
“He seems so confident on the ice.”
“I thought the same exact thing earlier.”
“Well, you could always talk to him. Find out more about him.”
I shook my head, even though Madison couldn’t see me. “Don’t go there. He seems like the relationship type. I don’t even date.”
“But you should.”
“You know what I hear? A bag of Reese’s Pieces calling my name. I’m going to have to talk to you later.”
“Don’t you—”
“Then can we please drop it?”
“Fine.” I could just imagine the pout on her lips.
We talked a little while longer about her boyfriend, and what Mom was making for dinner when I got home, until the last few days caught up with me and I couldn’t stop yawning. After I hung up with my sister, I cleaned up dinner and went straight to my bedroom, turning the lights out as I went. I stripped down to my boxers and climbed onto the bed.
Except, sleep didn’t come right away. Instead, my mind decided that it was time to replay lunch with Devon again and I wondered what it would be like to get him to open up and talk.