Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18
A NNIE
When I walk into the ER break room to put my lunch away, I’m met with a collective “Surprise!” The staff have arranged a breakfast potluck for my last day in staffing. I start the new role on Monday as Assistant Nurse Manager.
“Aw, guys, you didn’t have to do this.” I smile. “You’re all too kind.”
“Speech, speech…” Janie chants, making me laugh.
“Okay, okay,” I say with a grin. I pause for a second and look around the room at my colleagues. “First, thank you all for welcoming me with open arms when I moved to Elladine and joined the First City ER team. I was nervous about the move, and you all embraced me. I also want to let you know my door will always be open and don’t worry, I’ll still work alongside you on those crazy days we need an extra pair of hands. Patient care always takes priority. I’m confident you’re in excellent hands with Sadie being my replacement on the floor. Thank you for organizing this. It means so much and I love you all. ”
This group has truly come to mean a lot to me. Heck, even Joel is growing on me.
Word has gotten around over the last few weeks that I’m dating Jack and I’m okay with people knowing now.
So, the last time Joel asked me out, I was up front with him and told him about Jack and me. To his credit, he didn’t take it as bad as I thought he would.
He just said, “Well, I’ll be waiting when he messes up,” gave me a sad smile, then walked away. He hasn’t asked me out since, so I think that’s progress.
Most of the staff have to make plates of food and take them back to their work areas since we can’t leave the patients unattended. It’s not crazy busy yet this morning, so our charge nurse is covering Janie’s and my rooms for now.
Once everyone’s gotten food, and a few have come back for seconds, I start to clean up the break room with Janie and Sadie helping me.
Teddy, with his endless appetite, is still with us, too, but that’s because he’s not done with his third helping of the French toast casserole Janie made.
Teddy’s been acting differently lately. I’m not sure if it’s since he found out Jack and I are dating or what. Maybe he’s mad that we didn’t tell him right away, but I didn’t trust him to keep it quiet until I was ready. I decide to poke him a little about it.
I pause my cleaning and sit down in the empty chair next to him. “What’s wrong with you lately, Teddy? You haven’t made a flirty or perverted comment to me in like two weeks. Are you feeling okay?” I tease him, placing my hand on his forehead to feign checking for a fever.
I don’t miss that Sadie stops and looks right at Teddy before quickly going back to cleaning. Uh oh, maybe he’s been flirting with her, too, and she doesn’t know how to take it. I probably should have given her a heads up about his personality when she started but I don’t like affecting someone’s opinion of others.
She’s got a long-term boyfriend, a sweet guy who sends her flowers and drops off lunches for her at work sometimes.
I can imagine Teddy could be a lot for her to know how to take.
Teddy shifts uncomfortably in his seat, frowning, and doesn’t look up from his food. “What? Nothing’s wrong. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh my God, Teddy,” Janie says, dramatically. “Seriously, I’m pretty sure you’ve hit on any of us with boobs at least three times each since you’ve started here. Has marriage made you a changed man? Engagement sure didn’t.” She laughs.
Teddy stands, walks to the trash, and throws out his unfinished food. “Whatever. You guys are making shit up.” His tone is harsh and his face reddens as his lip curls angrily.
It’s such a contrast to what I’m used to from him, and I’m not sure what to do with that. I’ve actually never seen him anything but happy-go-lucky before today.
“Sorry, Teddy. Not trying to upset you. Just want to make sure you’re okay,” I say, trying to smooth things over. I’ll have to ask Jack if something is going on with him.
“Yeah, sure. Whatever,” he says. Then he walks out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Sadie stares at the door for a second, frowning, her posture rigid.
I don’t know if I should ask her if Teddy has made her uncomfortable with Janie still here.
Before I can decide whether to say something, she says, “I’m going to go check on our rooms and make sure we don’t have any patients yet.” Then she leaves without waiting for a response or making any eye contact .
“Well, that was awkward as shit,” Janie says, staring at the door.
I agree, and we finish putting away anything that can spoil if left out before we head back to the unit to get on with our day.
The next few hours in the ER have a really weird vibe. Teddy’s unusually crabby and Sadie is… off. Her speech is clipped, her movements strained and her eyes narrowed. She tells me she needs to go make a call and will be in the break room.
When she’s gone for more than a few minutes, I decide I probably shouldn’t put off talking to her any longer and go to check on her. I need to figure out how to intervene if Teddy’s flirting has upset her.
As I turn the corner at the end of the hall, angry voices assault me and I stop. I immediately recognize them as belonging to Teddy and Sadie.
“Really, Teddy, you think this is all okay? You expect me to hear things like that and not be upset by it?” Sadie asks. Her voice is shaking and barely restrained.
“I’m sorry, Sadie. None of it meant anything. I’d never want to upset you, and I promise it won’t happen again.” Teddy’s apology sounds almost desperate.
I resume my walk toward them. They both look up at me, and Sadie mumbles something about needing to get back to work and stalks off.
Teddy stares at me, holding his head in his hands and shifting his feet. Is he afraid he’s going to get reported for something he said to Sadie? He’s used to everyone just brushing off his comments as Teddy being Teddy, but maybe he’s realizing not everyone is willing to deal with his behavior.
I open my mouth to say something to him but before I can get any words out, he snaps, “I’m not talking about it, so don’t ask, Annie. I’ll handle things. I’ve got to get back to work.” Then he storms off.
JACK
The raucous laughter the guys are creating in the lounge as they watch Stepbrothers makes its way all the way to me as I sit at the kitchen table at the station. I try to focus on studying for the captain’s test I’m taking tomorrow morning. If I do well on it, most likely I’ll be able to transition to B shift captain at Station Three at the start of October, when the current captain retires.
I should be grateful that we have had no fire or emergency medical calls today and I have time to study. Instead, all I can think about is seeing Annie and wondering how her last day in staffing is going.
I catch myself smiling as I think about last night. We were snuggling on the couch, me studying for my exam and her reading one of her spicy romance books, her head nestled against my chest. She got squirmy and then she tried to be subtle as she turned her book slightly away from me.
“Why are you turning your book away, sugar? Something you don’t want me to see in there?” I tease her.
“Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She smiles shyly, pretending it wasn’t intentional.
“Well, I read over your shoulder, and I know that you just got to the part where he spreads ? —”
“Oh my gosh, Jack! Stop…” I love how red her cheeks turns.
I chuckle at her and kiss her on top of her head, then get back to my studying.
Hell, I love that she’s in that book club. I’ve benefitted from the inspiration she gets from those books. What I don’t love about her joining the Spicy Girls is that she invited Shayna to join.
Emily has tried to get Shayna to join before, but Shayna always said she was too busy. Now I think she doesn’t want to be left out when all her friends talk about their books, so she finally gave in.
I’m a little creeped out that my sister is reading the stuff I see in Annie’s books when I catch a glimpse.
I’m lost in my thoughts when the radio goes off, signaling a medical call. Looks like I’ll get to see my girl today, after all.
Hopefully, I’ll see Teddy, too. We were supposed to have dinner last week, but he cancelled on me again. I’ll have to see if I can nail him down on some plans. It strikes me that this is the least we’ve spent time together in the fifteen plus years I’ve known him.
Forty-five minutes later, Fitz and I walk into the ER with our patient, an elderly lady who passed out while volunteering at her church soup kitchen.
Annie’s at the main station talking with a group of nursing students huddled around her. When we get close enough, I overhear that she’s teaching them about abnormal heart rhythms on an EKG. She’s breathtaking, so clearly in her element.
They look at her like she’s an ER rockstar.
She glances up and makes eye contact with me as Fitz and we head into a room to hand off our patient to the ER staff. A moment later, Annie walks into the room and silently hands me a folded piece of scrap paper that just reads, “Meet me in room fourteen.” I can’t take my eyes off her as she struts out.
Five minutes later, I head to the back of the ER. These rooms are quiet, with no patients back here right now. As I come through the door of the room, Annie grabs the waist of my turnout gear bottoms and pulls me toward her .
Before I can even say hello, she talks. “Two things,”she says, hurriedly. “First, I’ve been waiting for you to come in all day to do this.” She lifts her mouth to mine, and we crash together in a perfect dance of lips and tongues and teeth.
I smile against her mouth because the desperation of her kiss tells me she missed me as I much as I did her today. We’re both panting by the time we end the kiss.
“I missed you, too,” I say as we stand with our foreheads touching. I look down and groan. “Jesus, Annie. Look what you did to me. How am I supposed to walk back out there with a raging hard-on?”
She gives me one of her sexy smirks and says, “Sorry, not sorry.”
Her look turns serious.
“Now I need to talk to you about Teddy. He’s not acting like himself.”
She tells me the events of the morning and it worries me a bit.
I need to catch up with him and make sure he’s not going down a dark rabbit hole he’ll struggle to find his way out of.