Chapter 17 Maisey #2
“Whatcha watching?” I ask, changing the subject.
“Oh, just this cat video Landon wanted to show me,” Em says, hopping off the ambulance. Landon looks slightly crestfallen as she moves away from him, his brown eyes dimming. “Those cinnamon rolls?”
I nod, holding up the bag. “I’d avoid the food tent for a minute though. Aunt Hattie was over there.”
Em makes a face, her features scrunching as if she’s in pain, and I know without saying anything exactly what she means.
“Right, so, back to my assigned post. I’ll see y’all…at some point.”
“You know, Emily, if you were planning on heading to the fish fry tonight, I could pick you up.”
Emily scoffs, dismissing his offer. “Land, just because it worked for Ewan doesn’t mean that you will find yourself a girl because you bring me to the after-party.”
Emily Minerva Barrowcliff! I scream in my head, fully aware that I sound like my mother, grandmother, and all of my aunts combined right now. But there’s no helping it. She did not just say that.
“Well…I…” Landon stammers, equally taken aback by her comment. “That had not been my thought.”
“Although, maybe we try it and see if it works? I could start marketing it as a skill? Make it a side hustle? Take the whole always the friend never the girlfriend to a new level,” Emily quips, laughing at her own joke.
“Could you imagine Aunt Hattie’s face if I started putting it out there that I’m the one before the one? ”
I sigh, shaking my head. As one of the most self-assured people on the planet, I know that Emily is not bothered at all by her single status, and relishes any chance to make that weird for our older relatives who keep trying to marry her off.
This stunt would only help that. Actually, I would love to see their faces.
Landon’s face right now, however, is breaking my heart.
“Anyway, I really should get back. I’ll catch y’all later.”
Trotting off, Emily gives us a little wave, clearly not thinking anything more about her comment. Truth be told, had I not stumbled across the smile Landon was trying to hide as they were huddled over his phone, I wouldn’t have either. I know now though.
“A cat video? Really?” I tease, unable to help myself.
I have so many questions I want to ask—the biggest of which is just how long this has been going on—but I don’t.
I keep them all to myself. I tamp down the urge to be the small-town girl who plays into all the gossip and the need to be in the know.
Despite how fun being the keeper of this secret is going to be.
“So, the cinnamon rolls?” Landon points to the baggie. Damn it, he’s back to all business.
I hand it to him, ready to dig in. I’m starving.
“So, I was over at Knox Regional Medical Center the other day,” he says, completely changing the subject.
I nod, not sure what him visiting the county’s hospital has to do with anything.
Other than maybe that it’s a ways away from here.
As in, almost an hour, since it’s on the other side of the county, designed to serve a wider rural area than Knox County alone.
It’s always been a little bit of a sore spot with some of the folks in town, since Hickory Hills is the county seat, and yet it’s faster in most emergency situations to head to Tifton than our own county’s regional medical center.
“Apparently,” he continues, “their head of nursing retired. And the replacement they hired is someone they stole out of the ER in Tifton.”
My ears perk up. Is he saying what I think he’s saying?
Landon nods, confirming my unspoken question. The corner of his mouth slyly turns upward, an I know something you don’t know smile starting to appear. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that being besties with Hux Hayes all these years was starting to rub off.
Hope bubbles inside me. I technically still have an employment agreement with InterCon MediTrust until the end of the summer, making applying to work with another hospital a little difficult.
Then again, they haven’t found me another contract since the one in Nicaragua was abruptly canceled either, so at this point, my asking for an early opt-out shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.
A round trip to Tifton every day isn’t ideal, but it means permanency here. The final step in making Hickory Hills home again.
If they hire me.
Let’s not put the cart before the horse.
Actually, for once in life, let’s. Because that’s what I want to picture. What I want to daydream about. Spending my days in the ER, and then coming home to Ewan and—
The high-pitched sound of an alert pierces through our walkie-talkies, cutting off my thoughts. Landon and I both react—instantly going on high alert, ready to jump into action.
“Hickory Hills EMT, what’s the emergency?” Landon says into the radio, his deep voice in full command mode.
“Uhh, we need medical attention over at the Hooked on a Reeling right away. ASAP. Errr…” the volunteer’s voice crackles. “STAT. Is that the medical term? STAT?”
The Hooked on a Reeling. My heart sinks. That’s Ewan’s boat.
Fuck.