Chapter Eleven
Taylor
Mrs. Thorne wheels her husband out of my consulting room, and I follow them down to make sure they’re okay. They’re in their seventies and she has been looking after her husband for the last fifteen years.
He has a lot of different illnesses as well as the diabetes and it’s getting increasingly harder for her. She’ll never admit it though. They’ve been married for nearly sixty years and never spent a night apart.
I can’t imagine what that is like. It was always me and dad, he never talked about my mom unless I asked, which I stopped doing when I was around eight, because I could see it was upsetting him.
The bracelet shifts as I brush my hair back and I run my fingers over it. I’ve never been more relieved when Raven called to say she had it. She found it near the bathroom but didn’t know who it belonged to, so put it in the safe.
I do not think about Noah, or that he came through for me with Raven. And definitely not our last interaction. I’m a piss poor liar. It’s been ten days and I can’t stop thinking about what he did to me.
That says a lot about what I’ve been missing. He really proved me wrong.
“They’re so cute,” Caitlyn is leaning against the counter watching as the Thorne’s leave.
“They really are but I’m worried she is taking on too much.”
“That’s true love for you.” She pats my arm and goes to call in her next patient.
Watching out of the window I ask Ashlyn to let my next patient know I won’t be a second and run out to help. Once he’s safely inside the car, I hand her a card for carer’s assistance. She looks at it and thanks me.
“For as long as I can manage, I want to take care of him, it’s what we promised when we got married. If I was in his position, he’d do the same thing for me. But thank you for caring Nurse Taylor. You’re a very sweet girl and one day you will find your Mr. Thorne,” she winks and turns away.
What if my Mr. Thorne is all wrong for me, with tattoos a motorcycle and part of a gang? I chuckle to myself at that thought. I sounded like such a moron. Didn’t put him off though.
Long after they’re gone, I stand there on the sidewalk, thinking about their long relationship. It’s hard to imagine what a love like that feels like.
The sound of a motorcycle draws me out of the daydream and my heart races at the thought it might be Noah. But it’s not, it’s not the kind of motorcycle he rides. The man sees me watching as he slows to take a corner and looks at me until he has to turn away.
I’ve got more important things to do than stand out here thinking about something I can’t have. Even if I already know Noah has ruined me.
I’m back to working, full clinics now so the rest of the day goes by in a blur and I’m looking forward to getting home and taking a nice long bath. One of the best things about staying in dad’s house is the clawfoot tub.
When I check my last patient, it’s Jesse.
For a moment I panic, then remember Ashlyn always schedules a two-week follow up appointment from when I last see a patient.
I just forgot to tell her it wasn't required. He's here now, so I have see him. It’s insane to feel guilty but I’m still not convinced Noah isn’t the guy Jesse was referring to about having a crush on.
He told me it wasn’t him but I’d completely forgot about it till now.
Oh God. What do I do? The door opens and Jesse comes and smiles. I can’t really pretend to be busy, not when I’m only standing here. So I tell him to come through and make small talk as we enter my office.
“How’ve you been?” I ask once we’re seated.
“Great actually. I probably didn’t need to take up an appointment slot, but I wanted to make sure everything was okay with you.”
“With me?” I ask in surprise. “Why would that be an issue?”
“The whole Noah thing,” he says pointedly.
What? Did he tell him what we did? I can feel the color draining out of my face.
“He was an ass when you came to the house and we didn’t really talk when you were leaving. I didn’t want you to think I didn’t care that he was being rude to you.”
“Oh, honestly it’s fine,” I let out a breath. “I was more concerned about you. He was rude to you as well.”
“Ah, that’s the way we are. I’ve known him since I was a kid, he’s like the annoying brother I never wanted.”
“So he’s like a brother?” I ask slowly.
“Taylor, I told you that day, he isn’t the one I… you know. That is someone else. Someone Noah knows but I’m not going there, it’s never gonna happen and I’ve made my peace.”
“I feel like we should be having coffee for this talk,” I laugh.
“Yeah, it’s not really a medical chat. If I’m wasting your time I apologize.”
“Not at all, honestly. It’s nice to wind down at the end of a busy day. However, we should maybe do some medical chat. What about the situation we discussed last time, have things got better?”
“It has. Well, in that I dumped the guy I was seeing. He had moved in with me without us really discussing it, that might have been something to do with it. Without sounding like an ass myself, I’m not short of money and he was using me.
Breaking up and getting him out of the apartment has eased things up. ”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah. Although I have got no one to test… on?” He laughs at the comment.
“I feel better, mentally I mean. I know you said you’re not an expert or a therapist. Sometimes all it takes is a logical discussion, talking things through to see what a different way of looking at things could mean.
I do feel like things are going to be better.
It was psychological rather than physiological. ”
“That’s great Jesse. I’m happy for you.”
He nods and smiles. “I really felt so bad about Noah though. He has his reasons for being the way he is.”
Do I tell him? Jeez, not that we had a moment in the bar, just that I’ve seen him since. No, there is no point. I will not see him again.
“Hey, there was one other thing I wanted to say.”
“Okay.”
“I’m sorry about your dad. I should have mentioned it sooner, but I didn’t want to pry or say anything that would upset you.”
“No, that’s fine. Thank you. It was hard but I’m getting there, slowly.”
“I hadn’t realized when I came in a couple of weeks ago. I knew he was sick. God, sorry, I’ll stop talking about it.
“It’s fine, don’t worry. Yeah he was ill, but it took him quickly. Which is sort of a blessing for him.”
“Not for you,” he says sadly.
“No. It’s always the living who suffer the most right.”
“If there is anything I can do.”
“I appreciate that but don’t worry I’m good.”
He stares for a moment with a strange look on his face, after a second he shakes it off and smiles again. “I’ll get out of your hair. And who knows, next time I see you, my sex life might be sizzling.”
We both laugh and I walk him out. That was nice, if a little odd, it seemed like there was more he wanted to say, but I’m glad he’s doing better.
I’m also glad I didn’t let the man he has a crush on go down on me in a bar.
“What are you looking so guilty about?” Caitlyn waggles her eyebrows. “Jesse got you hot and bothered?”
“Grow up,” I push her but we’re both laughing. “What time are you finished?”
“Now. I have to meet Darren in about twenty minutes, he’s taking me to dinner.”
“Oh nice. I’ve got some patient notes to finish up.”
“Paperwork, bane of my existence. Have fun.”
“Thank you. So much for that. Really appreciated.”
Caitlyn laughs again and grabs her things.
I head back to the office and start pulling up records so I can update them electronically from my notes. Sometimes it gets like that, too busy to be on the computer, I write everything down. It’s worked for me for years, even if it means staying back longer than I really need to.
Shannon pops her head in and says she will be working late too, and to say goodbye when I’m going because everyone else has left and the front doors are locked.
It’s almost six when I finish up. Still early enough but the clinics finish at 4 so it’s overtime but I figure it’s my issue for working the way I do so won’t claim it. As requested, I pop in and say goodnight to Shannon then head out.
It’s a bad idea to drink coffee this late in the day but I’m beat and I have some things to do at home. There is a coffee shop a few blocks away, and it’s a nice enough night, so I leave the car and start walking.
I’ve been going through dad’s stuff because eventually I am going to decide what I’m keeping or giving away.
I’m not ready to actually part with it all but I’ve begun boxing things up.
My phone buzzes and I pull it out of my purse.
It’s a text from Dana to see if I’m interested in going to the Battlefield with her.
God, why is she still so hung up on this fighter biker dude? It’s clear he’s not interested. I type out a text and pause at a crosswalk. It’s still rush hour so fairly busy.
It’s why I don’t notice the motorcycle riding up towards me. I’m in the middle of replying to Dana when it stops a few inches from me and the rider grabs my phone.
“Hey, what the hell,” I tug on it and he fights me. He goes for my purse and I wrestle it back. “Stop, get off me.”
He lunges for me and I scream as he hits me in the face. Putting up my arms to defend myself he hits me two more times and my lip splits. The final hit is so hard my head spins and I start to lose my balance. He pushes me so hard, I go down sideways, falling like a ton of bricks.
As I land on the hard pavement, I scream out again but in seconds everything goes woozy.
The man tugs my purse from arm, picks my phone up from the floor and jumps on his bike, speeding away before anyone can stop him. It happened in less than sixty seconds.
Everything blurs as tears leak from my eyes and people run over to help me. My brain is still trying to catch up with what happened while people are shouting about calling 911 and a woman ducks down asking if I’m okay.
No, I’m not okay. I’m really not.
The police and an ambulance are called, the EMTs set me on the back and treat my wounds, wrapping my wrist. The police ask me a ton of questions I barely remember. My face hurts, my wrist is throbbing, my body is going into shock.
Vaguely I hear the police talking about a spate of these kinds of assault and robberies. They ask if I can describe him but he was wearing a full helmet with a black visor I couldn’t see through and gloves. I don’t even know what race he was, or if it was a man or woman.
Although the force with which I was hit says it was a man.
Finally, the questions stop and I’m loaded into the ambulance. I lay back on the gurney and close my eyes, trying to get some respite from the lights. The shock will fade soon, and I will have to deal with what happened but right now, I’m fighting the pain, my whole face hurts.
I’ve never been hit before. I’ve treated people who have when I did nurse training but it’s never happened to me.
I wrap my arms around myself as we drive through traffic toward the hospital.
It’s not an emergency so there is no need for lights and sirens but the paramedic wants me to get my wrist x-rayed and check for concussion.
More tears spill from my eyes, running down my temples and into my hair. I wish with all my heart that dad was here. If ever there was a time I need him, this is it.