18. On My Side
ON MY SIDE
“There you are,” her mother said on Thanksgiving Day. “I wasn’t sure if you were coming this early or not.”
“I live here,” she said. “Where would I go now that my rounds are done this morning? I stopped down in the ER, but it was quiet. No kids and nothing for me to do. They know to call if they need me.”
“Well, normally your office hours start at nine, it’s ten. Maybe I thought you’d stay longer.”
“Selena,” her father said. “You know how it goes. I told you that. She’ll come when she can.”
“There are four kids there in the hospital. All are doing well, but I had to run some more blood work on one. That’s difficult on kids, so I stayed and kept her company. Then her parents came in and I waited to see if any of the results came back yet.”
“Did they?”
“Not what I need and figured as much being the holiday. There aren’t as many in the lab.
Should be back in a few hours and definitely when I return later.
I’ll be monitoring updates while I’m home the same as if I were in the office.
It’s the first holiday I’ve had that I was supposed to work and the office is closed. ”
“We get holidays off,” her father said. “Just doesn’t always mean we can take them when we want.”
“I know,” she said. “I haven’t taken any vacation yet either since I’ve been here. There hasn’t seemed to be a reason for it when I have ten days off. Geez, once I take a week off, it’s going to be like having almost a month off. That’s nuts.”
“That’s how they get people on the island. My guess is your five days off is more like two weeks of actual vacation time used, right?”
She pursed her lips. “Yeah, that makes more sense since I’m working eighty hours in a rotation. Otherwise it’d be like I got eight weeks off a year rather than four.”
“And no more work talk,” her mother said. “Do you want something to eat? You left before I was up this morning. I’ve got snacks, but I made some muffins.”
“I’ll take a muffin,” she said. She walked over to get it, put it on a plate and then made another cup of coffee.
It was the third day of her rotation and she was already feeling the tiredness, but it’d be nice to relax today around family.
“Justine and Garrett will be here within the hour. I plan on eating at one.”
“It smells great. And we’ll have lots of leftovers. When are you and Dad going back to Boston?”
“We’re catching a flight back tomorrow morning,” her mother said. “Why, do you want us gone? Anywhere you need to be or someone want to see?”
She rolled her eyes. They were always busting her butt when she asked when they were leaving.
“Nope. I’m working, so it doesn’t make a difference to me. It’s not like we are in each other’s space or anything.”
“Are you going to the hospital fundraiser on the fifth?” her mother asked. “You’re off, right?”
“I am off and am going. I wouldn’t miss it. I’ve missed it before and it’s expected. More like I was asked several times if I was going since I’m on the island now. I think they want me to talk about how great it is here and the way they have the schedule.”
Her father laughed. “It’s always been that way. You know how hard it is to get people over, but they are trying to make it as easy as possible now.”
“Do you know if Luca is going?” her mother asked.
“He is. We are going together.”
Her parents eyed each other like she knew they would. The questions were going to follow too.
“Come on and be honest. It’s not really just friends, is it?” her mother asked.
As if her mother didn’t interrupt her sexting with Luca last week. Right when it was getting good, no less. Now they were going to ask her a million and one questions. Again.
“I’m not sure how many times I have to tell you we are friends for you to believe it. If I argue too much, you’re going to think I’m lying. If I blow it off, you’re going to think I’m hiding something. How is it you want me to answer?”
“I told you she’d say that, Selena.”
“Thanks, Dad. There is no winning here. You’ve never asked me so many questions about a guy before. Why now?”
“Because most times you volunteer and you do it in a way that is so funny that we know you’re fed up. But you’re not joking about this.”
“Oh,” she said, waving her hand and chewing the bite of muffin she’d popped in her mouth. “I joke all the time with him. He does the same. It’s the type of relationship we have. I’m not sure why you are so concerned with it.”
“You said he’s a widower. Tell me more.”
“Mom,” she said. “I don’t like to gossip.”
“Yes, you do,” her mother argued. “All the time.”
“Yeah, that’s when it’s funny. This isn’t funny.”
“All the more reason to share.” Her mother’s crossed arms and firm expression said she wasn’t getting out of this.
She wished her brother would show up, but she was positive he wasn’t going to save her either.
“Fine. His wife died in a house fire when he was filling in at the ER. The power was out at their house, there were candles lit and one caught fire. Without the power, the alarms didn’t go off.
That’s what I read. We haven’t talked too much about it.
It’s not something you bring up. Especially when everything we talk about is more like a joke. ”
“That’s not right,” her father said. “You need to be serious too.”
She threw her hands up. “You too? I thought you were on my side.”
“There are no sides. I meant I hope you don’t joke about everything, even at work.”
“Please, Dad. You know better. And I deal with kids. They like to laugh. It makes it easier for everyone. But I take my job very seriously. So does Luca.”
“Hudson said he’s great in the ER. It makes his job easier when Luca’s on. Even the mornings and nights he’s doing rounds, he’s fast up there and back in the ER.”
“I can see that. Remember, he has that training and can do that, but I’m limited, which is why I spend more time in the ward and go down to the ER when they page me.”
She always felt as if she was just in the way staying there waiting for something. It wasn’t like there were always children coming in, and even if they did, it didn’t mean she could see them first.
“We know,” her mother said. “And I know you’re serious about your job also. We meant nothing by it. Luca is with his parents today, you said?”
“Yes. They came in on Tuesday. I haven’t talked to him since Monday.”
Which wasn’t a lie. She hadn’t talked in person since lunch on Monday. Where they chatted, talked about the event in two weeks, when his parents were coming in and everything else other than the sexual tension between them.
The heat that made her body light on fire just watching his struggle to find the right words to say to her.
She put him out of his misery, cut to the chase like she always did, then changed the subject.
No reason to scare him off. Or maybe she didn’t want to scare herself off either.
He had some seriously heavy baggage in his life, and though he turned her on, was a treat to look at, and made her laugh, it didn’t mean it could ever be more than that.
That it should be more than that.
Nor did she want to be some kind of a rebound.
Could you be a rebound two years later? She didn’t know that, and it wasn’t like she could ask him.
“You’re doing that thing again,” her mother said.
“What thing?” She finished her muffin and washed it down with coffee.
“That thing where you’re having a conversation in your head, asking yourself questions and wondering what the answer might be.”
Guess she didn’t hide that as well as she thought.
“I do it all the time. Doesn’t everyone?”
“Not like you,” her father said. “Selena, why don’t we let Gabriela go on the topic of Luca? It’s obviously confusing.”
“Very. But I’m not lying when I say he’s a friend. We are good like that.”
“Are you really?”
“Mom! That’s the opposite of letting it go.”
Her father lifted his mug like he was ready to end it and help her out. “All we are saying is, if he’s just a friend, he’s a very popular one in your eyes.”
So much for her father being on her side. “That’s because he’s pleasant to be around,” she said, nodding her head. “I like pleasant people.”
“No, you don’t,” her father said. “You normally pick pleasant people apart.”
They had her there. “Pleasant men rarely get invited to fundraisers and survive with you,” her mother said. “That takes skill.”
“Oh my god,” she muttered. This was getting way out of hand. She should have stayed at the hospital today. “You’d think I brought home a stray puppy the way you two are acting.”
Her mother smiled sweetly. “If you had, I’d ask if we could keep him too.”
Her father laughed outright.
Before she could form a proper reply, the front door opened. Garrett appeared in the doorway and she only hoped that he was going to save her.
“So,” Garrett said, surveying the room. “Is this the official Luca discussion, or did I miss it?”
So much for being saved.
“There is no Luca discussion,” she said quickly.
Garrett’s grin widened. “That’s what people say when there absolutely is.”
Her father leaned back. “We were just talking about how nice he is.”
“I thought he was nice too,” Justine said.
“Nice,” Garrett repeated. “That’s an interesting choice of word.”
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“It means,” Garrett said, helping himself to the coffee pot, “that you don’t usually bring ‘nice’ guys around unless you’re at least a little invested.” He scratched his chin. “Wait. When was the last time you were even with a nice guy by your terms?”
She snarled. This was turning into pick on Gabriela day. “I bring plenty of nice people around.”
“Name three,” Garrett said immediately.
She opened her mouth. Closed it.
“Exactly,” her mother said. “Also—friends don’t text each other like teenagers avoiding curfew.”
She nearly choked on her coffee. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Oh my God. Guess throwing her phone under the pillow hadn’t escaped her mother’s notice at her texting with Luca.
“I have every idea,” her mother said cheerfully. “You do that little smile thing when someone gets under your skin, in a good way. It was baked to your face on Saturday night when I came in to talk.”
She shook her head. “That is not a thing.”
“It is very much a thing,” her father said.
Her mother nodded. “Since you were fifteen.”
“This is harassment,” she stated, then stood up. “I should be allowed legal counsel.” Her fist landed in her other palm.
“I don’t see any attorneys in the house,” Justine said. “But I can play mediator if you want?”
“Yes, please. You can help me find a dress for the hospital fundraiser in two weeks.”
“Oh,” Garrett said. “The one that Luca is going with you to?”
She stomped out of the room. There was no reason to answer that.
“He’s going with you, isn’t he?” Justine asked, laughing, and fast on her heels.
“Yes.”
“Then let’s find you a sexy dress.”
“That was the plan.”
“I’ll keep your secret,” her sister-in-law said.
“Why? Everyone is just going to assume anyway when they see us together.”
And wasn’t that kind of the point she was going for?