3. Milan Rivers #3
“Very.” She leaned back against her pillow with a satisfied smile. “You married, baby?”
I should’ve known that question was coming. Older people always wanted to get in your business and know your relationship status.
“No…” I answered.
“Boyfriend?”
I smiled to myself.
“No, ma’am.”
“Hmm.” She looked me up and down like she was trying to solve a puzzle. “A pretty girl like you ain’t got nobody?”
“I think I’m okay with that.”
“For now,” she corrected.
I just laughed and said nothing.
After making sure she didn’t need anything else, I stepped into the hallway just as Nia walked by.
“You survived Mrs. Carter.”
“Barely.”
Nia laughed.
“Did she offer you candy?”
“Yessss… Then she asked if I was married.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“So this is a routine?”
“Oh, absolutely.” Nia grinned. “Give her another day and she’ll be trying to introduce you to one of her grandsons.”
I shook my head.
“I’m gonna pass on that.”
“You don’t even know what he looks like.”
“And I don’t need to.”
She laughed. “You sound traumatized.”
“Girl, I am.” We both laughed before she asked if I was hungry. I looked at the clock on the wall and said, “A little. I didn’t eat anything before I came in.”
“Come on. Cafeteria should still have something edible.”
“Edible doesn’t exactly make me excited.”
“It’s the hospital.” She shrugged. “Lower your expectations now and you’ll never be disappointed.”
We both laughed as we started toward the elevators.
The break room wasn’t crowded yet. A couple nurses sat around one of the tables talking about weekend plans while somebody else complained about mandatory overtime.
It sounded like every other workplace conversation I’d ever heard, and for the first time since moving back to Atlanta, everything felt... normal.
At least, it did until two nurses walked past our table.
“That’s her.” I automatically looked up when I heard that.
The other nurse glanced in my direction before lowering her voice.
“I heard she was the one who tried to save him.”
They weren’t gossiping to be mean. If anything, they sounded sympathetic. Still, it made me uncomfortable, though.
Nia noticed it too. She waited until they were gone before looking at me and saying, “Ignore them.”
“I’m trying.”
“They’ll stop talking about it, eventually.”
“You sure?”
She nodded. “They’re nurses. By tomorrow there will be something else going on.”
I hoped she was right… I really did, because the last thing I wanted was for people to look at me and see the woman from the parking garage instead of the nurse I’d worked so hard to become.
The rest of the shift went by a lot faster than I expected. A couple of my patients were discharged, another came in complaining about chest pain that turned out to be nothing serious, and before I realized it, I was finishing my last chart of the night.
“You survived,” Nia said as she walked beside me toward the elevators.
“Barely.”
She laughed. “That’s everybody’s answer after their first week.”
“It ain’t even been a week.”
“Exactly.”
I shook my head, laughing right along with her. “I don’t know how y’all do this every night.”
“You get used to it.”
“I hope so.”
“You will. Give it another month and you’ll be complaining about twelve-hour shifts just like the rest of us.”
“I already complain.”
“You ain’t earned it yet.”
By the time we reached the elevators, I felt lighter than I had when I’d walked into the hospital. The weight from the night before hadn’t disappeared, but for the first time since everything happened, it wasn’t sitting on my chest quite as heavy.
“You good to drive?” Nia asked as the elevator doors opened.
“I am.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I promise.”
She studied me for a second before nodding. “Alright then, text me when you get home, and don’t make me call looking for you.”
“I won’t…”
We said our goodbyes, and I stepped onto the elevator alone. By the time it reached the employee parking garage, I was already digging my keys out of my bag.
A black SUV caught my attention the second I stepped off the elevator.
It was parked about three rows over with its headlights off, and although there wasn’t anything unusual about that, I found myself slowing down anyway.
My eyes stayed on it for another second before the engine came to life, the headlights flipped on, and the SUV eased toward the exit without ever coming my way.
I stood here watching until it disappeared before letting out a quiet laugh at myself.
After everything that had happened, my mind was looking for danger in every black SUV that crossed my path.
Atlanta was full of them, and I needed to realize that not every person behind the wheel was a killer watching my every move.
“Girl, get it together,” I muttered, shaking my head as I unlocked my SUV.
I climbed inside, tossed my bag onto the passenger seat, and started the engine.
One last glance in the rearview mirror showed nothing but rows of parked cars behind me.
Satisfied, I pulled out of the parking garage and headed home, forcing myself to stop thinking about a black SUV that probably didn’t mean a damn thing.