Chapter 3 #2
“Well, you’re in luck Mr. Moreno, because here I am.” Oh my god, did I really just say that?
For a moment, a flash of heat sparks in his dark eyes. “Indeed I am.” He smirks.
“Uh... um... I just meant...” I struggle to find my words.
“Jessica would like for you to get an x-ray of your hand. I’ve scheduled it with our imaging clinic down the block for their next available appointment in an hour.
If that doesn't work for you, you are welcome to reschedule. You’ll just take this order form with you to your appointment and hand it to the receptionist when you check in. ”
I give him the paperwork that I have in my hands. Thrust it towards him is more like it.
Good grief girl, pull yourself together.
I have had plenty of good-looking patients I’ve roomed before, but none of them affected me the way Isaac does.
His fingers brush against mine when he grabs the paper and a shiver runs through me. Once again, I feel the betrayal of heat rising from my core to my face. He takes the papers, neatly folds them in thirds, and tucks them into his jacket pocket.
“Thank you so much for your exceptional customer service today, Serena.” The way he says my name makes my heart skip a beat. His body fills the thick energized space between us.
He lifts his hand and grabs a wavy strand of hair that escaped my ponytail, tucking it behind my ear.
Leaning in closer, his lips brush against my right ear and whispers, “I’ll be seeing you.”
And within the same breathe, he is walking out the door, shutting it behind him.
***
I am not sure how long I’ve been standing here in the middle of the room, staring at the door that he just left behind him. Minutes. Seconds. But it feels like hours.
Still standing in the same spot stunned and speechless.
I’ll be seeing you.
Isaac’s words replay over and over again in my head.
What the fuck does that even mean? Is he coming back to the clinic to see me? Will I see him at the café? I’m almost positive he is the one who is buying my coffee in the mornings.
Am I going to look out my bedroom window one night and see him staring through the blinds like a fucking creep as I undress?
My mind is a complete and utter mess. And so are my panties.
“Serena!” Jules’ voice breaks me from my trance. “Dr. Albertson has been looking for you. He needs help with the young boy and stitching him up.”
I blink, still staring at the door.
Jules grabs my shoulders and spins me around to look at her. I look into her jade green eyes and see the concern swimming in them. It’s not like me to drop the ball like that, and she knows it.
“I… I am so sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. Can you let him know I will be right there?” I stutter. “I just have to clean up my room for the next patient.”
“Honey, are you ok? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She’s holding me at arms length, her hands still resting on my shoulders and her brows furrowed.
“I’m fine. I will tell you about it during lunch.” I give her a feeble smile in an attempt to be reassuring, at which I fail miserably.
“I will take care of your room. You go see Dr. Albertson so you don’t get Justine up your ass, and we will be talking about this later.” She gives me a stern look and pushes me towards the door and out into the hallway.
Room 3 is just two doors down, so it doesn’t take me very long to meet back up with Dr. Albertson. I open the door and the young boy is laying on the exam table, the doctor hunched over the top of his head on the left side.
It looks like the bleeding has slowed down and almost completely stopped, so that’s good. Although, the sight of blood has never affected me. I can handle a lot when it comes to working in the medical field.
Blood, puss, piss and shit. I can handle it all. The only thing that truly gets to me is snot. That shit is nasty and makes me gag every time.
Dr. Albertson looks up in my direction when he hears me enter the room.
“Finally. What took so long?” He grunts, already shifting his attention back to the wound in front of him.
Avoiding his question all together, I pull my nitrile gloves on and stand opposite of him across the table. “I am so sorry Doctor.” Admittedly, doing procedures is one of my favorite parts of this job and I would have been disappointed to miss this.
At my old job, it was a bigger clinic, part of a nationwide organization, so we didn’t really get to do much. Here, it is a smaller practice and I have more opportunities to be hands-on. Dr. Albertson lets me be more involved in the procedures, making him my favorite of them all.
Mateo, the young boy, has his head turned in my direction and I can see the fear in his eyes. His older brother is nowhere to be seen. Poor kid must be terrified not having him here with him. I give him a confident smile and take his hand into mine.
“How are you doing big guy?” My voice soft and reassuring.
“I’m okay, I guess.” He squeaks out.
I lean down a little closer and whisper. “It’s okay to be a little scared. I had to get stitches in my thumb a couple of weeks ago, see?” I held up my thumb in an exaggerated fashion to show him the freshly healed cut on my thumb from prepping dinner. Earning me a shy giggle from Mateo.
“And you know what else?” I move a little closer.
Mateo winces as Dr. Albertson flushes his wound with saline water. “What?”
“I was scared. To my bones.” I reply, my eyes widening for dramatic effect.
He looks at me incredulously. “I don’t believe you.”
I place my hand over my heart and intake a breath in a dramatic gasp. “I am wounded Mateo. You don’t believe me?” He shakes his head vigorously.
“Well mister, ask the doctor. He is the one who did it.” I nod my head in the direction of Dr. Albertson.
“She’s right. Cried like a baby.” Dr. Albertson remarks.
This put Mateo into a fit of giggles. “You did?!”
I scrunch my nose and make an X motion over the left side of my chest. “How about we start on getting you all stitched up now?”
About twenty minutes later, I am wiping down the exam table and Jules walks through the open door. She plops down in the chair next to the desk and the cushion deflates in protest.
She is burning a hole in the back of my head, just waiting for me to start telling her about what happened earlier. I know that the moment I turn around, I am going to be met with crossed arms, a shit eating grin and the tapping of perfectly manicured toes.
“Soooooooo…..” She trails off.
I let out an exasperated sigh, turn around and bite the bullet.
“Okay, so you remember that guy I told you about? The one who I ran into, literally ran into, at the café?”
She uncrosses her arms, tilts her head and her eyebrows pinch together with confusion. “Yeah, what about him?”
“Well...” I draw out the last half of the word and start walking towards the door.
“Serena.” Jules says my name more like a warning.
“Okaaay. Fine.” I raise my hands to my side and sit next to my best friend, who is impatiently waiting for me to give her the latest gossip.
This girl lives and breathes gossip. “Well, he was Jessica’s patient earlier. I was so in the zone, I didn’t even notice at first! And then, when he’s leaving, he has the audacity to say to me I'll be seeing you.” I bend my fingers in air quotes around the words.
Her eyebrows shoot so fast towards the ceiling, they disappear into her hairline. And in true Jules fashion, she erupts from the chair she is sitting in. Damn near putting a hole in the wall behind her. “No. fucking. WAY!”
Not wanting to continue this conversation, I leave the room and start walking to my desk. Jules is hot on my heels. “Don’t you walk away from me missy.”
“Look, I really don’t want to talk about this right now. I’ve had a long day, an even longer week, and I just want to go home. I have covered for Keirsten all week rooming for two providers. All I want to do is binge watch Bones , eat my weight in ice cream, and just forget about this shit week.”
I let out an exhausted sigh toward Jules, the words hanging heavier than I meant them to.
One of the things I love about her is that she knows when to stop pushing. Her expression softens immediately. No judgment, no pressure. Just simple understanding.
She gives me a small, sympathetic smile, pulls me into a quick hug, and then slips out of the room, leaving me alone to finish the rest of my shift.
The door clicks shut behind her, and for a moment I just stand there, letting the silence settle back in. Then I straighten my shoulders, take a breath, and turn back to the work waiting for me.