Chapter 1
1
KELLI
I love my job, I love my job, I love my job . If I keep that mantra on repeat in my head, I may just make it through this day. While I truly love being a trauma nurse most days, today is not one of them. I have already been here for seven hours, dealt with a foreign body removal, stab wound, heart attack, and we just received the call for three car crash victims incoming. Dr. McNeil mentioned that it sounds like one will need to be pronounced on arrival, and one is a small child. These are the hard cases that make for hard days. The growing sirens outside the ambulance bay have my feet in motion to prepare.
The ambulance doors fly open as the EMTs unload the first patient with a paramedic performing CPR. The gurney holds a woman who couldn’t be older than twenty-five. Dr. McNeil sent the new resident and his team to take over compressions, rushing to bay one with her to see if they could revive her. As the next ambulance comes to a stop, sirens still blaring, Dr. McNeil takes the next gurney with a screaming little girl strapped on it and rushes her into bay three with two nurses. That leaves the senior nurse, Natalie, and I to handle the last patient who just happens to be a very belligerent man. We could hear him yelling at the EMTs before they even had the ambulance doors open. He is aggressive with all of us, arms flailing, as the paramedics try to do the hand off to us. Natalie made eye contact with me over the gurney; yeah, it was going to be a long rest of the day. “Sir, my name is Kelli, can you calm down so we can get you into a bed and do our assessment? It looks like you have one nasty gash on your head.” We grab fresh gloves as we help wheel him into the room.
“That bitch pulled out in front of me,” he slurs and stumbles into me as we transfer him from the gurney to the bed in bay forty. “It’s her own fault I hit her. Swear I’m going to sue her for this.” Natalie and I keep our mouths shut as she moves to one side to get him hooked up to the monitors and I start a central line on the other for a blood draw. Natalie presses some gauze to the cut on his forehead and he rears back screaming. “OW! You can’t just put your hands on me like that. I want a new nurse!”
“I’m sorry, sir, I need to get your cut cleaned to see how bad it is. You may need stitches. I am the Nurse Manager on staff and the only nurse currently available. If you can’t be compliant for me, you can wait, but it may be quite a while before someone else can come in. You’re bleeding pretty badly. I would hate for you to have to sit here bleeding for a few hours,” Natalie grits out through a tight smile. I can see his glassy eyes narrow, his fist clenching as he rears his arm back starting to swing. My reflexes kick in and before I fully realize what I’m doing I shove Natalie out of the way as the punch lands on my chin. I stumble back as Natalie screams and runs out to get security. The patient stands from the bed and lunges in my direction. Adrenaline is coursing through me as he reaches for my scrub top. I cock my hand back, punching him in the stomach without thinking, then run toward the nurse’s station before he can try to strike me again.
Everything from there happens in a blur. Security rushes into the room and subdues the man before I even make it to the nurse's station, clutching my jaw. The cops arrive and take our statements, my jaw still aching fiercely. The only positive is that the patient was severely overweight with a large gut, so besides an ache, my wrist and knuckles were fine from the punch to his stomach.
Two hours later, with an ice pack still held to my face, I find myself in the head of PR’s office with the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) and Dr. McNeil. For being in a hospital, it was ridiculously nice in here. He has a couch with big throw pillows along one wall, a wall of windows overlooking the city on another, and a huge mahogany desk. Dr. McNeil sits on the couch, but the CNO sits in one of the two chairs in front of the PR man with me. “How are you feeling, Kelli?” Ms. Quinn, the CNO asks.
“All things considered, pretty good. The officers said I wouldn’t be in any legal trouble because I hit him out of self-defense. I wasn’t trying to be combative, but I am not about to catch slack from the hospital for this. I would do it again in a heartbeat.” I stare with my best no-nonsense look. I was not going to lose my job over being assaulted.
“Absolutely not!” the PR man assures me while leaning over his desk. I really should have paid attention when he said his name. “We called you in here because another patient happened to catch the altercation on their phone. The door and curtain of the bay were still open, which again you are not in trouble for, but it was all caught very clearly. Unfortunately, that patient immediately posted it to social media and it got picked up by our local news channel.” He winces. “They reached out to us already and would like an interview with you. I think it is the best move for the hospital to smooth this out. We’d like to paint you as the hero versus a volatile staff member, if you catch my drift.”
You have got to be kidding me. “I didn’t get into this profession to be a hero. Taking a punch for Natalie hardly would classify as a hero, and honestly, hurts like hell. Can we just let them run the video and you can put out a statement or something? That’s kind of your job, isn’t it?” I liked my privacy; I kind of relished it in fact. No part of this sounded like a good idea to me.
Dr. McNeil clears his throat from behind us. “I have to agree with Craig here, Kelli. A statement is not enough, they will search and find your name. This information will get out either way. Getting ahead of it would benefit you and the hospital. Plus, it’s the Monday night news, who is really going to be watching? Ms. Quinn and I have talked as well and she will move staff around so you can have the next week off. Paid, of course, if you agree to this. We think it would be best to let things cool off around the altercation.”
I roll my eyes at his smirk. There’s a reason he is the nurse’s favorite doctor, a whole week off is unheard of. “This week off better be worth it, and can I have a hair brush first?”
The news crew sent over a cameraman and anchor to interview me within an hour. As I waited for them to set up, I met with more of the PR team as they prepped me on appropriate things to say and HR came down to have a talk with me, as well. My shit-tastic day felt like it was never going to end.
When I was finally able to leave work, I texted Danny and told him to meet me at my house with wine when he got off work. What were childhood best friends for, if not to vent about the hard days, and also get drunk with while watching yourself on the news? My jaw was still throbbing as I poured my second shot of tequila when I heard my front door open. “Honey, I’m home,” Danny called out in a sing-song voice. “Now what was so important that I had to rush he-“ his voice cuts off as he gets into the kitchen and sees me. “What the hell happened to your face?”
“Funny story, I had an unruly patient today and my interaction with him landed me a bruised jaw, a week off of work, and apparently the highlight reel in the news tonight.” I blew out an exhausted breath.
“I guess that’s as good of a reason as any to get drunk on a Monday.” He pours us wine while I put the TV on and explain how bizarre my day had gone. We cuddled up on the couch as I overdramatized the incident, which had us both in hysterics. We were both on our second glass when the news finally ran the story.
Local Mercy Hospital nurse, Kelli Winters, gave us an exclusive interview after a video of her protecting a fellow nurse earlier today has gone viral. While she says she was just doing her job, I have to commend her for being a hero. I don’t think many people would take a hit to protect a fellow employee and handle the situation as well as she did. The following clip is the viral video Warning: it is a little graphic.
“Hells bells babe, he really clonked you. Impressive reflexes though, those kickboxing classes are clearly paying off.” Danny laughs to himself clinking our glasses together.
“I’m so glad that my pain is entertaining you, jerk.” I push his shoulder “Ooh, here’s my interview, time to chug!”
“I really appreciate the kind things being said, but I was just acting on instinct. No one should be unsafe in their workplace, but unfortunately sometimes that happens in the Emergency Room, despite the incredible security at Mercy. I would have pushed any of my co-workers out of the way and want to thank security for getting there so fast and keeping us all safe.”
“Would you like to make a comment about that punch to the gut at the end?”
“Not only will I protect my co-workers but I will also protect myself. We are taught to do no harm in school and I take that very seriously, violence is not something that I take lightly. That’s all I have to say about that, thank you.”
“You heard it here first folks, humble heroes at the hospital. Back to you, Alice.”
I grabbed the remote and clicked off the television. I had officially had my fifteen seconds of fame and I hated it. “I better not get anyone trying to talk to me or recognizing me from this,” I mumble into my wine glass, definitely past tipsy, as Danny pulls his phone out of his pocket. Brian’s name flashes on the screen before he answers it on speaker. Brian’s angry voice cuts through before Danny can even say a word. “What the hell Danny, is Kelli okay?”
“I’m fine, Brian, you can cool the protective big brother act. It was one hit and nothing is broken,” I cut in. He lost the right to worry about me a long time ago. The fact that he bothered to check in on me, without actually talking to me, really pisses me off too.
“You should see the bruise forming. It’s going to be one ugly mother for a while,” Danny adds in unhelpfully.
“Why wasn’t he already restrained before that? He was clearly drunk and volatile! You should be safe there. Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need anything?” Brian is Danny’s older brother and had always been a fierce protector of Danny and I. He is six years older than us, but from the first time I went to their house in first grade and he found out I had no siblings, he took on that role of big brother for me. I spent a lot of time at their house growing up. It was just my mom and me, and she worked long hours to support us. I looked up to him, he never treated me as a nuisance as I followed him around constantly asking him to play with us.
When I was 16, their family had a Christmas party where Brian surprised the family and showed up on leave from the Army. He had been somewhere in the Middle East, but wasn’t able to disclose more than that. That visit was the first time my little school girl crush started feeling like more. I would never tell Danny, but Brian was no longer a pseudo big brother in my eyes after that. The older we have gotten, the more my attraction to him has grown.
Four years ago, he had a week of leave from another deployment that he spent with his family. I was invited to family dinner with them a few times over that week. That’s when I realized things might finally be changing for him as well. He made sure to sit by me at the table, his knee often bumping into mine. His eyes traveled to my lips during a few conversations; that didn’t go unnoticed. The last night before he had to head back to his deployment, we went out for dinner and drinks with Danny and his husband Alex. The two of them headed home right after dinner, but Brian asked me to stay. We stayed at that table for hours, talking and laughing and getting to know the people we had grown into. When it got late, I got bold and asked him if he wanted to come back to my place.
I’d had a crush on him for most of my life. I was going to take the chance, now that he might finally feel it too. We sat on my couch talking about what we saw for our future. We were surprised to find we both wanted the same things. I told him how I felt and he told me he has felt that same draw to me since day one. As time went on that draw has turned into attraction and pride for who I had become. We talked until the sun came up, and when he left, he kissed me and told me that this would be his last deployment. He was coming for me when he got discharged. We emailed daily for weeks after that until one day the emails just stopped coming. It’s been four years and he has yet to come for me and my heart has yet to fully recover.
“Kelli?” Brian’s voice comes from the phone again.
“Sorry, I was spacing out. I am fine, promise. I don’t need anything. Thanks for checking on me though, B.”
Danny rolls his eyes. “I will keep an eye on her, and I’ll call you later this week. I have a friend who wants to upgrade their security system and I want to put them in contact with you. Talk soon bro.” He ended the call and slid his phone back in his pocket. “Are you sure you don’t need anything? I hate leaving you alone all the time.”
“I’ll be fine. It was one punch to the jaw. At least this happened when the weather was nice so I can work on the house some more this week. It’s the perfect excuse to spend some time in the yard. Might even take a bubble bath one of these nights.”
He pins me with a deadpan stare, “or you could relax like a normal person who gets a week off after working 60-hour weeks for months on end. Seriously, Kel, you deserve to have down time sometimes, you know? You are always pushing yourself so hard. I wish you would give yourself the time to rest and recharge.”
My shoulder nudges his as I sip some more of my wine. “Gardening is relaxing to me. I promise I will take some time to myself this week.”
Danny didn’t stay much longer, eager to get home to Alex, and he had to work in the morning. I bought this home three years ago and while I loved it, it was starting to feel lonely and empty. I didn’t have the time or energy to date, but I suppose I needed to start putting in the effort. Twenty-six wasn’t exactly old, but it seemed everyone around me was settling down and I wanted someone to share my life with, especially on nights like tonight.