Chapter 13
Colleen
This was an x-ray for the unofficial Wall of Fame.
“Is that another one?” Doc Blythe groaned, adjusting his reading glasses.
Colleen was back at work full time, her night with Moore, Jordy, Leander, and Francine a painful blur.
Today, she was having lunch with Moore if her shift allowed it, and frustration didn’t even begin to describe how she felt.
At least she was better off than the poor patient whose x-ray they were currently mocking.
“Yep.” Colleen pointed to the flare of gold foil on the screen between the faint images of hip joints. “Heart shaped. I think I can see the word Harder in there.”
“That’s four in the last two years.”
“Let me guess,” Rhys Morgan said as he changed out the coffee grounds in the staffers’ lounge machine.
Rhys was a nurse, like Colleen, though he had his bachelor’s degree.
The two had worked together for the last five years, since he’d moved here with his husband, Kai, who worked as a respiratory tech.
“Claims he slipped getting out of the shower.”
His dark brown eyes, framed by long lashes, rolled so hard, they might as well have been casters.
“You peeked at the chart,” Colleen guessed.
“It was the shower or in the garage on an unfortunately-placed oil spill.”
“They always claim that! Any of you ever have an object magically go up inside you like that when you slipped on tile?” Doc asked, the question obviously rhetorical.
Rhys’s lips curled in with a grin. “Not a heart-shaped red Christmas ornament with foil lettering that says Love You Harder on it.”
“That’s not a no, Rhys. You’re scaring me,” Colleen cracked as she poured herself some water from the cooler.
“Okay, no. Definitive no,” he replied. “You don’t get to turn me into a rumor.”
“Rectal removal of a glass ornament.” The old doc let out a puff of air.
“This is number two for the calendar year, right?” Colleen asked, trying not to laugh. Rhys’s mugging wasn’t helping.
“Three,” Doc corrected, “if you include the one that guy from Nordicbeth managed to eliminate on his own.”
“Never seen anyone eat so many dates and take so much psyllium in one sitting,” Rhys added, chuckling to himself.
“You think it’s so funny? You’ll assist Dr. Vorchek.”
“Me? No! Come on, Doc,” Rhys protested.
The old man just waved as he left the lounge, Rhys standing in front of the coffee machine, empty basket in hand, grimacing.
“You just bought yourself a prime spot at an ornament-ectomy,” Colleen said with a snicker.
“Gross. I’ll trade you any holiday shift you want if you do this for me,” he begged.
Colleen held up her uncasted, but still weak, wrist. The ace bandage made her point for her. “Can’t.”
“It’s been five weeks since you broke that thing. You have bird bones? Because otherwise, you’re fine.”
Colleen just laughed as she grabbed the large can of coffee and continued Rhys’s chore. “Have fun!”
Yulia Kosokoff, a fellow nurse, was in the middle of tying her shoes, done with her shift. With a pixie cut that framed her large, dark eyes, she was a runner, well-known in town for going on long treks.
“Hey Rhys. You offering to take holiday shifts? I’m a taker.”
“Will you assist Vorchek with an ornament removal?”
“Hah! No way. I’d rather work the next ten Christmases than do another one of those.” She shuddered as Colleen cackled.
A tap at the doorway made them both turn. Colleen inhaled sharply in surprise as Moore appeared, resplendent in his charcoal business suit, red tie perfect, as always.
And he was early.
“Moore! Name a holiday Colleen really, really needs off!”
Without missing a beat, Moore said, “Valentine’s Day.”
Rhys and Colleen snorted. “No one gets that one off. Too many tourists in town.”
“Too many people at Love You Harder,” Rhys added, looking at the x-ray.
Moore looked, too. He frowned.
“Is that–is that in someone’s pelvis?”
“Not exactly.” Rhys raised one eyebrow. “Well, technically. Kind of.”
“Is it in someone’s rectum?” Moore ventured.
“Yes!”
“You say that like I win some kind of prize.”
“If you’re willing to trade jobs with me, you win a Love You Harder Christmas ornament.”
“Why would I want a–” He looked again at the image. “Oh, gross.”
“Welcome to the wonderful world of emergency medicine,” Colleen said drolly. “Never a dull moment.”
“I’ll take wiping down display cases and listening to customers complain about our prices over that,” Moore declared, peering intently at the x-ray. “It’s upside down.”
“Yes.”
“Point went in first?”
“Uh huh.”
“Poor guy slipped getting out of the shower. Ornament happened to be positioned just so. Be careful,” Rhys added as he flipped the coffee machine on. “There must be a curse going around.”
Moore looked at Colleen with an intensity she’d never witnessed in him before. “You went on a third date with this guy?” He pointed to the x-ray.
“WHAT? No! Of course not. Why would you ask me that?”
Rhys collapsed in hysterics, falling onto the ragged vinyl loveseat next to the fridge.
“He said curse.”
“He meant this is the third Love You Harder Christmas ornament someone’s had shoved up their butt, Moore. I had nothing to do with this!”
“Oh.”
Whacking him was easy. Absorbing the emotional blow of his comment was, well…
Harder.
“Are you seriously worried about my stupid third date thing?” she hissed in his ear as Rhys began answering a text on his phone.
“Let’s talk somewhere more private.”
“You’re here early.”
“Jordy wanted Greta’s for breakfast and I brought you this.” In the surprise of his entrance, she hadn’t noticed the white bakery bag in his hand.
“Chocolate cherry muffin?”
“You bet.”
She wanted to kiss him. Wanted to, but couldn’t. If word got out that they were together, Jordy would know in an hour. And after dinner at the Mottin’s house last night, it was very clear he did not want his father to be involved with anyone.
Now they had a bigger problem to deal with than just going public. Luke was bad enough, but Colleen could shove his opinion aside and tell him to shove it.
Jordy?
Jordy mattered–really, really mattered.
“Is this our lunch?” she joked, but caught Rhys’s eye.
“You need a break? Go ahead. It’s quiet enough. And apparently, I will be assisting Dr. Vorchek.” He looked at the bag in her hand. “Any chance there’s a brownie in there?”
“It’s ten a.m.”
“Don’t judge my sugar addiction.”
Moore held another bag in his hand. Out came a brownie.
“I was joking,” Rhys said, but his eyes showed that he was delighted. “For me?”
“Consider it a thank you from the rest of us for your, uh–” Moore’s eyes darted to the x-ray, “–service to the public.”
“Hah!” Rhys snatched the brownie, taking a huge bite and moaning. “Greta provides the public service. I just help sexually repressed people remove foreign objects from their rectums with minimal damage.”
“I got nothin’ in response to that,” Moore said. “Except a lost appetite.”
Colleen reached into her bag and pulled out the muffin, taking a bite while locking eyes with Moore.
“I have zero problem,” she muttered around the tasty morsel.
“You’re a nurse.”
She took another bite.
“And your point is?”
The second Moore’s hand went to her shoulder, she melted, the touch familiar and wonderful. Since she’d left his parent’s house last night, they had texted but not touched. The connection in public, even if they weren’t public, felt so good.
“Hey. Go for a walk?”
Her coat was in her locker around the corner. She stuffed the muffin back in the bag and pointed. Gentleman that he was, Moore led the way, opening the locker room door for her as Rhys poured himself a cup of coffee and called out, “Have fun not digging through someone’s anus!”
Moore winced.
Colleen laughed.
“You really chose an outstanding career path,” he muttered as he held her coat for her, the chivalrous act sweet and caring. As she zipped up, their eyes met.
“Not everyone can inherit a jewelry shop.”
“You could have had a tree company.”
“I’m not quite built to be a lumberjack.”
“You’d look hot in flannel, though. Bulging arms, up high in the tree. Plus, they use ropes. You and ropes. Hmmm.” He winked.
She ignited.
The flirting, combined with their excitement about telling Jordy yesterday–an excitement that never got the payoff they were hoping for–left her in a liminal space that was impossible to navigate.
So she found herself desperately wanting to kiss him.
In the locker room.
This would not do.
Grinning, all she could do was walk outside, Moore directly behind her as they went through the outside doors. She scanned the area, finding a quiet bench near the oncology department, a place where family members often came to catch some moments of peace.
In small, rural towns, everything had more than one use. Was it morbid to leap into Moore’s arms and kiss him silly in the very space where so many families struggled with complex emotions?
No. Not really.
It was just… life.
So was the kiss she planted on him, his mouth tight with surprise but melting so fast it was if they’d been kissing for hours.
“What’s this about?” he asked as she broke away from the surprise kiss, his mouth tasting like coffee. “Greta’s muffins make you horny?”
She giggled at the word. “No. You do.”
“Feeling is mutual.”
“And yet here we are, hiding.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Jordy took me by surprise,” he said, looking sheepish.
“Me, too.”
“This is temporary.”
“Is it?”
“It is.”
“How long? He’s only here for a week.”
“I’m sure we can tell him in a couple of days. I just want to wait until he’s sure he wants to move here. That’s step one.”
“And step two is telling him?”
Moore hesitated.
“Step two is telling Cammie.”
Colleen gritted her teeth.
“I come after Cammie,” she said, the words escaping before she could stop them. Moore’s reaction was swift and intense.
“Damn, no. No! That’s not how I meant it.”
“I know.”
“Colleen–this is hard. Confusing. More than I ever expected. I don’t want you to feel like you’re second fiddle to anyone.”