CHAPTER ONE

In a small town deep within southern Missouri, Lenora Regional Hospital was as busy as it always was with people coming and going, and there was no exception on Josie’s shift. As she walked through a crowd of nurses responding to patient’s calls she checked her tablet that told her patient information. She had already seen at least four of her patients, and she had five more to see before she could take a quick lunch and then finish off the day with several more. None of that bothered her; she loved her work and wouldn’t trade it for anything at this point. Work was her life and healing people was her greatest passion.

In the next room that she needed to visit she had a new patient to evaluate, an elderly woman showing signs of a heart attack. The sound of her soft padded footsteps echoed as she came in to the room.

The white-haired woman looked up from her bed, beside her sat a younger, good looking man who seemed to be having a fit over the fact the older woman was in the bed, waiting patiently as ever for Josie to look her over.

"Good morning Mrs. Ingram. I am Doctor Steele, what can I do for you this morning?" She asked with a cheerful smile and a soft tilt of her head.

"My mom…sorry…hello…my name is Blake Ingram—I’m her son. My mom had signs of a heart attack. Her arm had a slight pain and she had a change in her heartbeat with blurry vision. She was light-headed and she could not stand until the paramedics brought her here."

"Ah, I see. Hello Mr. Ingram. Since that is the case we will be running a few blood tests, let me have a listen please. I want to hear if there was any abnormalities in your heart and lungs. Is that okay, Mrs. Ingram?"

"Of course that's okay, do whatever you need doctor. I don’t need Blake having a heart attack of his own.” She chuckled softly. It was obvious she was tired, but nothing could be done now.

Josie let the nurse take blood while she listened to her heartbeat and lungs, checked her eyes and did the basic checkup. The results wouldn’t take very long, but she knew she could not stick around right this minute.

“Depending on what the blood results are, we will more than likely have to keep you overnight for observation. Is there anything you’re allergic to?” Josie asked.

Once everything was written down, the blood was sent off for testing, and Josie made sure that Mrs. Ingram was comfortable she headed off to continue her rounds. She would return as soon as the blood results were in.

“Are you sure everything will be okay?” Blake asked nervously before Josie could walk back out the door.

“Mr. Ingram, please, I understand you’re worried…” Josie said softly and calmly.

“Look, I know my mom is… I just…”

“Sir, please, sit down,” Josie murmured softly. He was attractive as it was and this worrying showed he was a caring man... It was comforting. She looked over the paper carefully and looked up at Mrs. Ingram.

“How are you feeling, Mrs. Ingram?”

“I’m feeling a little better…” She murmured.

“That is good to hear, the blood work says that you had a small heart attack, there’s nothing major to worry about. We’ll take a few more tests through the night to make sure that your arteries aren’t clogged, and we will look for that in the next blood test. The nurse will be able to tell you a little bit about that.” She smiled gently.

“What do you mean clogged arteries?” Blake looked even more nervous than before.

“Well, that’s usually the cause for heart attacks is a clogged artery, or stress or something along those lines… we will work on trying to figure out more of what caused this so we can prevent it in the future.”

“Oh, alright…”

“If you need anything, just press the buzzer button and someone will be in as soon as possible.” She chimed with a sweet smile and waited a few seconds before heading out the door.

She continued her rounds, smiling and humming sweetly as she did until one of the nurses showed up beside her and asked her a rather odd question.

“One of your patients wants to know if he can have your phone number?”

“No… they can call the hospital while I’m on duty.”

“It’s just in case his— “

“No,” Josie said again.

“You know, you are a beautiful woman, you are kind, gentle… you should at least— “

“Look, it’s kind of you to say and all, but I’m just not interested. It’s not going to happen,” Josie gave a soft smile. “I don’t mean it to be bad, you know, just… I don’t have time for any of that.”

“We just worry about you is all… but I’ll make sure he knows that you aren’t interested.”

“Thank you. Now, go enjoy your evening. I heard you’re getting off early today.” Josie smiled sweetly.

“Yeah, thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow!” And like that the nurse that Josie knew as Sarah walked off to finish her rounds.

Josie lightly shook her head and walked off to continue her own rounds. Tired by the end of her day she walked into the locker room to collect her things. She hummed softly and went straight home, having no desire to make plans with the girls or anything. She just wanted to go home, take a bubble bath and relax.

Home was an hour drive from the hospital and she started to walk through the house, stripping off her clothes as soon as the door shut. Her shoes had fallen off by the door, the socks in the doorway of the bathroom, the shirt vanished before she turned the faucet on. The steam from the warm water hit her nose well after her pants had melted to the floor. Her hair came out of its bun first. Thick dark hair that curled around her face and waved as she walked with each delicate step. Bubbles and the sweet scent of lavender and chamomile wafted through the air, dancing with her senses. With a gentle purr, she sunk into the water slowly, her eyes half closing as she was enveloped in the warm hug that bubble baths could give.