CHAPTER TWELVE

Josie went to work like she always did after her week of being away with Blake. She had no problems first thing that morning: all her patients were calm and sweet, even the nurses were in a good mood it seemed. She smiled, feeling herself looking forward to Blake’s lunch date and feeling very refreshed after such a great vacation. Since they had started seeing each other, Blake had been to the hospital every few days for lunch dates and she loved it now. She had been so wrapped up in him that she did not realize the nurses whispering or casting certain glances at her.

She stood by the main desk, talking with one of the nurses named Charlene.

“It was amazing! We had gumbo and he got me this necklace, but on the third day we went swimming. I completely forgot to take it off and it broke… he was going to buy me another one but I talked him out of it. It was nice while it lasted.”

“That sounds fun.”

“We also went to the museum there and we saw many cool things!”

“The museum of art?”

“Yeah, I heard it had many beautiful exhibitions, and they did. The building itself could have been displayed as an exhibition. He didn’t have to take me all the way down there for a good time, but I am honestly glad he did. He is such a sweet guy. I think I might be… what’s that look for?”

The nurse looked at Josie with a soft frown pulling at her lips. Her whole facial expression read that something was very wrong and Josie probably did not want to hear it. She was so close to just walking away right then and there before something bad could happen.

"You going to lunch with him again?" Charlene asked quietly.

"Yes, why? What’s wrong? He really is a sweet guy, I never really thought I'd find someone who wasn't..." Josie had started but Charlene shook her head softly.

"Look, I can't keep quiet any more. I see you around that man and I cannot condone it any further... that man, is a lady's man... Blake Ingram is nothing more than a heart breaker. He's been with several of the nurses here before you, probably even during your little relationship. You can ask plenty of them…I will point them out for you. He has a history and I don’t want to see you hurt," she prattled. A gentle frown pulled at her lips.

"What?" Josie’s mouth felt dry. The world spun angrily around her. She took a slow deep breath and just stared at Charlene.

"He's not really a good guy, Josie. And I know you've been enjoying your time with him. It's written on your face all the time that you have spent falling for him, but before you fully take the plunge just… just ask him. Ask him about what happened with the other girls. I just didn't have the heart to tell you before. None of us did, but I can’t keep my mouth shut any longer. I am truly sorry."

"You could have told me a lot sooner you know!”

"Look, it's just been a few weeks, right? It's not that bad, you had fun, just... end it before it gets way too serious..."

"Oh..." Josie said, instead of walking to the cafeteria she just headed to the locker room and sat down, chewing her bottom lip and rubbing her cheek pensively. She shouldn't let this get to her, but for some reason it was extremely painful just to hear. Her mind went wild with what could be going on with him and other women. What had happened? What else was she supposed to do about this? What more could she do? She had already let it get too serious. Her whole body throbbed in pain with each beat of her heart at the thought of what she had just heard.

How could he be seeing other women when he spends so much time with me? That logic only worked so far. He had plenty of time during the day when he was not at school, even when he was at the school he could be flirting with other women—using his lunch break to—She swallowed hard as tears threatened to fall. She had to be strong.

Taking a deep breath, she stood up and washed her face. She made herself look presentable and decided that she would go to the lunch date, ask him to dinner, and talk with him over dinner at her place. She wanted to invite him there anyway.

She would push the thoughts of him with others out of her mind until then. Josie highly doubted she would be able to focus on what could possibly just be gossip instead of having fun with him. Could he even possibly? Her thoughts suddenly flourished in a wave of questions and possible heartbreaking scenarios.

Josie knew she had to get to the cafeteria and see him soon, otherwise she would more than likely never make it there. She would run. She knew she would run and she hated it, but what option did she have? She chewed over her bottom lip slowly, her thoughts still swirling.

She looked up, seeing the cafeteria was relatively empty except for him. He sat there at a table by himself with what looked like a home cooked meal sitting in front of him. A smile pulled at her lips as she walked over to him.

"Oh really,” she said while looking around carefully.

"Yes really, you don't like roast?" he asked curiously.

"I do,” she said shortly.

"Something is wrong..." he noted almost instantly and frowned as she sat down across from him.

"Nothing is wrong,” she gave him a soft smile and started to eat with him. Faking smiles and being as sweet as ever.

***

Josie looked at her phone as it rang. She swallowed hard and picked it up. Of course, the screen said his name, had the picture from their third date. She smiled fondly as she remembered the ice cream shop, the way he held her hand and told her corny jokes for at least an hour. She almost answered it but remembered what she had heard and set it down again. The screen instantly went black.

A few seconds later it lit up again and let her know she had a full inbox for both her voice mail and her text messaging. She waited a few more minutes before she went through the process deleting them all without looking at them. She did not need to look at them. Not at all.

She stood to shower, her movements slow and clumsy. Glad he hadn't been by the house or the hospital the last few days. She washed up, got dressed in her work clothes, and headed for the hospital. She felt beyond betrayed as her heart strings started to rip within her chest. Her stomach tightened, her head swam as thoughts invaded her once well controlled mental walls. What had this man done to her?

Unable to go to the dinner with him the day she heard the news, she felt more upset at herself that she had not gotten the proper answer from him. What had happened? Why could not she have just said what she was feeling? Instead she had to do something stupid like this and mess everything up. No, she did not mess anything up; he had. This was his fault for being a playboy. She ran her fingers through her hair, which for the fifth day in a row she had just left down.

Bags had formed under her eyes and as she walked passed the front desk she did not say a word. She did not smile, and she did not wave at the elderly patients that were permanently there like she usually did.

The nurses frowned softly, shrank away from her, seemingly moving as far away from her as they possibly could…not that she minded at this point.

Josie had no desire to talk to anyone. There was no point, was there? She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a minute or two while she was in the locker room. She arched her brow carefully as she looked at herself. She wrinkled her nose and chewed her bottom lip, thinking about what she was doing with herself. She needed to get over this, but her heart ached at the thought of that.

She rubbed her eyes for the umpteenth time and slowly walked out of the locker room. Speaking with patients quietly, a little short with her words, only asking the essentials and responding with the bare minimum.

"Yes ma'am, you will be fine in a few days. Just rest,” she said softly to one of the younger ladies that had come in with a tennis injury.

"Are you sure? Because the tournament—“

"You will more than likely not be able to play in the tournament. You can tear your muscle further. It's advised you sit out of it."

“But—"

"If you want to rip your muscle and never be able to play tennis again, then go for it. If you want to continue to enjoy the sport, then don't do the tournament, unless you're ambidextrous."

"I'm not ambidextrous."

"Then I'm sorry ma'am, you're going to have to make a hard decision."

Josie watched the girl’s tears start to form but for some reason there was no usual pang of sympathy. She waited for roughly two minutes before she flashed a sort of grin and excused herself awkwardly.

She ignored the nurses that came to her with questions, brushing them off with a simple sentence:

"If you don't know how to do your job, why are you here?" then heading into the next patients room.

"Oh my god!” one of the nurses wrinkled her nose and stormed off to report her.

Though the report never went through.

Josie returned home, leaving the lights off as she just headed to bed: no wine, no bubble bath, no calming yoga, nothing.