The ER was busier than usual for a Wednesday afternoon. I hadn’t seen much of Simon in the hours before he snuck up behind me.
“Hey, Roomie. I hear you have a chart for me to look at.”
Handing him the clipboard, I said, “Yes, this is Eileen McDonough in Room 3. Suspected appendicitis. And can you not say that too loudly?”
He smirked. “What…‘Roomie?’”
“Yes. ‘Roomie.’”
“Why is that?”
“Because it’s not really professional for people to know that we live together. You need to pretend we don’t.”
“It’s not like we’re shagging.”
“Don’t say that,” I whispered.
He raised his voice a little. “Excuse me…fucking.”
“Shh.”
“Relax. No one is in the vicinity.” Simon chuckled. “Alright, in all seriousness, you don’t want me to say anything. Fine. I’ll consider it another one of your rules.”
“Thank you.”
When Simon walked away, I couldn’t help but stare at the curvature of his rock solid ass. His thin, blue scrubs left little to the imagination. As much as he’d joked about my rear end, he truly had a beautiful one himself.
One of the other nurses, Julia, caught me in the act. “Hard to focus lately, huh?”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t know about you,” she said. “But I find myself very distracted whenever Dr. Hogue is on shift.”
I couldn’t have agreed more. It was definitely distracting. Work hadn’t been the same since his transfer to Memorial.
“Well, he’s definitely different than the doctors we’re used to,” I said.
“He never seems to let his fatigue show, either. All of the patients love him. Seriously, I’ve seen him put smiles on the faces of people who were near death.”
I reluctantly agreed. “He does have a way about him.”
Julia leaned in. “He’s apparently not gay, either.”
“Why would you think he was gay in the first place?”
“Someone like that—a hot, single, doctor? I just assumed he would have to be gay, otherwise it’s almost too good to be true, right?”
Even though I damn well knew he wasn’t gay, I asked, “How can you be so sure he’s not?”
“Well, I heard Brianna say she hooked up with him once and apparently she’s going out with him again one night later this week.”
“Really…”
Brianna was one of the newer nurses. She was younger than most of us and fresh out of nursing school. She was pretty, and it didn’t surprise me that he was attracted to her. I truly hated that my stomach was now in knots, though, upon hearing that bit of news.
Julia crossed her arms over her butterfly-covered uniform. “Lucky girl, huh?”
“I suppose.” I needed to get out of this conversation. “Excuse me. It’s time to check Mr. Maloney’s vitals.”
As I pumped the sphygmomanometer that was wrapped around the old man’s arm, I listened to the conversation next door. A thin curtain separated me from the space where Simon was with a different elderly patient.
Simon spoke, “Alright, lovely. Here’s the deal. The X-ray came back showing some fluid in the lungs so we’re going to have to admit you.”
“I can’t stay here,” the woman protested.
I could hear her daughter say, “Mom, you don’t have a choice.” She addressed Simon, “She’s terrified of hospitals, convinced she’ll never return home if they admit her. You have no idea how hard it was to get her to agree to let me bring her here.”
It sounded like Simon took a seat on a stool before he said, “We have to get you better, Mamie. We can’t send you home like this. What can I do to make you feel more comfortable here?”
The old woman started naming a laundry list of items that she wanted for her room.
“I can go get them for you, Ma.”
“No, you can’t leave me,” Mamie insisted.
Simon interrupted their arguing, “How about this? I’m breaking for lunch soon. How about I pick up some of the items you need from CVS?”
I laughed at the idea of Simon purchasing the “Revlon Stormy Pink” lipstick and the “Jean Naté After Bath Splash Mist” she asked for.
“You would do that for me?” the old woman asked.
“Anything for you, gorgeous.”
Smiling, I rolled my eyes and shook my head as I loosened the Velcro from Mr. Maloney’s arm.
Simon, you fucking charmer, you.
The last thing I expected when I opened the dishwasher was to see something jump out at me. Quickly realizing it was a mouse, I screamed at the top of my lungs.
I climbed on top of the kitchen table as I watched the little, furry terrorist scurrying across the wooden floor.
I yelled, “Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!”
Simon and Brendan both seemed to appear at almost the same exact time.
“What’s going on, Bridget?”
“Mommy, what’s wrong?”
Waving my arm, I said, “Stay back, Brendan. There’s a mouse in the kitchen.”
My son beamed. “Cool!”
“No, not cool. Mommy won’t be able to sleep with a mouse in the house.” After spotting it running past me again, I pointed and squealed. “Oh my God, there it is.”
I looked at Simon, who seemed really amused by my reaction.
“I need you to catch it and kill it, Simon.”
He scratched the stubble on his chin. “Per your request, I was supposed to be pretending I don’t live here…so perhaps, now would be a good time to disappear?”
“Don’t you even think about it.”
“I’m kidding. I’ll get it. But I’m not killing it. I’ll rescue it from this crazy kitchen and send it back into the wild.” He bent down. “If only I can find it.”
Pointing, I said, “It was just in that corner a minute ago.” I looked around. “Oh, no. Where did it go? We have to find it.”
Brendan pointed to under the table where I was standing. “Over there!”
I closed my eyes and cringed at the thought. When I opened them, Simon was on the floor. He looked so funny crawling around with his long arms and legs.
“I wasn’t expecting to play Tom and Jerry today.” When he stood up, his hair was disheveled. He was holding the mouse by the tail as its little arms and legs wiggled around aimlessly. “Got it! Come see, Brendan.” Simon then cupped the rodent as my son pet it. It was totally skeeving me out and warming my heart a bit at the same time.
Brendan looked at me. “Can I keep it?”
“No!”
“Brendan, I think it’s best for your Mum’s sake if we set it free. Go grab your coat.”
I watched from the window as Simon led Brendan to the wooded area behind our house. Simon knelt down, and I could see Brendan talking to the mouse and waving goodbye to it. Simon then rustled my son’s hair before they high-fived each other.
I fought the tears forming in my eyes as the thought occurred to me that Brendan had really been missing a male influence in his life. He was only six when Ben was killed. He could barely remember his dad already.
When they returned to the kitchen, Simon counted five singles then stuffed them into the swear jar labeled Mom.
“What’s that for?”
“Five dollars donated to Brendan’s cause for your S-word recited five times.” He turned to Brendan. “You might just get to keep that hair, after all.”
Brendan looked over at me and smiled. “I want my hair to grow like Simon’s in the front.”
I crossed my arms. “Great.”
Simon bent his head back in laughter.
After Brendan ran back to his room, I turned to Simon. “Thank you for helping with that. I definitely don’t do well with rodents.”
“You don’t say?” He placed his hands on my shoulders in a firm grip. “You alright now?”
My heart raced upon the brief contact. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m really glad you were home.”
“If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to yell.”
I let out a breath. “It’s been two years, but I still haven’t fully adjusted to not having a man around to handle certain things. I’ve really tried my best, but clearly I would’ve totally failed at that one. Literally, I think it would have kept me up all night.”
“I think you’re handling things just fine—way better than I would be, working the hours you do, then coming home to parent. Your son is a good kid. You’re doing a damn good job. But do you ever get to go out, make some time for yourself?”
“Ha!” I laughed. “That would be a no.”
“That’s not very healthy, Bridget.”
“I know. But it’s tough. I pay a sitter to watch him while I’m working, so I hate to leave him when I don’t have to. It might be different when he’s a little older, but for now, I just have to make him my priority.”
He leaned against the counter. “That’s commendable, but you also have to think about yourself and your sanity. You deserve a break once in a while.”
“Have you been questioning my sanity?”
“Maybe a tad.” He winked. “Seriously, though, when was the last time you’ve been out on a date?”
It wasn’t difficult to figure out the answer. “I haven’t. I mean, Ben’s only been gone two years. I just haven’t felt ready.”
Simon’s expression grew sullen. “I’m sorry that you had to go through that. Calliope…she told me, you know, what happened.”
“Yeah, I really don’t like to talk about it.”
“I don’t blame you.”
Simon seemed to be quietly observing me for a few seconds, and I was starting to feel hot.
I didn’t know what came over me when I asked, “Would you want to have some tea with me?”
He looked at his watch. “Shit. I’d really like to, but I’m supposed to meet someone in Providence in twenty minutes.”
Trying to mask my disappointment, I said, “You said ‘shit.’ Money in the Brendan jar, please. Since you and he seem to be ganging up on me as far as the swear words go, it’s only fair that I get commission for your swears.”
“You got me,” he said as he fetched a single from his wallet and placed it in the jar.
“Are you going out with Brianna?”
“How did you know that?”
“The nurses’ station is basically a gossip den, Simon. You’d better be careful. You’re definitely on everyone’s radar. They talk about you a lot.”
“Is that so?
I was oddly feeling a bit protective of him.
“Seriously, just be careful what you do. It will get around.”
“Thanks for the fair warning, Nurse Valentine.”
“Where are you going tonight?”
“WaterFire. Apparently, it just opened for the season.”
“Ah. I’ve never been there. Always meant to go but never got around to it. What is it like?”
“It’s awesome. Picture like a hundred bonfires on the surface of the river in the middle of downtown. There’s music and performances. You really should see it sometime.”
“Do you take all your dates there?”
“It’s not always in season.”
I’d always hoped to go with Ben.
“Well, you’d better go, or you’ll be late.”
He lingered at the doorway for a bit before he said, “Have a good night, Bridget.”
“You, too.”
As I stared out from the kitchen at the sun setting in my backyard, I once again felt myself getting teary-eyed. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why I was so emotional tonight. Was it because I missed Ben? Or was it because my jealousy over Simon’s date meant that I was finally starting to move on? I wasn’t sure, but I somehow felt happy, hopeful, and terribly sad all at the same time.