“Did Dr. Redman finally give you more patients?” Elizabeth asks when I check on her a few days later.
“Nope,” I say, looking over the notes in her chart. “It’s still just you.”
“Oh,” she says. “I figured since I haven’t seen much of you for the last couple of days that she must have finally let you out of the doghouse.”
She’s right. I haven’t been to see her much. In fact, I’ve done everything I can not to see her. I’ve done my duty, making sure she and the baby are okay, but other than that, I’ve all but relinquished my babysitting duties to the nurses.
I’ve even gone so far as to seek out more scut. Labs, blood draws, hell, even enemas. Anything to keep me busy enough so I don’t have time to socialize.
I went too far. I’m sticking to professionalism from here on out.
“No new patients,” I tell her. “Just a lot of busy work.”
“Your other sister-in-law came to see me yesterday,” she says.
I look up from her chart. “Charlie was here?”
“Yeah, I like her. She watched a whole game with me.”
I feel guilty that I left early the other night. But I had to. It wasn’t fair to Gina to have to watch me like that with another woman. It wasn’t fair to Elizabeth when what I was doing was crossing the line. It wasn’t even fair to me—putting myself in that situation.
I’m grateful to my sisters-in-law for stepping up. Especially now that I’m stepping away.
“That’s great, Elizabeth. You’ve got as many as two and a half weeks left here, so I’m glad to see you are keeping your spirits up.”
“Two and a half weeks.” She puts her hands on either side of her growing belly. “Seems a long time to be here, but not nearly long enough to prepare for this one.”
I put down the chart as something dawns on me. “Are you prepared, Elizabeth? I mean, when you leave here with the baby, are you going to be able to take care of it? Of yourself?”
She gives me a sad smile. “I told you before, Kyle. I’ll be okay. You said yourself that you thought all things happen for a reason. There is a reason for this,” she says, rubbing her hand across her abdomen. “And I know everything will work out.”
I can’t help the thoughts racing through my head. Thoughts of her taking a newborn to some low-rent crack-house apartment. Thoughts of angry drug-head neighbors who pound on her door in a rage because they hear the baby crying through the paper-thin walls. Thoughts of that baby crying because her mom isn’t producing enough milk due to her poor nutrition.
A knock on the door keeps me from stepping back across the line. I look behind me and smile. Baylor is standing in the doorway with a basket of some sort.
“Is this a good time?” she asks.
Elizabeth sees who’s at the door and her face falls into that of a star-struck adolescent. Her eyes blink repeatedly.
“Baylor, come on in,” I say. “Baylor Mitchell McBride, I’d like you to meet Elizabeth Smith.” Without thinking, I add, “Sorry, I don’t know Elizabeth’s middle name.”
I stare at her in question.
“Uh, no. No middle name,” she says. “Just Elizabeth.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Elizabeth with no middle name,” Baylor says. “Technically I’m just Baylor McBride, but most people know me as Mitchell, so I’m good with either.”
“It’s an honor to meet you,” Elizabeth says, offering Baylor her hand. Baylor dumps the basket on me so she can shake it. I stare at the contents. Books. A lot of them. And what looks to be a tablet.
Baylor nods to the bounty she brought. “Kyle said you like to read romance novels, so I brought you some. I didn’t know if you like paperback or digital, so I brought both.”
Elizabeth’s eyes bug out as they peruse the basket. I place it on the bed between her legs and she picks up one of the books. It’s Baylor’s newly-published novel. She opens the cover. “You signed it?”
Baylor laughs. “Sure did. Maybe it’ll be worth something when I’m dead.”
“Are you kidding?” Elizabeth gushes. “I’ll bet it’s worth a lot now.”
“You’re sweet to say so.”
Elizabeth looks through the basket, pulling out not only books written by Baylor, but other authors as well.
“Oh, my gosh, these are great.” She opens the cover on another and gasps. “Are they all signed?”
Baylor nods. “Yup. I was at my publisher’s the other day and grabbed a handful for you. I hope you like them.”
“I’m sure I’ll love them, just like I love yours. I’ve read all of them, well except the new one that just came out.”
Baylor picks up the tablet and shows Elizabeth how to sign on to it. “I’ve loaded it with tons of books. I know you must be going out of your mind being stuck in here.”
Elizabeth swipes her finger across the tablet, paging through the titles Baylor put on it. I watch the ease with which she uses the device. Like she’s done it a thousand times before. Yet . . . she has nothing. The girl is an enigma.
She looks up at Baylor with sad eyes. “I appreciate this more than you know, but I can’t accept the tablet. It’s too much.”
Baylor waves off Elizabeth’s apprehension. “Do you know how many of these things my publisher gives away? It’s considered promotional.”
“Still, it’s too much,” Elizabeth says. “But I’d be grateful to borrow it during my stay.”
“Of course,” Baylor says, winking at me. “Whatever you want.”
I put my hand on Baylor’s shoulder. “Nice to see you, Baylor. I hope we can catch up later, but I have to run now and take care of some things.”
“Sure thing, Kyle. Maybe we can grab a coffee later on my way out.”
“Sounds good, just text me. See you later, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth barely acknowledges my departure as she’s enamored with Baylor.
I walk down the corridor and plant myself at the nurses’ station, pretending to chart when all I’m doing is staring at the room at the end of the hall. Who am I kidding? I don’t have anything meaningful to do. I just needed to get out of there. Distance myself.
Yes. Distance is exactly what I need. I pull out my phone and tap out a text.
Me: On-call room in 10?