Three
Alexis
In the break room, I drank the last of my water and threw the plastic bottle into the recycle bin just as Lorraine walked in.
“Long day,” she said.
“Tell me about it.”
“Are you okay?” She tilted her head in concern. “You seem a little annoyed.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m fine..”
She pursed her lips and folded her arms. Lorraine had known me for a long time, and we had started working at the same hospital within a week from each other. We went through our adjustment phase together, and both of us had been mentored by Dr. Presch. Hence, she knew me well enough to know when I was bluffing or hiding my frustration.
“You in a hurry, Lorraine?”
She placed a finger on her plump chin. “Hmm…At home, I have a tall, dark, and handsome stranger waiting for me. But he’s on my DVR, so I guess he can wait.” She smiled. “What’s up?”
Together, we took seats at the table.
“I guess I’m just worried about Dr. Presch. Do you know where she is? She hasn’t left us, has she?”
A wrinkle appeared in Lorraine’s brow. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Maybe she’s just taking some time off, you know? It can’t be anything serious. Otherwise, I’m sure we would have heard something. She’s a busy woman. She deserves some time off. Hopefully she’s on an island somewhere with a big fruity drink in her hand and some handsome company.”
I laughed, though the word ‘handsome’ immediately sprung thoughts of Dr. Bradford into my mind. I suppose it showed on my face too, considering the way Lorraine narrowed her eyes at me. I tried to rearrange my expression into something more neutral, but it was pointless. Sometimes I was sure Lorraine was psychic.
Although Lorraine and I had started working at nearly the same time, she was at least fifteen years older than me. She often felt like a cross between a big sister and a surrogate mother. She had a few children of her own, so her maternal instincts were strong. I presumed that had to be why she was so good at reading nonverbal cues.
I cleared my throat and tried to keep my voice as nonchalant as possible. “So, do you have any idea if we’ll be stuck working with Dr. Bradford until Presch gets back? Or was this just for today?”
“Stuck working with him?” she said with a smirk. “I’m not sure the other young nurses around here would describe it that way. They all seem pretty pleased to have him around.” She laughed.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah, well…” my voice trailed off, momentarily not knowing what else to say.
“I do believe he will be filling in for Dr. Presch for however long she’s on break, or wherever she is. Why do you ask?”
I shrugged my shoulders again. “No reason, really.”
“Oh honey, you are such a terrible liar! That’s why you’ve got to meet my kids. They’ll give you some pointers.”
All I could do was shake my head and laugh.
“Handsome, isn’t he?” Lorraine said, wiggling her eyebrows.
“He’s all right,” I said. But the words even felt dishonest to my own tongue. The accurate words to describe Dr. Bradford’s looks were ‘perfection personified.’ ‘Drop dead gorgeous’ worked as well. My heart had practically stopped when I first laid eyes on him.
“Just all right, eh?” Lorraine said. “Maybe you need your eyes checked. Honey, Lord knows if I was just ten years younger at least!” She sighed.
“Okay. So he may be decent eye-candy, but his personality leaves a lot to be desired.”
Lorraine nodded. “Yeah well, you can’t always have it all.”
“How much do you know about him? Have you ever worked with him before? How come this is my first time seeing him?”
“He typically works the night shift. Every once in a while, I work the night shift, so I’ve encountered him a few times.”
“Is he always so careless and uptight?”
Lorraine shook her head. “Not all the time. I think you just got the wrong impression of him, really. He’s a nice and decent man, from as far as I can tell. Though I have heard it’s his time if you know what I mean.”
“His time?”
“Yeah, shifters have kind of a ticking time bomb inside of them. If they don’t find their mate and settle down by a certain point, they go a little nutty. Get short with people, have a temper, and worse can’t control their Change.”
“Really? I never knew that.”
“My cousin Shelia married a shifter, real nice guy, but right before the wedding she said he used to get irritable. Finally he told her he couldn’t wait any longer. They eloped and he was fine the next day! Give Dr. Bradford another chance. I think the daylight hours just have him a little discombobulated.”
I huffed. “What do you mean, ‘give him a chance’? I’m not looking to date him or anything. I was just asking a question, that’s all.”
“Uh huh.” Lorraine paused for a moment. “So, just how are things going in your dating life, missy?”
I fought hard not to roll my eyes. “I don’t have time. I’m—”
“Dedicated to your work,” she finished my statement for me.
“Well, I am. It’s true.”
“And you know what that’s going to get you? A whole bunch of loneliness.”
“I’m not lonely. I have Apple.”
“I love Apple, but she’s not as handsome as Zion.”
“Zion?”
“Just rolls easily off your tongue, doesn’t it?”
“Doesn’t change the fact that he seems to be kind of a jerk.”
“I don’t think he means to come off that way. He really does care a lot about his job and his patients. His personality just seems a bit—what’s the word? Strict? I’m sure he’ll come around. Just needs to calm his bear a bit I think.”
“Don’t bears hibernate? Maybe he needs some sleep.”
Lorraine chuckled. “I think you just caught him off guard. You know how doctor egos can be. Not all of them are Dr. Presch.” She leaned forward and whispered, “They can’t always take it when we’re smarter than them.”
I laughed. Suddenly, my day felt a lot better.
“Well, I don’t know about you, Alexis, but I’m going to get on out of here. My presence inside these walls is no longer contributing to my bank account at this hour.”
“All right, Lorraine. See you tomorrow.”