CHAPTER 16
Tessa
When I woke up the next morning Evan was gone. He probably needed to shower and get new scrubs from his place, I told myself.
But Evan had been right; I certainly needed that mental-health day off from work. Not to mention all the wild sex. That certainly worked my stress away.
When I returned the following day, I felt a lot more refreshed and focused. I arrived early, having made the decision to pay the woman from the day before a visit.
Outside of her room, I knocked on the door a few times before pushing it open. The woman—Louisa—was inside, lying in bed, watching television.
“Good morning, Louisa,” I said.
She smiled. “Good morning.”
I approached her bedside. The side of her head was bandaged, but otherwise, she looked fine. “You may not remember me, but—”
“Tessa Kennery?” she said, sitting up in bed.
“Yes.”
She smiled wider and extended her hand. “Looks like a thank you is in order. A handsome doctor told me yesterday that a highly skilled nurse named Tessa Kennery had been in the right place at the right time, and had saved my life.”
I clasped the woman’s hand. “I was just doing my job. I’m so happy to see that you are doing well.”
“All thanks to you.”
We chatted for a moment longer and then I excused myself, seeing that it was almost time for me to start my shift. I wanted to see Evan first though, yet, he was nowhere to be found.
I decided to check the on-call room. When I saw that he wasn’t there either, I headed to the break room. Visions and memories of the day before with him danced through my head, making me quiver. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time anyone had made me feel this way. It was simultaneously exciting and terrifying. I couldn’t help thinking that things had moved entirely too fast between me and Evan, but the passion and connection we felt for one another just couldn’t be contained.
It couldn’t be controlled.
It couldn’t be slowed.
The time between our awkward introduction, up until now, had been something of a whirlwind for both of us.
The door to the break room swung open, and for one hopeful moment, I thought it was Evan. But instead, Molly walked in.
“Morning, doll!” she said.
“Hey Molly.”
“So, I heard you got a day off yesterday for playing hero.”
I smirked. “It was nothing.”
“Ever so modest.” Molly got a pop-tart from the vending machine and then turned to me with an all-too-knowing gleam in her eyes. “You catch up with Evan?”
I pressed my lips together, trying hard to fight back the smile that naturally wanted to present itself at the sound of his name. Molly laughed and clapped her hands together.
“Shh!” I said, casting a panicked look around the room although we were alone.
“Shh, nothing!” Molly said. “I want some details! I heard he all but caused a scene over you yesterday. I was busy with Dr. Newman, so I missed it all. Had to hear it through the grapevine. When I heard you’d taken the day off, I almost decided to call you. But then someone told me that you’d left with Evan, so I figured you might have been busy.”
“So busy,” I laughed.
Molly pulled out a chair and motioned for me to sit beside her as she opened her strawberry pop-tart. “So—what’s the verdict? First impressions aren’t always lasting impressions, eh?”
I shook my head. “I guess not. I’ve never had a first impression proven so wrong in my life. Evan is…intense. And wonderful.”
“Look at you, sounding all smitten.”
“I am,” I said, feeling another blush coming forth. “It’s scary, actually.”
“Scary? What’s scary about it? Tall, dark, and handsome. NAVY Doctor. Girl, that’s what you call the jackpot!”
“But it’s all happening so quickly.”
“Feels too good to be true, huh?”
“Exactly. But us working together.”
“Well, the only thing to do is wait it out and see what happens. Think of it like an amusement park—sometimes the best rides are fast!”
Molly and I descended into a fit of giggles. “You are a mess,” I said.
“So I’ve been told. And don’t worry about this place, your secret is safe with me.” She took another bite of her pop-tart and then checked her watch. “What are you doing here so early anyway?”
“I wanted to check on the woman from yesterday. She’s doing good. She’s in recovery now.”
“What exactly happened with that again?”
“I was taking Lucy for an early morning run and she took off after a stray cat. By the time I got her to stop, there was this woman. I saw her just as she fainted and bashed her head on a metal fence.”
“Goodness, honey.” Molly reached over to briefly take my hand. “I know that had to be scary.”
I nodded. “I thought she was going to die.”
“Well, thank goodness you were there. Not everyone can stay as calm under pressure as you.”
I laughed humorlessly. “That’s the thing I struggle with most. I always feel like I’m on the brink of panicking during emergencies. You’d think that in all my time working in this field, especially in this department, I’d be better at it.”
“That’s interesting. Because in my time working with you, I’ve never seen you lose your cool during an emergency. Maybe you freak out on the inside, but it doesn’t show. And it definitely doesn’t impair your judgment. You’ve got amazing instincts, Tessa. Knowing that you panic on the inside just makes what you do all the more impressive. You’re going places, honey. Mark my words. There’s only great things in store for you.”
“You make it sound so impressive.”
“You are impressive.” Molly nudged my arm. “No wonder he likes you.”
“Does…does everyone know?”
Molly shook her head. “No. I’ve only heard muttering from the people that saw Evan snap at the security guard who was giving you a hard time yesterday. But it’s just speculation. I don’t know what you’re worried for though! As gorgeous as Evan is—if I had anything going on with him, I’d probably get a t-shirt made, declaring it to the whole world!”
I laughed outright again. “You are crazy, Molly. The policy. I don’t want my job at risk.”
“And you are crazy lucky! Now stop, Human Resources could care less about that handbook, hell if they opened it once in a while themselves, maybe they could use it. Stop worrying!”
I sighed. She was right, no one would probably even notice our little affair. I needed to relax, and enjoy what I had.
“Have you seen Evan today, by the way?”
Molly wrinkled her brow. “Come to think of it—I haven’t.”
I pouted. He hadn’t said anything about taking the day off.
“He must have taken the day off. Maybe you wore him out too much.”
“Molly,” I said, slapping her arm and causing her to give another hearty laugh. She pulled away from the table. “Well, it’s time to report for duty.”
“Yeah,” I said, standing also. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sure thing,” Molly said, throwing away her pop-tart wrapper and heading out the door. I left shortly afterwards, deciding to head back to the on-call room to make a cup of tea as I waited for my help to be needed.
When I entered, a few nurses were inside—two making coffee and one watching the news on the television overhead. They all smiled and nodded at me as I came in.
“Slow day today, huh?” I said. It was unusual for there to ever be more than two people in the on-call room at any given moment.
“Yeah,” one of them responded. “Let’s hope it stays that way!”
“I hear you,” I said with a chuckle.
“Good job yesterday, by the way,” she said. “I heard you helped paramedics save a woman’s life, and you weren’t even officially on-duty.”
I waved my hand dismissively. “It was nothing. Just doing my job. The way I see it, when someone needs help, I’m always on-duty.”
“You should totally think about teaching nursing students. Or at least mentoring them,” one of the other nurses said.
I retrieved a tea bag and a mug. “Who knows.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe one day.” I finished making my tea and then took a seat, using the down time to check my email, text messages, and voice messages to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. While I wanted to pretend I was looking for work-related messages, I was really checking to see if I had anything from Evan. My heart sank a little upon seeing that he hadn’t called or messaged me at all.
Exasperated, I ran my hand through my hair, recalling the silky feel of his hair and how in contrasted to the rough stubble on his cheeks. I raised my cup to take a sip of my tea, wanting to hide any indication of how hot I felt at the thought of him.
“You used to work with Dr. Nualli, right?” one of the nurses suddenly asked.
I lowered my cup. “Yeah.” I leaned forward. “Have you heard from her lately?”
She shook her head. “No, I was going to ask if you had. Rumor has it that she may be transferring to another hospital, somewhere offering her more money.”
“Ahh,” I said, leaning back in my seat and feeling vaguely disappointed. Regardless of what was going on between me and Evan, Dr. Nualli remained my favorite doctor to work with. I had learned so much from her. On the other hand, I knew she deserved to be properly compensated for her skills, so if the rumor was true, good for her.
“I never got a chance to work with her, but I heard she was a really good doctor. A lot of staff seem bummed out about the possibility of her leaving.”
I nodded. “Yes. She was the best. I’ll be forever grateful for the time I got to work with her. She really taught me a lot about caring for patients, and for being an advocate for the people we treat. Doctors like her are few and far between.”
Another one of the nurses sighed. “Looks like all the good doctors eventually move on. Like Sholly.”
I almost dropped my teacup at the sound of his name. My eyes widened. “Pardon?”
“Dr. Sholly. I heard he’s leaving too, right? Did he find another hospital that’s offering him higher pay?”
“No, that’s not what I heard,” the nurse who’d been watching TV chimed in. “He was in the military before. I heard from Miles that Sholly was thinking about re-enlisting. I guess he misses it. Maybe he’ll be a military doctor or something.”
There was more to the conversation, but I could no longer hear. My ears were practically ringing with shock. The tea had suddenly turned sour in my stomach. I set the cup down.
Evan, re-enlisting without telling me? He couldn’t. He wouldn’t…
The previous day, it felt like things had officially changed between us—like we had both decided to officially give in to the undeniable connection between us.
Or maybe he was just stringing me along, a voice in my head said. He got what he wanted, and now he’s free to go.
The thoughts created a bitter taste in my mouth, and I felt like my blood was literally starting to boil. It was a moment before I realized the other nurses were still talking to me.
“Tessa, are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I said, though my voice came out harsh. I stood, recognizing the tale-tell stinging in my eyes indicating that angry tears were not far. “Excuse me.”
I bolted from the on-call room and headed straight for the women’s bathroom, were I locked myself in and stood before the mirror. My eyes swam with tears and my face looked a shade too pale.
Pity. I felt nothing but pity for the woman staring back at me. She just couldn’t stop getting hurt. She had ignored the signs that things had been moving too fast, and now she was going to pay the price.
In the little bit of time I’d known Evan, strangely enough, it felt like he had already hurt me more than Tyler had.
Annoyed, I stormed out of the bathroom. A slow day no longer seemed desirable. I needed to keep busy to keep myself from thinking about how badly I wanted to ring Evan’s neck.