Chapter 4

You don’t have to be crazy to be my friend. I’ll train you.

-Friend checklist

Naomi

We were on the way back to the station when the first squeak happened.

I slammed my hands down, pressing my elbow into the stoma as the noises started to come randomly.

“What was that?” Sean asked, looking over at me with confusion.

They were definitely unusual sounds, especially if you hadn’t heard them before.

At least they didn’t sound like farts.

Which was, I guess, both a good and a bad thing.

“I didn’t hear anything,” I said. “What’d it sound like?”

I pressed down harder on my stoma, then bit my lip when a wet sound filled the quiet surrounding us.

“What was that?”

I closed my eyes as mortification rolled through me.

“Still unsure what it is you speak of,” I lied.

Sean watched me carefully as he drove, periodically looking over at me, trying to figure out what in the hell was making all the noise.

And by the time we’d arrived at the station and my colon was finished releasing hell, I ran to the station front door, keyed in the code on the keypad, and ran to my room.

I was soaked to the bone with sweat, embarrassed, and nauseous.

I knew I shouldn’t have eaten that shit!

“Dammit!” I snapped, looking down to see my soaking wet shirt hoping and praying that there’d been no leaks.

Lucky for me, there hadn’t.

Unlucky for me, the lights went out when I was in the process of changing my colostomy bag.

After a quick search for my phone, I realized that I’d left it in the medic in my haste to get to my room.

Which left me with two options.

Call out to Sean, or try to go get the phone without him seeing me practically naked.

I chose option two.

An option that I quickly realized I shouldn’t have chosen when I walked outside, grabbed my phone from the garage, and turned to find myself face-to-chest with Sean.

At least I had grabbed a washcloth and covered my bare stoma first before pressing down…just in case.

“Shit!” I gasped, pushing away from a very bare-chested Sean. “What are you doing?”

“I was out here looking for a flashlight. What are you doing out here?” he questioned as he moved to the side.

At least I thought he moved to the side. I couldn’t really tell if he was completely out of the way, but I chose to think he was and pushed my way through the doorway, only to come up short when the lights came suddenly back on, and I was left standing there with my shirt off, and my stoma bared to the world.

“Uhhh,” I slapped the washcloth with my glove covered hand back over my biggest embarrassment. “See ya.”

He grabbed my arm before I could move away and twisted me, staring at my belly with an intense focus that I didn’t like.

“What is that?” he demanded, pointing to where my hand covered my belly.

My stoma chose that second to let out one of its squeaks, and I closed my eyes as horror dawned upon me.

“Just tell me. It’s not like I’m going to get mad at you for hiding something that you and I both know is nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. “And I know it’s something, because you’ve spent the last few weeks trying to avoid telling me you have an ailment. Trust me. I’m not stupid.”

Sighing in defeat, I lifted my hand, and Sean’s eyes left mine to travel down my body.

I did notice how he stalled at my boobs for a few short seconds before they continued their travel down my torso.

He stopped at my stoma, then bent down to look at it closer.

I pushed him away.

“I just ate Taco Hell, man,” I told him. “I wouldn’t get that close. Our luck it’ll squirt you in the eye.”

He went back to his full height, then grabbed me by the hand and led me back to my bedroom where all my supplies were on the bed waiting for me.

“Was this the thing you were trying to keep from me right before we left?” he questioned with a knowing smile.

I shrugged, not saying yes or no.

“I’ll take that blush on your face as answer enough.”

Then he went about helping me get my bag on, and I sat in stunned silence as he did.

“What…”

He laughed before I could finish.

“My mother had IBS. She had a colostomy as well. For fifteen years before she died of colon cancer. I’ve done this more times than I can count,” he said, explaining before I could ask. “How did this happen?”

Danger, Will Robinson!

“Uhhh,” I bit my lip as he fixed me up. “Why do you ask?”

Though I was uncomfortable at the thought of telling him how it happened, his knowing that I had it was actually a relief. Hiding it from people was freakin’ exhausting.

He stood up, walked to the bathroom, and disposed of the gloves he was using before washing his hands.

I picked up everything else, shoving it into the nearly full kitchen trash before emptying it and setting the bag beside the bay exit so I could take it out the next time we left.

Then I went to my bedroom, picked out a new t-shirt and undershirt, slipping them both on, before I walked back into the living room where Sean was sitting on the couch.

“I ask because I want to get to know you,” he said. “It’s what partners do.”

He did have a very valid point.

“My brother hit me with his patrol car while he was drunk off his ass, and I sustained some internal injuries.” I sank onto the couch beside him. “At first, they were worried I might lose a kidney, but it bounced back. A section of my bowels was too damaged to be saved, though, and they had to remove that portion of it. It needs some time to heal, and in the meantime, I’m stuck with this.”

He blinked at me.

“Your brother hit you with his patrol car while he was drunk.”

It wasn’t so much a question as it was him repeating what I stated, so I stayed silent.

“How much longer do they expect that’ll take to heal?” he gestured to my stomach.

“I have another couple months left on my sentence. Less if things are healing well,” I admitted. “I’m visiting the doctor next week, a new one who’s based here instead of back home. He’s going to determine whether or not I’m ready to have it reversed.”

His eyes were curious and on mine, not on the TV that was blasting in the background.

“How long do they expect your recovery to take?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. A few weeks or so, I’d guess.”

He frowned. “Damn.”

My brows lifted.

“Why do you say that?”

I leaned forward, bringing one of the pillows off of the couch to my lap as I slowly started to wrap the tassels around my fingers, watching him think.

“I’ll take some vacation,” he finally said. “That way I don’t have to deal with anyone that I don’t like.”

My lip twitched.

“You’d take vacation just so you’re not stuck with a partner that you don’t like,” I repeated. “That’s dedication right there.”

He shrugged.

“I’m old and tired of dealing with other people’s misconceptions about me. I’m not hard to work with as long as I like you. Other partners have their own way of doing things. I’m guessing it’s because you’re so new to being a paramedic that you’re more open to other medics’ way of doing things.”

“Meaning, I don’t whine when you want to drive all the time and don’t get offended when you open doors for me and always put your back to the wall so you can see the room.”

He sighed.

“I…”

The tones dropped, and he got up off the couch, walking to the door where his shoes were waiting.

“Suspected woman in labor on the side of 225. Volunteer medics on the scene.” The dispatcher’s static-laced voice filled the air.

“Goodie!” I clapped my hands.

If I had to go out in the rain, at least I got to see something good instead of something gory.

Childbirths were definitely one of my favorite kinds of calls.

“It’s yours,” Sean said.

I rolled my eyes.

Sean had a problem with babies and birthing women. Something I’d figured out after the past few weeks of working with the man. If a woman even hinted at being pregnant, he was passing her off to me.

“I’ll deal with the women hiding food under their breasts all day long, not to have to deal with a woman during childbirth,” he’d informed me when I’d questioned him.

“Aye, aye, Captain,” I saluted him.

He narrowed his eyes at me.

“Don’t start.”

I grinned and offered him a smile tossed over my shoulder. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

***

Six hours later, our shift change showed, and Sean and I both walked out shoulder to shoulder, to the parking lot.

The sun was shining and our eyes were burning.

After delivering a baby on the side of the highway last night, Sean and I had non-stop calls the rest of the night.

I was seconds away from passing out, and I couldn’t wait to get home to my bed.

Sean’s next words stopped me cold, though.

“Want to go on a ride this weekend?”

Before I could say ‘no, that’s not a good idea,’ my true feelings took priority, and I blurted out the first words that came to mind.

My brows furrowed. “Sure. Where?”

He grinned.

“To Bear’s Smokehouse. Though, the ride’s going to start within the city limits and lead out of town.”

My head tilted slightly toward the side.

“What else is this?”

He grinned.

“A biker bash,” he informed me. “I’ll pick you up at ten.”

With that, he was on his bike and starting it up, and I was left standing there watching him go, wondering if I was making a huge mistake.