She looked at me suspect. “That’s true…I guess. What did you want to know about Bridget, anyway?”
“I don’t know. For starters, what happened to her husband?”
Sadness crossed over Calliope’s face. “She hadn’t started coming to yoga yet, so we weren’t friends when it happened. But she told me about it. Sounded horrible. She was down in Florida with her son visiting her mother when she got a call that he’d been in a terrible car accident. He died before she even landed back in Providence.” Calliope shook her head. “He was only thirty. They were college sweethearts.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. Awful.”
I scratched my chin. “I wonder if that was the trip she got the knickers on.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Other than that. There’s not much to tell. She’s devoted to her son, Brendan. He’s a sweet, little kid who’s really good at baseball. Works at the hospital, and picks up as much overtime as she can, but money’s tight living on only one salary. Her husband didn’t have much life insurance.”
When her next class started to trickle in, it was time for me to get back to the hospital anyway. I leaned down and kissed my friend’s cheek. “I’ll be back next week—same time, same ass. I mean class.”
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.”