Moonshifted(61)

“If you ever meet my wife, don’t rat me out. She makes me sandwiches, but I always pick up one of these on the way in.” His phone rang from his pocket. “Speaking of,” he said with a grin, reaching for it.

“She waits up for you every night?”

“She’s a night owl too. We make a good team.”

I smiled at him. It was nice to see that sometimes relationships worked. I took my Coke and ducked out the door.

* * *

If I stayed down in Y4, they’d put me to work. I hopped back into the elevator, made it take me to trauma ICU.

I’d get in trouble if I keyed myself into the computer looking up patient data on Jake’s behalf, but with an exposed badge and a couple of open windows, I could make a thorough snoop. There couldn’t be that many white guys with dreadlocks at the hospital. Javier and Luz were gone; their room held a woman colored Oompa Loompa orange with liver failure instead. I bet she sounded like Gideon. And I bet Javier was at a skilled nursing facility, and Luz was still being strong for him, at least for now. She was tough, but it was young love, so it wouldn’t last—said me, the person who refused to admit she’d ever been in love before.

I quickly walked through all the ICUs. Satisfied that at least I’d tried on Jake’s behalf, I texted him as I waited for another elevator.

Ur friend isn’t here. And then, before I could think things through or regret it, I typed, & still thinking about ur idea.

Faster than I would have been able to type it myself I got, Thanks Sissy. I owe you, back from him in return.

Par for the course. The elevator arrived and I went back to Y4.

* * *

I changed into scrubs after my time skirting the HIPAA privacy line, and was just about on time.

Meaty saw me coming out of the locker room hallway. “I just made the assignments. You’ll be around the corner tonight. Gina called in sick.”

“I bet she did.”

Meaty’s eyebrows raised with a silent question, and I shook my head. “Never mind.” I couldn’t blame Gina for wanting a shift off after the night she’d had. “Who am I up with?”

“Rachel.”

I made a face after Meaty passed by. Rachel was a four-legs-good, two-legs-bad kind of vet. She worked opposite weekends from Charles and me. On the rare shifts I had had with her, I’d never seen her hang out her co-workers much—so much so that I got the opinion that she hated us. Being in the were-corral corner with only her to talk to for eight hours would be hell.

As if mentioning her had summoned her, Rachel swung open Y4’s double doors. “Edie, I need help. There’s visitors.”

My first reaction was to be surprised she knew my name. After that I paused for a moment, waiting for her complaint to go farther, then realized that was her complaint in its entirety. Visitors. Outside her patient’s door. I nodded. “I’ll be there in a second.”





CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO





Rachel was standing near Lynn, the P.M. shift outgoing nurse, giving very meaningful looks toward Helen, who also stood nearby. She was dressed in head-to-toe black, the color of mourning, and it didn’t suit her; it made her look too pale.

“Hey there,” I said, giving Helen a smile. “Want to go get coffee?” She was a high-ranking were—I wondered if talking to her would count? There weren’t any other weres around. I wondered how many needed to be listening in to officially kick-start the sanctuary engines of public humiliation and shame. At least where shame was concerned, I didn’t have any.

I watched Helen resurfacing from her distant thoughts, to focus slowly on me. “Hmm? Oh—it’s you. I don’t think I ever got your name.”

“Edie,” I said, putting my hand out.

“Helen,” she said, which I already knew. She shook my hand, hers warm but limp. Behind her, Rachel kept making furtive shoving gestures off to the side. “Do you think I’ll miss anything?”

“I doubt it. And I bet you need a break. Let’s take a walk,” I suggested to Helen, reaching for her arm.

She reached back to me, and clung around me. I was startled by how near she was comfortable being—my personal bubble for strangers was a little farther out, unless I was about to sleep with them. But I didn’t want to miss my chance to ask her for sanctuary, plus I felt sure that Rachel’s happiness with me would be in direct proportion to how long I managed to keep Helen off the floor.

“Fenris Jr. is in bed, and I didn’t have anywhere else to be,” Helen said once we reached the double doors together, walking arm in arm. I nodded, even though I didn’t think she could see me. “Have you lost someone before?” she went on.