His Bidding (The Best Medicine #1) (6 page)

“And...you know, it was stupid of me not to consider that you might already have a date for that night. Which would make this whole idea rather awkward for you, and...whoever he might be.” Sam smiled slightly, his grip tightening around her wrist just the tiniest bit, and it made her head feel swimmy again. “Maybe the young Dr. Jacob Kessler?”

Brynn gave him a surprised look, and then laughed in spite of herself. “The resident with the red hair?”

“He seems to pay closer attention to you than to my lectures during our rotations. I imagine you get that a lot.”

Shaking her head in disbelief more than denial, Brynn said, “Well, if he wanted to ask me to the ball, I guess he should’ve done it sooner.”

Sam grinned. “That is the answer I wanted to hear.” He let go of her wrist, but his fingers trailed down her hand as he did so, making her shiver. “I’d have been more disappointed if that had been why you’d said no, quite frankly.”

Brynn met his gaze. “Oh, really?”

He shrugged. He was maddeningly good at looking casual while Brynn’s mind was jumping all over the place.

They stood like that, silent, too close to each other, for what seemed like a long time before she spoke again.

“Do you still need those test results?” Her voice was husky.

He shook his head. “No – you know what? You shouldn’t have to stay any longer. I’m going to be here for a while catching up on paperwork, but I have everything I need. Mostly.” He gave her a smile that seemed to carry a lot beneath it. “And I even have dinner in the fridge here if I go that late, thanks to you.”

Brynn laughed softly. She was back to feeling like a teenager hanging around her crush’s locker. “Well...I hope you don’t end up having to stay here that long.”

“Me, too.” He looked at her, long and steady. “Drive safely.”

She nodded, wishing he would ask her to stay with him even as he watched her gather her coat and purse. When he didn’t say anything else, she headed towards the staff door at the side of the building and cast a glance over her shoulder. He was standing there, arms folded, leaning against the wall behind the desk, smiling at her. She melted.

“See you later,” she said in a voice that didn’t sound like hers.

“See you soon,” he corrected with a grin.

She let the door click shut behind her. The sound made her feel inexplicably sad.

B
rynn’s next couple of sleeps were significantly less restful – and not at all full of the erotic imagery with which she’d been blessed – than the one she’d had before her Clinic shift. Her dreams were more tense, a nonsensical mishmash of scenarios, each less likely but more terrifying than the last, showing just how her role in the charity ball scheme could backfire. By the time her next day at the hospital rolled around she found herself struggling to get out of bed at all, choosing to snuggle with Chester and ignore her alarm clock for as long as possible. When it became unavoidable, she dragged herself around her apartment, feeling like a zombie, going through the motions of showering, eating, and dressing in her most comfortable bright blue scrubs, but not registering much of anything.

Chester could sense her lethargy, making a point of winding his way through her legs with every step she took, as though trying to convince her to stay home and take care of him – and herself- rather than go to work. It wasn’t an option, of course, but it was comforting to know her cat was looking out for her in his own way.

She wasn’t even sure why she felt so leaden. By all rights she knew she ought to be excited, counting down the scant few weeks left before the big night. But for whatever reason she felt a sense of dread where that giddy anticipation should’ve been. Maybe it was just a readjustment to her two weeks of day shifts. But...she hadn’t felt this same degree of drag when she’d worked her eight-to-five at the Clinic. There went another excuse.

With an apple and half a sandwich tossed into a paper bag for lunch, Brynn resigned herself to not understanding her feelings and simply plowing ahead with her day. She could only hope that work would prove a distraction from the personal side of her life...though she knew she’d managed now to link the two together inextricably, and not for the better. She smoothed Chester’s fur and smiled at his last pleading meow before heading out.

As luck would have it, she and Lisa pulled into the hospital parking garage at the same time, which gave them a chance to talk for a couple of minutes before they had to punch in. Lisa got out of her car with a big smile for her friend, which faded quickly when she saw the circles under Brynn’s eyes. She practically ran over to Brynn’s Prius, her expression one of concern.

“Good God, girl,” she exclaimed. “You look like hell! Are you sick?”

Brynn sighed and succeeded only in a wan smile. “No. Just...tired.”

“Tired.” Lisa’s eyes narrowed with well-placed suspicion. “I’ve seen you look tired. This isn’t that.” She took her friend by the elbow and led her the long way around the garage, prolonging their time away from the nurses’ stations. “Tell me what’s up.”

“Oh, Lis.” Brynn wanted to tell her. She really did. But she knew she couldn’t, not yet. It didn’t matter how much she trusted Lisa. Letting any of this slip to colleagues with as much time left to go before the party would be a terrible mistake, and would put Lisa in an awkward position, no doubt. “It’s...a long story. I will tell you. I promise I will. But...not now.”

“Lunch?” Lisa was pressing now, her arm wrapped protectively around Brynn’s shoulders. She got a headshake in response.

“Not today. Not...yet.” It pained Brynn to not be able to tell Lisa everything, but that was how it had to be for the time being. “I just... I agreed to do something that may have been incredibly stupid, and I’m not sure if I should regret it or just embrace it. But I’ve been asked not to say anything more than that right now.” That much was mostly true, even though Sam hadn’t used those exact words. Their conversation about workplace gossip had made his feelings on the subject pretty clear where this was concerned.

Lisa frowned, her pretty face darkening. “Okay...? Just know that I’m around when you’re up to unloading whatever this is, all right?”

“And I’m so grateful for that,” Brynn said sincerely. “The time will come. Just...”

“...not today,” Lisa finished for her. The two exchanged a smile, and Brynn felt slightly better just knowing she had someone here, someone who knew the players in her little drama, off whom she could bounce everything once the time was right.

“Thanks for understanding.” Brynn stopped walking as they approached the door to the stairwell, impulsively hugging her friend. Lisa seemed taken aback, but she returned the hug with great affection.

“Girl, you know I’ve had your back since you started here. That goes for stuff outside of work, too.”

If she only knew how not-outside of work this was, Brynn thought, but she said nothing more about it. “I’ll meet you for lunch anyway, if we’re off at the same time.”

“Sure,” Lisa replied, walking ahead and holding the door open for Brynn to enter the hospital. “I can take my hour any time between noon and two, so whatever works for you.”

They made a date to meet in the cafeteria at 12:30, after eyeing the grey skies outside and deciding today wasn’t ideal for one of their lunchtime strolls, and as they ascended the stairs they parted to check in on their respective floors. Lisa’s face was still shadowed with worry, but Brynn’s smile felt a bit stronger as she waved, which had to help matters.

None of her fellow nurses on 6 Main seemed to pick up on anything unusual, though most of them were just finishing up as Brynn came in to relieve them, so she imagined they were pretty wrecked themselves. Julie looked overjoyed to see her, which made Brynn laugh – she knew the feeling.

“What’ve you got for me?” she asked as Julie handed her an impossibly long list of goings-on from the previous night.

“Three new admissions, here,” Julie sighed, pointing to the patient names and room numbers. “This one’s been transferred up to us after a bunch of post-op complications, and we’ve got to keep an eye on this lady, at least hourly...”

As soon as Brynn was caught up, she patted Julie on the shoulder and smiled. “Okay. I’ve got it. I’ll brief the others as they come in. You can duck out before anyone tries to get you do ‘just one more thing before you go’...” They both laughed, and Julie looked like she would throw her arms around Brynn’s neck in gratitude under different circumstances. She hurried off and didn’t look back. Brynn decided to tackle the more complex cases before granting herself any respite by visiting Mr. Elgin’s room.

Those cases took three nurses and nearly four hours to get under control. Brynn all but forgot her own little personal dramas as she focused on their highest-maintenance patients, which was welcome. It was nearing noon when she was finally able to pop in and check on her favorite “inmate,” as he liked to call himself.

“Good morning,” she called as she entered Mr. Elgin’s room. The curtain was partially drawn around his bed, but even without seeing her, he recognized who was there and immediately greeted her with cheer.

“Ah, if it isn’t my favorite nurse!”

Brynn left the curtain as it was but poked her head around the side to smile at the man. “Missed me, did you?”

“I’m amazed this place doesn’t fall apart when you’re not here,” he said dramatically, which made Brynn giggle. “The other ladies are fine – you know, they get the job done –“ He pointed at his IV and rolled his eyes, though he still had a grin on his face. “– but nobody is as interesting a conversationalist as you are.”

“Why, thank you.” Brynn curtsied, which seemed to charm the older fellow, and she took the chart from the end of his bed to get caught up. “I guess it’s me who’s changing the bags and taping you up again?”

He nodded. “I asked when you’d be in, and when the night nurse told me it was just a couple more hours, I told her to skip me and leave it until the expert had arrived.”

“You know, you’re the embodiment of why I became a nurse in the first place, Mr. Elgin.”

He gave her a proud smile. “That’s nice to know. I haven’t heard my name come up when the hens are clucking in the middle of the night, so I like to think I’m not too much of a pain.” He nodded his head toward his door, outside which was the nurses’ station. Brynn laughed and shook her head, able to imagine the sorts of complaining he’d heard among the staff over his weeks in recovery here.

It wasn’t until she was halfway through replacing Mr. Elgin’s IV and was fiddling with a roll of surgical tape when he finally remarked on her drained appearance.

“Not a relaxing few days off, I take it?”

Brynn looked up from her tray of supplies, a bit surprised. She’d thought – or hoped, at least – that her busy morning might have erased most of the more obvious signs of strain on her face. Apparently not.

She chewed her lip nervously. “Not especially, no.”

Unlike Lisa, Mr. Elgin didn’t push for more information. He sat silently, watching her with gentle eyes as she affixed the tape to his arm and secured each tube just so. It was his silence that made her feel her resolve breaking down.

Against her will, she heard herself say, quietly enough to not be over heard by any of the other nurses who were buzzing about in the corridor outside the room, “I...could use some advice, actually.”

“I’m good at advice.”

Brynn smiled slightly. He really was the perfect grandfatherly sort of man. “I bet you are. But...”

He didn’t let her finish before making the “my lips are sealed” motion, miming the key being thrown away as he closed his mouth for dramatic effect.

She glanced at her watch. Half an hour before she was due to meet Lisa. She had to unburden herself somehow before then. And here she had a sweet elderly man offering to be the keeper of her secret angst. How could she possibly resist?

As quickly as she could, she’d hung the “Procedure in Progress” sign on his door before closing it off to everyone else, scooted a chair over to his bedside, and started at the beginning.

F
orty minutes later, feeling lighter than she had days, Brynn trotted down the flights of stairs to reach Lisa’s floor. She gripped her bag lunch in one hand and swung the door open with her other. Her timing seemed impeccable – she arrived just in time to see her friend laying her stethoscope down and leaving a patient chart on the counter at the nurses’ station. As soon as Lisa saw her, they both smiled, Lisa doubtlessly relieved to see that Brynn looked considerably better than she had first thing this morning.

“Sorry I’m a bit late,” Brynn said. “I was just finishing up something important with a patient and I ran a little long.”

Lisa shrugged. “No worries. I got kinda slammed there for a bit, too. Hungry?”

Brynn was surprised to realize just how hungry she was. “Yeah. I don’t think this is going to do it after all.” She held up the too-light paper bag and smiled. Lisa elbowed her playfully.

“Then I guess lunch is on me today, huh?”

As the pair of friends walked the length of the corridor toward another stairwell that would lead them to the cafeteria, they passed the bulletin board that had changed everything only a few days earlier. Brynn’s pace slowed ever so slightly as her eyes rested upon the smiling photo of her handsome dark-haired boss, framed by festive ornament artwork and glitter. She couldn’t repress a grin. Lisa’s eyes narrowed at her again, but she didn’t say a word.

They kept walking, a spring in Brynn’s step as Mr. Elgin’s words and advice echoed in her head. All Brynn could envision now were sparkling lights, glittering Christmas trees everywhere, and the most eligible bachelor in the hospital – hell, maybe in the entire city – standing in a tuxedo on a stage, giving a conspiratorial wink as he waits for her to claim him as her own. For one night only.

Beyond that, Brynn didn’t dare speculate. But she knew the coming days would be filled once again with sensuous dreams and endless possibilities, every one of them starring Dr. Samuel Hitchens.

It was going to be a long few weeks.