My Only - Alex & Jamie (14 page)

“Thanks Dr. Corbin, for everything.” Alex gratefully shook his hand, holding on to it a little longer than necessary before releasing it.

Dr. Corbin smiled and nodded as he left the room. As soon as the door shut, Vickey started whistling as she busied herself stocking supplies in the drawers by the window.

“So, just out of curiosity, what do
I
have lined up Vickey?” Alex asked as he sat on the edge of his bed.

She turned a sly smile crossing her face, “I didn’t say you had anything lined up. I said
we
will be staffing that in-house.”

Alex rephrased the question, “Okay, what do
we
have lined up?”

“Well you know Thelma and I are both busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest, and the only other person who is up to speed on your case is Jamie. So it just made the most sense to designate her to oversee your out-patient care.”

“Is that standard hospital procedure? Providing out-patient home care?” Alex loved the idea of Jamie coming to see him at his home, but he did not want Vickey or Jamie getting into any kind of trouble because Vickey had decided to play matchmaker.

“Sure we do. Doctors around here do house calls all the time,” Vickey said, shifting from foot to foot, avoiding his stare by lowering her gaze to the task she was completing.

“Doctors do, I know, but what about nurses, Vickey?”

“Now you listen here, young man.” Vickey set down the gauze she was holding, turning to him with her hands planted on her hips, “You don’t see me showing up at the firehouse and questioning you on how you all are running the place.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Alex quickly replied. He knew Vickey wasn’t really mad at him, she probably just wanted him to stop digging.

“And - not that I owe you any explanation - but, rest assured it has been run through the appropriate channels and was approved.” She winked again as she turned back to finish stocking the drawers.

“Vickey, have I told today you how beautiful you are?”

She blushed shaking her head, “You little flirt, save it for Jamie.”

Alex laughed as the door opened and Jason, Katie, Riley, and Chelle came in. Vickey greeted them all and then shot him a quick wave as she left the room.

“So we just heard the good news, you’re getting out of here,” Jason said, giving Alex a quick hug.

“I am.” Alex patted his brother on the back.

Katie pulled out a yellow legal pad and pencil, “We already stocked your fridge with meals you can just throw in the microwave so you don’t have to cook…”

“He never cooked,” Jason pointed out.

Katie ignored him, “...and Sophie and I cleaned up a bit, but wow, Alex,” Katie looked up at him as her eyes widened, “you keep a pretty clean house.”

“Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” Alex answered.

Jason laughed, “Yeah, right. He just keeps it clean for his female visitors.”

Alex shrugged, “Well that, too.”

“Speaking of female visitors, my mailbox is filled with messages from ladies that are willing and eager to offer their time and,” Chelle cleared her throat, “services once you are home.”

Katie pulled out her phone, “Oooooh, mine too. Do you want to hear them?”

“No,” Alex barked. He hadn’t meant respond so harshly but the thought of hearing random girls leaving what were probably borderline inappropriate messages did not appeal to him.

His brothers and their wives just stared at him. He thought he saw Chelle’s jaw literally drop but she quickly shut it again.

“I just don’t want company right now,” Alex tried to smooth over his odd reaction.

“Yep, we got that loud and clear.” Jason narrowed his eyes. “Soooo, just to clarify do you not want
any
female company right now, or just none that doesn’t start with the letter J, end with the letter E, and have AMI in the middle?”

Alex rubbed the back of his neck, drawing a deep breath and releasing it before speaking, “Just let everyone know that I’m not up for company yet, okay?”

“Okay,” Both Chelle and Katie agreed in unison.

Katie looked down at her yellow legal pad and continued, “And don’t worry about the Harvest Festival, we’ll find someone else to take your booth.”

Alex shoulders dropped and he frowned as his head fell back. He had completely forgotten about the festival.

Every year the Fire and Police Departments held a Harvest Festival fundraiser on Halloween. It served two purposes. First, it gave the kids a safe place to trick or treat. Parents knew that they wouldn’t have to be concerned about the candy or having their kids go up to stranger’s doorsteps, and since the weather could be unforgiving in October, it was a lot better to be indoors.

Secondly, and most importantly, was that the money they raised went to the HCWS (Harper’s Crossing Women’s Shelter). The shelter provided a safe place for women and their children seeking refuge from abusive situations. It also offered support such as counseling, job training and transitional living programs.

Since Alex had moved home several years earlier, he had been the highest earner at the fundraiser. Last year, he had brought in nearly $5000 from his booth alone. That kind of money went a long way at the HCWS.

Alex’s jaw clenched, “I’ll do it.”

“No, Alex, we’ll find someone else. You're not up to that,” Katie said emphatically.

Alex raised his head and looked at her, “Who? Who could you find to bring in the same kind of money?”

“The money doesn’t matter, Alex.” Riley said, arms crossed.

It just kept surprising Alex how protective Riley had become since the accident. He wasn’t used to it. But he had to admit, it wasn’t so bad.

“I’ll clear it with Dr. Corbin. O
kay, everybody?” They did not look convinced. He held up his hands in mock surrender, “I’ll even get a note.”

They all agreed and the subject moved on to a construction job Jason had just landed, Riley thinking about opening a bar up in Harper’s Crossing, Katie excited about her new practice now that she had passed the bar in Illinois and, of course, Chelle’s pregnancy.

Alex grew silent, disengaging from the conversation. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about what his family was discussing, he did. It was just that since telling Katie that he would, in fact, work the booth, all he could think about was Jamie’s reaction to him doing it.

He wanted to call her and tell her. But that was ridiculous, she probably wouldn’t even care. Although if the roles were reversed, if she were the one in the booth, he would not like it at all. Nope. Not one little bit.

Jamie glanced down at the paper she was holding in her shaking hand. It read the same thing it had the last hundred times she had checked it. 1407 Suellen Drive.

She looked up at the house that she was parked in front of. It had a 1407 painted in black on the side of the garage. Before her sat a beautiful craftsman style home. It had a huge porch with exposed rafters, a stone chimney, a large window with red trim and gorgeous wood siding.

It was exactly the type of house Jamie had always dreamed of growing up in. It was perfect. And it was owned by Alex Sloan.

Jamie had gotten to the hospital and had been prepared for the disappointment she was sure to feel when she walked by room #405 and Alex wasn’t lying in the bed. She had known that there was a very good possibility that the hospital would feel completely different without Alex in it. She was ready to face a long and Alex-less shift.

As soon as she had reached the desk, however, Vickey had called her into her office and explained that Jamie would be overseeing Alex’s outpatient care, which basically consisted of changing his bandage, twice daily. Jamie had initially been confused. There were home-care specialists that contracted through the hospital, but she was not one of them. Vickey had told her that Dr. Corbin thought that, with the speed at which Alex was healing, he would only need the assistance for the next week.

Still confused, she had asked if Vickey just wanted her to train one of Alex’s relatives to do what she would be doing. It wasn’t like you really needed to be an RN to clean and re-bandage his burn. Jamie was pretty sure one of his brothers could handle it. Vickey had just said that they (who “they” were Jamie had no idea) would feel more comfortable if Jamie did it.

Jamie hadn’t felt like it was appropriate for her to continue to argue with Vickey. They were paying her, if they wanted her to go off-site to a patient’s home then that was their prerogative. She had just gotten up from her seat and asked if Vickey wanted her to go now, before her shift started and then head back over at the end of it.

Vickey had just let out a short laugh and patted Jamie on the arm, “Oh no Sweet Pea, you don’t need to come back here. For the next week you will only be overseeing Alex’s out-patient care.”

Startled, Jamie had argued then. She had said, “I work twelve, sometimes sixteen hour shifts, how long do you think it’ll take me to change his dressings?”

“Well there’s that, and you will also need to make sure he is left in peace so that he can get rest. Rest is so important in recovery.” Vickey had opened the door, clearly indicating this conversation was over.

“So you want me to be on ‘groupie duty’ at his house.” Jamie’s eyes had narrowed as Vickey had practically pushed her out the door.

So now, here she sat, trying to figure out how in the world she was going to keep her professional distance while they were alone, in his home. She was the first to admit that she had done a piss poor job of it even when they had been in a crowded, busy hospital where they were constantly interrupted.

She just needed a few more minutes to sit here and get herself together. She hadn’t been able to think straight at all since Vickey had told her about her new assignment.

Boy, she thought, when Aunt Hazel had said “You never know how things might work out,” she didn’t know how right she had been. Jamie had not in a million years thought this would be a possibility.

Wait, Hazel! She needed to let Hazel know where she was, and that she was not at the hospital, in case there was an emergency with Joey.

She opened her purse and grabbed her phone, scrolling through the contacts until she got to the right one.

Hazel answered on the first ring, her voice brimming with excitement. “Are you there?”

“Am I where?” Jamie asked skeptically.

“At Alex’s.” There was an implied “duh” at the end of that statement, even if Hazel hadn’t come right out and said it.

“You knew.” Jamie realized that maybe when she had said, ‘You never know how things might work out,’ it hadn’t meant she was a psychic, it just meant she had had the inside track.

Aunt Hazel didn’t answer, the line was quiet.

“You could have given me a head’s up,” Jamie grumbled. She hadn’t even worn her ‘cute’ scrubs today! She had just thrown on her plain yellow ones thinking that there was no way she would be seeing Alex.

“Well you know doctor-patient confidentiality and all that,” Hazel explained.

“You’re not a doctor and Alex isn’t your patient, Aunt Hazel.” Jamie knew that nothing she could say would dissuade her aunt from anything so she decided to give up. “Anyway, I was just calling to let you know that I would be here and not at the hospital, but I guess since you already knew that, there was no point.”

“All right honey, well you have a good time and don’t you worry about Joey and me. We are planning on having a Shrek marathon so we are all set.”

Jamie felt instantly guilty for getting irritated at her aunt. Hazel had gone so far above and beyond to be there for her and Joey. When Jamie had gotten the news that she would be working at the hospital in Harper’s Crossing, she had immediately started looking for child-care. She knew that quality child-care was hard enough to find even if you worked a nine-to-five. But with a nurse’s schedule, it was nearly impossible to secure.

She had found several promising leads and the day that she and Joey had driven up to check them out, they had stopped in to visit Hazel. As soon as Hazel had heard what they were doing she had insisted that Jamie didn’t need to worry about any of that because Hazel only worked a couple of mornings a week at the diner, and she made the schedule, so she could choose her days off. She said she would love to watch Joey for Jamie.

Hazel had never had any children of her own, so therefore she didn’t have any grandchildren, and Jamie thought that she may have secretly always wanted them. Jamie had agreed to let her babysit Joey but had gone ahead and had several back-up options in place. Jamie knew that people rarely kept their word.

But, to Jamie's surprise, Hazel had. She had rearranged her schedule, always remaining available to keep Joey when Jamie had to work. Jamie had never had someone else to depend on when it came to Joey. It had always just been her and her alone. Hazel's support meant more to Jamie than she thought Hazel herself could ever know. Every time she tried to thank her, Hazel would just downplay it or brush it off, claiming that it was her pleasure and thanking Jamie for sharing Joey with her.

Jamie heard Joey in the background asking for popcorn, she smiled.