Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
In fact, each time I checked in on her, she seemed like she was doing great.
At least, I thought she was, anyway.
Then I ran straight into her as I was on my way to the break room.
Well, more like, the supply closet that was near the break room.
In order to avoid her, I’d had to get creative, and in doing that, it meant that I couldn’t eat where everyone else ate anymore.
Sure, there were other places in the hospital that I could eat, but really, when you were a loner like me, you tended to congregate to places where people were not.
Though, I hadn’t always been a loner.
Long ago, before I’d had my heart ripped out of my chest by a certain little Viking woman, I’d been outgoing and social. I’d forced myself into that role as I’d moved out of my aunt and uncle’s house and had wanted something different out of my life than what they’d foisted upon me.
And that outgoingness had netted me the hottest thing in the world: Val.
For four short years, I’d been the happiest I’d ever been. Despite the stress of going to medical school, the countless hours of studying, bills that needed paid that we didn’t have the money to pay them with, and everything that had gone on with our families, I’d still been so blissfully happy it was amazing.
Then she’d left, and I’d gone back to that person who didn’t want anything from anyone. The one who fully expected to be treated like trash, thrown away and discarded.
My mom had done it—even though Pops liked to say he ‘didn’t know how she died.’
We all knew. My mom had been unhappy with her life here on this planet. To this day, I didn’t know why she was so damn unhappy, but I knew it had a lot to do with me. With her brother.
With life in general.
Regardless, she’d left me. Then my Pops couldn’t take me, leaving me to the hell on Earth that was my aunt and uncle’s house. Then Val had left me.
Honestly, there was no real reason to be outgoing or nice to people, or fucking care in general, when the only thing I ever got out of life was disappointment.
I was so lost in thought, thinking about how nice and quiet the utility room was about to be while I ate the most delicious smelling burger in the world, when I ran smack dab into the woman I’d been dutifully avoiding all week.
Her eyes narrowed as we came to a stop, the burger bag sandwiched between us.
I stepped back and nervously reached into my bag, my fingers undoing the wrapper before I could think about what I was doing.
“Well look who it is. The avoider,” she mused.
My stomach sank.
“Definitely not avoiding,” I lied as I all but peeled the burger wrapper off and dropped it.
“Then what would you call it?” she asked. “I’ve spent the last week nowhere near you, definitely not being watched over by my supervisor on shift and have been getting the shittiest cases imaginable.”
She was right.
Though, this time it wasn’t per design.
Though, I had a sinking suspicion it did have to do with Tammy, who’d been shooting me dirty glares all week because she’d been stuck in the minor ER with Val, and hadn’t been all too happy about it, either.
It wasn’t my fault that she’d scheduled her shifts weird, and she couldn’t work in the big emergency room with her regular shifts. She was the one who wanted to get on the same shifts as me, but when there was a full roster of nurses who had seniority over her, she got what she got.
That just so happened to mean she got Val.
And I was such an asshole for throwing the two of them together.
To cover up my actual avoidance of her, I had to act like I wasn’t completely fucked in the head whenever she was around and was actually avoiding her. To do that, I did what I did best. Came up with shit on the fly.
That was what made a good ER doctor great, right?
“I was actually coming to get you,” I said as I took a full bite of burger so I could think a bit longer.
“Oh, yeah?” she asked.
I nodded, before shoving another bite of food into my mouth.
At least, if it looked like I was in a hurry, and was actually coming to get her, then maybe she wouldn’t call me out for avoiding her again.
“Yeah,” I said around another bite full of burger.
God, it was good.
Too bad I couldn’t savor it like I’d intended to do in the utility closet.
“What is it?” she asked, actually sounding eager.
Which only made me feel more guilty. The fact that she was excited to do something that wasn’t stupid and ridiculous made me remember how excited I used to be when I first started as a resident.