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)
Which only made her try harder.
I looked over at her, about to say ‘no’ for the second time today, when I happened to see the woman I’d been trying to piss off out of the corner of my eye.
I’d known that Val hadn’t much cared for Tammy. She’d dealt with Tammy’s constant bombardment of phone calls, text messages, emails and what not. But what Val didn’t know was that I’d gone out of my way to keep the two of them separate.
I’d declined quite a few of the invitations to go see Tammy over the time Val and I had been together. But the night that she’d left, I’d said something to Tammy about Val leaving, and low and behold she’d arrived on my door step the moment that Val was gone.
Needless to say, just as I was about to say no, the words ‘pizza’ came out of my mouth.
I watched Val stiffen across the nurses’ station from me.
Good. I was glad that it affected her.
“You about ready to go, darlin’?” Tammy asked. “We could grab it really quick. Then you can get home to your pops.”
I watched Val stand up and capture everyone’s attention. It was Rose who said, “Time to go, darlin’?”
The shifts at the ER usually lasted twelve hours. Though, somehow Val had gotten special permission not to be here the full time.
I’d wondered why, of course. But I’d decided not to ask because then it would mean I cared about the answer.
“Yeah, our soft opening is today,” Val said quietly. “I’ll be here full-time tomorrow.”
“How exciting.” Rose smiled. “Have a safe trip home, Valhalla Drew. I’m very glad you’re with us.”
Rose was always so goddamn nice.
Couldn’t she just hate her with me?
No.
Because Rose was a sweetheart and instinctively liked everyone.
It wasn’t a bad thing.
But it wasn’t working in my favor at that moment in time.
“Y’all have a good one,” Val called to the group.
Then she was striding down the length of the hall toward the doctors’ lounge where she’d stowed her stuff.
Where I’d had to show her where to stow her stuff.
And, almost on autopilot, I got up and followed her. “Gotta use the facilities,” I muttered to whomever needed to know my whereabouts.
Tammy snorted before saying, “It’s getting about that time for your nightly shit. Just call it what it is.”
It wasn’t my nightly shit.
It was my nightly Snickers break. But none of them needed to know that. If they knew, they might try to join me on it, and there was no one on this Earth I’d share my Snickers with. Well, no one anymore, anyway. The last time I’d shared one of my Snickers had been the night she’d left me. And let’s just say sharing wasn’t ever going to happen again.
And tonight, I had a different break in mind.
One that looked like trouble, sounded like confrontation, and smelled like I was about to do something stupid.
Val had just pushed past the supply closet where all the linens were stored when I caught her by the wrist and all but yanked her inside.
She squeaked, surprised that she was being pulled backwards, but didn’t fight me at all when she saw who it was doing the pulling.
“Why are you leaving like that?” I asked, angry that she would care what I did and didn’t do. Knowing that was really the reason she was leaving.
I wasn’t stupid.
I’d known when the soft opening was—I’d done my research thanks to a friend I’d met while I was doing my own resident journey. She also just so happened to be very good friends with Val and thought that we could make up and life would be all better.
Folsom, our friend—though Val didn’t know that Folsom was my friend—probably wouldn’t speak to me after this was all said and done. But it’d be worth it.
“Why am I leaving like what?” she feigned ignorance.
I narrowed my eyes. “Being cute won’t fix this.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not trying to be cute, Dr. Kent. I’m trying to leave, which I already worked out with the hospital coordinator. If you have a problem with that, bring it to your boss.”
Dr. Kent.
Well that fucking burned more than it should have.
“I don’t have a problem with that,” I lied. I did have a problem with that. But instead of voicing that information to her, I said, “What’s your issue with Tammy?”
I wasn’t dumb. I knew what the issue with Tammy was. Val couldn’t stand her.
Tammy and I had moved here not too long ago, actually. And when I was asked—though I’d hoped I would be—to be the attending for the ER, I’d chosen to say yes. Because that worked with my plans.
Tammy had tagged along, though she hadn’t known why I wanted to make the move.
Val crossed her arms over her chest when I finally let her wrist go, tapping away with her foot and narrowing her eyes into slits so thin I wouldn’t be surprised if she couldn’t even see.