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I smiled and released her hand, but her fingers hung in the air almost like she didn’t want to let go of me. I also didn’t want to, but that was a problem for later in the day.
“Good morning.” Marcy arrived, her face firm yet welcome. “Finish those drinks, and we’ll make our rounds. I’ll have you both shadow me for the first half of the day, then you’ll split off and start taking vitals and updating charts with the patients’ permission. Ask any question that enters your mind. Now, are you ready?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I nodded.
“It’s Marcy. Not ma’am.”
Audrey released a tiny sound, almost like a laugh, but I didn’t dare look at her. I liked the fact we had our own inside jokes. It meant Quentin had kept his mouth shut, and for once, I was grateful for his choice.
“With the shift change, we’re going to check in on our post-operative patients, ones who’ve undergone major surgeries, and check for complications. What are the main complications we’ll be looking for?”
“Bleeding, infection, organ failure,” Audrey answered.
“Correct.”
“Okay, let’s go.” She walked down the hall and approached a shut door. “Patient one is a thirty-five-year-old woman who was brought in from a car crash two days ago. Major surgeries on her stomach, legs, and arms. Multiple wounds to redress and check on.” Then Marcy knocked, and we followed her into the room.
“Hi, Bea, I have two nursing students with me observing this morning. Are you alright if they’re in the room when we check the surgery site and your vitals?” Marcy’s tone shifted from her all-business one to kind, calm, and reassuring.
Bea nodded and offered a sad smile. “Sure. Welcome.”
Audrey smiled. “Thank you for letting us be in here, truly. I know it can be uncomfortable.”
“Not after you have children.” Bea laughed, and Audrey joined her.
It was beautiful and strange to see Audrey’s bedside manner shift so much from her day-to-day personality. Despite her nerves earlier, she seemed at ease. Kind of like me on the ice.
I should’ve been watching Marcy check vitals—even though we’d known how to do that since freshmen year—but instead, I admired Audrey and how she seemed to mouth the procedure.
Marcy updated the charts, checked in on pain management, and brought out a breathing machine that helped patients get oxygen into their lungs to prevent any infection there. Audrey bounced up and down.
She did that again in the next room—an older gentleman’s appendix had burst and was on the verge of sepsis. Audrey also did it on the third and fourth visits. I wasn’t sure why it was so wonderful to see her like this. Maybe it was knowing she worked so hard for so long, that she never had fun.
We had a fifteen-minute break to grab a snack around midmorning, and we stepped outside in a small courtyard.
“This is –”
“You light up in there, Auds.” I interrupted her, not meaning to. “You come alive in the patient rooms, and it’s beautiful.”
I rocked back on my heels, my ears heating at the compliment, but it didn’t make it less true. I needed her to know that.
“Uh, thank you.” A blush spread from her face and down her neck. “No one… not that you’re calling me that, but wow, I’ve never been told anything close. You didn’t say I was… but?—”
“You are beautiful.” I chuckled, honestly kinda charmed by her rambling. She was an ice queen, always holding it together, and I was lucky enough to see her unravel. It made me want to pull at more threads and learn more about Audrey’s unraveling. “However, you come to life when interacting with the patients. It reminds me of me on the ice, actually. It’s like you were meant to do this. Patients will see that, Auds.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
“You brought me coffee, girl.”
“I didn’t want to be friends with you, but unfortunately, we might be?” she said the sentence with a question at the end, her face vulnerable like she’d said the wrong thing. She was adorable. Damn. It was a shame so many people didn’t see this side of her because it was cute as fuck.
“Seems to be so, bestie.”
She laughed. It was fleeting, but the sound was pleasant and caused that same warm sensation in my stomach. Audrey’s laugh felt like scoring a goal. Took a lot of work and the timing had to be right, but fuck it felt good.
“Thank you.” She swallowed and held my gaze. “It’s been a while since I had a friend, and I know we’re oddly connected, but it means a lot that you’d be friends with me. I’m not that fun, or?—”
“If you’re going to insult yourself, I’m gonna have to interrupt you and demand you stop.” I shook my head. “Friends aren’t defined by fun. It’s more than that, and you know it.”
