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“You were quiet at lunch,” Nolan remarked.
If Ali could get her point across to Jo, she would attempt to, but it was hard to know where she could put her opinions. It was too heartbreaking to get attached to a patient only to find that the patient had a complication and didn’t make it. She had been through many cases like that and wanted to prevent other nurses from that heartache.
“Guess I have a lot on my mind.”
“The promotion, perhaps?” he asked, a twinkle in his eye.
That hadn’t totally escaped her mind, but it wasn’t quite where she was letting her brain take her. “So, I never really heard how your visit with Loverboy was. Guessing he went back home?”
Nolan laughed. “And you’re changing the subject, but that’s just fine.” He then left a grin on his face. “Things were good. Really good. I forgot how much I love that guy, but when I saw him, it was as if he never left town. I don’t think it’s forever. I just need to tell myself that and ultimately believe it.” He laughed, taking a sip of his water. “But things were pretty heated the whole time he was here. If you catch my drift.”
“It would be rather hard not to catch that drift,” Ali teased. “I’m glad it went so well, though.” She checked her watch. “I have to head out. I have an OR getting prepped for surgery and want to make sure everything runs smoothly.” She stood up from the table and grabbed her trash. “I’ll be seeing you later.”
“See ya!” He waved, and Ali left the table and discarded her food in the receptacle next to the exit. She reached in her pocket for her notepad and flipped through the schedule for the afternoon. Jo was the one set to handle the prepping of the surgery. She took the elevator to their floor and went to the nurse’s station. She pulled up the computer and went to the docket for the surgery. Next to the prep team was May’s name. She frowned and went back to her schedule. Sure enough, it said Johanna.
Georgette exited a room and headed to the nurse’s station. “Hey, G. says that May is prepping surgery. What happened? Johanna was on the schedule.”
She shrugged. “She’s in with the Alvarez boy. Not entirely sure. He might have needed some extra attention, and they had to switch responsibilities. No telling.” She went back to her computer, and Ali left the station and went to Vincent Alvarez’s room. The door was open enough for Ali to take a peek inside. Ali was propping a pillow up behind his head. She was the only one in there and didn’t look like Vincent was in too much distress. She knocked lightly on the door, so she didn’t startle either one.
“Johanna, may I please see you for a minute?”
Jo hurried out of the room, and Ali motioned for her to follow her to the conference room. A few people were already there, so she grabbed her arm, pulled her into another office, and shut the door. She turned around, and Jo dropped her gaze.
“What are you doing?” Ali asked.
“He was alone and needed something to make him comfortable.”
Ali crossed her arms in front of her. “So, you decided to shirk your other responsibilities and have May prep the surgery because you were too preoccupied. There’s a lot wrong with that statement. And I’m sure you know it.”
“I wasn’t shirking my responsibilities. She was merely helping me out. Everything was fine.” Ali sighed, attempting to lower her racing heart. “You don’t know what you did wrong, so I’ll try to explain it.”
Looking Jo in the eyes, Ali calmly stated, “You came here and have certain responsibilities you need to achieve today. One of those was to prep for this surgery. Any of the other nurses could have taken over if the patient needed something.”
“But he doesn’t like them like he likes me,” Jo argued.
“Jo, you need to be careful here. You are getting too caught up in this one patient’s health. That’s not good for you, your stress, or the team. Trust me. I’m just trying to help you out here. I don’t want you feeling like a failure if something happens to that little boy.”
Jo’s jaw dropped, and her eyes narrowed in. There was even a hint of a tear in her eye, and Ali didn’t want to see that. She was only trying to get her point across. It appeared it worked, but not as she had hoped.
“I’m not saying it’s likely something will happen. I’m just saying that you have to protect your heart, and getting too close to this family could do detrimental harm to you. That’s all.”
Jo nodded but turned her gaze away from Ali. “Am I free to go back to work?”
“Yeah, you’re free.” Ali waited for Jo to leave the room. She knew she was right, but if Jo wouldn’t hear her out, then maybe it was best to just watch from afar and hope that she was reading too much into the situation. But that afternoon, she watched Jo and noticed that her dedication seemed to be undeterred when it came to Vincent, while other nurses were forced to assist with her other patients. It wasn’t quite fair, but was she the right person to do something about it?
Come out with us tonight. You seemed a bit down today and could use some cheering up. We won’t stay out late. You won’t regret it!!
Ali was already regretting it and hadn’t even made it to the bar. But Nolan knew her all too well, and she needed a night out with friends. She pulled into the parking lot and was glad to see that it wasn’t a full house. She could hopefully enjoy a relaxing time out with friends.
She entered the club and spotted Nolan and the rest of the group in the far corner. A waitress was still at their table, and she ordered a beer before she headed off.
“Hey, everyone!” Ali grabbed the empty seat and looked around at her friends. “Did I miss anything?”
“Not hardly,” Regina, a woman who worked at the ER registration desk, replied. “We all pretty much just got here ourselves.”
“Good.” The waitress brought them their drinks and then left them to their quiet. Ali sipped on her beer as a couple of different conversations went on. A couple wanted to discuss how things were going between Nolan and Brody.
“How’s Milwaukee going for him?” Jason asked.
