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Her voice raised a couple of notches, and Ali stared. Johanna’s eyes turned to a darker shade, and there was a split moment where Ali allowed herself to get lost in her blue eyes. She looked down, her heart on the cusp of being pushed over a ledge she didn’t want to get too close to. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.
“Listen, I don’t want to have to worry that you’re going to slow yourself down. Or, even worse, this is a group effort. I also don’t want you to slow any of the other nurses down. We all need to do our part. And if you can’t handle it…”
“I can handle it.” Johanna’s tone moved up a couple more notches. “But if I’m being honest, maybe you should learn to deal with your students more. You’re a leader and should act like it and not like a bully.”
Ali’s jaw dropped. “Well, as a student, I don’t know that that’s a way to get your point across, do you?” Ali tilted her head, and Johanna dropped her gaze but didn’t say another word. “Just thought I would connect. You should get back to work.” Ali walked around the desk and took a seat. When Johanna reached the door, Ali opened her mouth. “Johanna?” She slowly turned around to acknowledge her but didn’t reply. “It really was good to see you in the class. Surprising, but good.”
Johanna stared at her, and their eyes met in this heated exchange. Neither one broke contact, but it was clear that they were in this competition with one another. If Ali once thought that the beautiful woman from the bar could be a healthy distraction, she was wrong. Johanna didn’t respond, eventually turned around and left the room, leaving Ali alone. Ali opened the folder and looked back over Jo’s resume. Only time will tell if Johanna Vialdi can handle the stress that comes with CAPMed.
Johanna
After the conversation with Ali, Jo was determined to show Ali how wrong she was. And she wanted to prove it to herself. If Ali got all that from one lousy resume, she didn’t want to give her more ammo. She couldn’t look like she was the failure that Ali assumed she was.
She made sure to come to work early for the next week, even before Ali showed up for the day. And she stayed later than any other nurse in the ward. That would show them she was a woman not to be messed with.
After doing that for a week, she arrived at the front door at the same time that Ali did. They met each other’s eyes, and Jo gave a quick smile before pushing through the door. She held it open long enough for Ali to enter before hurrying off the elevator. The quicker she got up to the floor and prepared herself for another hectic day, the quicker she could get her out of her mind.
She couldn’t even lie. There was a moment of hesitation when she would catch a glimpse of Ali. The attraction remained despite her feeling that Ali had put her in a bad spotlight. She pushed the button for the floor and stared at the elevator, mentally wanting the door to open so she could escape inside.
“It’s true what they say.” Johanna quickly glanced to her right at Ali. “When you want something to go fast, it never does.”
“They say that?” Jo asked, arching an eyebrow.
Ali snickered and shrugged. “I heard something like that. My grandmother always said a watched pot never boils; I just paraphrased.”
Now, in that moment, the confusion crept deeper into Jo’s mind. She seemed so human. Yet, there was always another side to a person, and Jo had seen both of Ali’s sides in a matter of weeks.
The elevator dinged, and they stepped inside. Jo stepped back as Ali pressed the button for their floor. “You’re here early again!” Ali replied.
“Something my grandmother always said, the early bird catches the worm.”
Ali nodded. “I’ve heard that one, too.”
“Hold the door!” Ali put out her foot and caught it just before the door was about to close. Nolan came running into the elevator and sighed with relief as he fell against the elevator wall. “Just in the nick of time,” he said.
“Like always.” Ali winked, then pushed another button, then the door closed them in.
Suddenly, Jo was a third wheel in the moving metal box, and she felt this overwhelming awkwardness as Ali leaned in and said something to Nolan, and he laughed a little too loudly for Jo’s liking. Were they talking about her? It felt like it was an obvious sign. She attempted to look straight ahead.
If they didn’t come together, then they were definitely just a couple and not married. That didn’t soften the blow any. She released a breath and waited. But as Ali mentioned, the waiting was agony, and the awkwardness didn’t get any easier.
The door opened, which was Nolan’s floor. “See ya for lunch!” Ali blew a kiss in his direction, and Jo frowned. Didn’t they mention that employees weren’t allowed to have intimate relations? Maybe because he was on a different floor. That would be the only explanation that Jo could consider. Ali looked over. “Should have introduced you,” she said.
Jo shrugged. “Saw him at the conference, so I knew who he was.”
“Ahh, right.” Ali nodded and turned back. Then the doors finally opened, and Jo could release the pent-up breath that she had been holding. “We’ll meet up in the conference room this morning. We have a quiz and stuff to do. Just some basic stuff. Then, we’ll have our morning huddle. Get your bearings, then come to the conference room.” She walked off, and Jo shook her head and tried to get the image of Ali out of her mind. She was in a relationship, and it clearly was working for her. Besides, she couldn’t be with someone who was sweet one minute and copping an attitude the next. It just wouldn’t work for her.
She went to the breakroom down the hall, dropped off her purse, and then left the breakroom and went to the nurse’s station. Georgette looked up from the computer and smiled. “Hey there. Early again, I, see?”
Johanna grinned. She enjoyed working with Georgette. She seemed like a calming influence, and she appreciated that Georgette was always there to assist with her questions.
“Just trying to show that I’m dedicated.”
Georgette laughed. “I don’t think anyone questions that.” She ran her hands over a layer of charts and groaned. “And today is going to be a busy one. I hope you wore comfortable shoes.”
“Always. I have a quiz to attend to, so hopefully, it won’t be too long.”
“Is Ali being cruel to you newbies? Do I need to give her a chat?”
