Page 2 of Sudden Summer

“Listen, bitch. You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” Big hands pushed against my arm, my body jerking to the side before I could respond. My feet tripped over each other, sending me flying into the storage cart on the other wall. Pain exploded through my side, and the edges of my vision darkened as a large body rushed into the room.

Declan was suddenly in front of me, wrestling my patient’s boyfriend to the ground. Once he was restrained, Dec pulled him up off the ground and marched him out of the room.

“Oh my God! Are you…are you okay?” Alexis asked.

“I’m fine. I’m fine, I promise,” I tried to answer as I caught my breath. Kayla and another nurse, Erica, came rushing into the room. They started checking over Alexis while I slipped out into the hall. My back rested against the wall, and I let my head hang down as my hands braced against my knees.

I must have been out there for a while, because I watched Dr. Witten’s shoes hurry by me to enter my patient’s room.

“Are you okay?” He asked, his hand rested gently on my shoulder a minute later. I couldn’t catch my breath. The adrenaline dump was so severe my legs were shaking, threatening to drop me to the floor. And all I could think of was how badly I wished my best friend was here to catch me.

“I’m good. I’m okay.” I straightened my back and forced myself to take a deep breath.

“You’ll need to fill out a report and finish out your charting, but then I want you to go home.” I opened my mouth to argue, but he just held up his hand and continued. “It’s only a few hours early. I’ve already called Dr. Carthill to cover for you. She should be here in an hour and she said the storms have already passed us, so she’ll be safe coming in and you’ll be safe heading out. Go to the break room and just decompress, okay?”

I nodded, unable to find the words. The entire walk back to the break room, I forced myself not to hold my side. It was searing hot with pain—the corner of the storage cart jammed into me with such force, I wasn’t sure there wouldn’t be blood when I checked myself over in a minute.

Ouch. Finally, I was inside the small room. Alone. Still, I went to the small bathroom and locked the door behind me. There was no reason to worry any of my coworkers. The man would already be banned from the hospital, I’d never see him here again. My concern was for my patient. That she would have the resources necessary and the support once the baby arrived to leave the hospital and go someplace safe. I would deal with my bruised side on my own.

Hissing as I pulled up my scrub top, my eyes caught the line of angry, red skin, dotted with little specks of blood. Shit. Reaching over my shoulder, I grabbed the first aid kit attached to the wall and balanced it on the edge of the small sink.

A minute later, with antibiotic ointment and a fresh bandage applied, I fixed the first aid kit back onto the wall, washed my hands, and splashed some water on my face before finally returning to the break room. I slipped my phone, which I’d used to take a few photos of my injury before bandaging myself up, back into the pocket of my scrubs.

The room was still mostly unoccupied, except for Kayla who now sat at one of the small round tables with her lunch out in front of her.

“Damn, that was wild,” she muttered as I walked behind her to get to the computers.

“I have some resource pamphlets I want you to give Alexis after she delivers. We need to make sure she has somewhere safe to go. If she is to be discharged after the standard twenty-four hours, given her delivery is normal, we should try and keep her here an extra night or two. It might give us more time to help her line something up.”

“Already on it.” Kayla’s fork waved in the air, two pieces of ziti stabbed and holding on for dear life as she pointed it towards me. “All you need to do is write up the report, then get home and take care of your side.”

“What? My side is fine.”

“Alexis told me he pushed you into that cart. Your side is not fine.”

I turned my back to her so she wouldn’t see my eyes roll. “It’s fine now. Just knocked the wind out of me, is all. I’m glad Declan got in there when he did; it was scary how fast he escalated things.”

“If he was willing and unafraid to do that to you, imagine what she’s gone through.”

“I know.” I shuddered. “I hope the help we give her is enough. No one deserves to live in fear of that.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I grabbed it, knowing I’d need to attach the pictures I took from the bathroom into my report.

A message from my best friend, Beau, was waiting for me.

Made you dinner. Should I keep it warm, or are you stuck at the hospital?

It’s just a steak and some potatoes.

If I eat dinner out there, can I stay the night?

Three dots appeared immediately. And just like every time I saw him typing to me, my heart fluttered in my chest.

It was a useless crush. One I’d been harboring for almost thirty years. Since our first day of kindergarten, actually. Beau Ford had marched right up to me at the dollhouse I was playing with, and told me cows didn’t belong in the living room. I crossed my arms and told him on my ranch, they did. I could still remember the way his eyes narrowed at me while he contemplated my push back. And then he asked me if I’d ever seen a real cow.

My family was poor. I lived in the city of Silver Springs, and the only places I usually ever went was to school and then straight home. So, yeah, I’d seen some passing in pastures occasionally on trips to the doctor’s office in Bell Ridge, but I’d never seen one up close and personal. As I added more cows to the living room, he just laughed and started telling me all about the ones that lived with him. In the pasture was where they belonged, according to him. When all was said and done, Beau invited me to his family’s ranch that day.

Everything okay?