“Like you said, you guys don’t really know each other,” Paige pointed out, picking up her burrito again and resuming eating it, though not without a wary look fixed on Deb. “Maybe there’s something that spooked her.”
“Maybe,” Deb said again. She wished she knew for sure. Wished Hayley would give her a chance to listen, and a chance to explain if she had anything that needed explaining. She’d even apologize, if she had to, and boy, was the idea ofthatsticking in her throat.
But she just didn’t know what was happening. And that was driving her up a wall.
“Have you done a total 180?” Paige asked, curious. “From hate to something kind of nice and wholesome?”
“No! Or… yeah. Maybe?” The wordmaybewas starting to sound weird, she was saying it too much. “No, come on, Paige. Wouldn’t you want to know if it were you? You’re telling me you wouldn’t be curious at all about what might have gone wrong? I mean this thing, whatever it is, it barely got off the ground and it already seems dead.”
“Never known you to get so stressed out over a lady before. Interesting.” Paige looked like she was going to say more, but then her pager buzzed at her waist. When she checked it, her eyes went wide. “A 911 page. Damn. Sorry. Chief. I’ve got to go.” She pushed up to her feet, picking up her lunch with a slightly regretful look on her face. “Only got a few bites. Man. But that’s emergency medicine life for ya. At least Ana Luisa’s stuff is as delicious as a cold leftover as it is when it’s hot.”
“I’ll come with you.” Deb closed up her own lunch box and pushed it away. She’d eaten even less than Paige had, but she had no appetite, even though the food from Ana Luisa’s taco truck was indeed divine. In fact, she hadn’t eaten more than a few mouthfuls in the last couple of days.Well, I’ll make up for it later.“It’s a 911; I’m sure you could use some extra hands.”
Paige paused at the door of Deb’s office and looked at her with narrowed eyes. “You’ve been spending a lot of time on the ED floor lately.”
“I’m the Chief,” Deb pointed out. “I’m supposed to.”
“I mean more than usual, and you know it.” Paige tilted her head and looked at Deb more closely. “Are you sleeping well? Drinking water? You didn’t eat much today, either.”
“Hey, you’re a doctor, but you’re notmydoctor.” Deb shoved her hands into the pockets of her lab coat and fidgeted with the pens and tiny sticky notepads and hair ties she always had in there. “I’m fine, Paige.”
“If this thing with Hayley is really getting to you?—”
“It’s not,” Deb lied smoothly, reaching past Paige to open her office door. “Come on. Patients are waiting for us.”
She felt Paige’s eyes on her back as she walked briskly to the central desk and wondered how long she was going to have to keep up this carefree façade. If Hayley kept dodging her, it could be a long, long time, and Deb wondered if she had the strength for it. She had no idea.
This was the first time she’d ever found herself so invested in connecting with another person, and she felt very out of her depth. She didn’t know what to do with it, but she did know how to work.
So, she was going to work.
A basket of fries hit the table in front of her. Deb squinted at it over her double whiskey. “I didn’t order anything.”
“I’m aware.” Sasha’s voice was dry as she sat down in the other booth seat. She waved a hand towards Ruby at the bar before folding her hands together atop the table and leaning forward. “But that’s your second double whiskey. Ruby sounded the alarm in the kitchen. You have to eat something, Deb.”
Ruby arrived and slid into the booth next to her partner. “Everything okay, Deb?” Smartly, she didn’t ask about Hayley,but Deb could see her wide green eyes were full of questions and concern.
She sighed and waved a dismissive hand at the happy couple on the other side of the table. “I’m fine.”
“Two doubles and no food does not exactly back up the statement.” Sasha, too, was concerned, her dark eyes searching Deb’s face for answers.
Deb ignored both Sasha’s concern and her observation, simply pulling her motorcycle keys out of her jacket pocket and sliding them across the table. “I’ll call an Uber later.”
“Deb, come on.” Sasha’s voice was frustrated, but she did take the keys and slipped them into her apron pocket. “What’s going on?”
“Work.” A lie, but with a grain of truth. Hayley did, after all, work at the hospital. So technically, a problem with her was a work problem, in its way.
Sasha and Ruby exchanged glances. “Can we help?”
“Just keep yourselves from getting into accidents,” Deb advised. “I’ve got enough paperwork to do.”
When she didn’t volunteer any further information and simply requested a third double, Sasha threw up her hands and motioned to Ruby that they should leave.
Deb didn’t touch the fries.
“Another banana bag?” Paige’s face reflected both worry and incredulity. “Your second one in a month or so. Deb, that’s concerning.”
Deb pulled the needle of the expended bag out of her arm and tossed it into the biohazard bin mounted on the wall near her desk. “It would be concerning if I were making it a habit.”
