He smiled at her, once again showing off his dimples. “You’re really good at that. I barely felt it.”
“Thanks,” she mumbled as her face grew even warmer.
“So, all that good vibes and manifesting stuff … does that work for you?” he asked.
She tossed her gloves into the trash before she finally looked up to meet his gaze once more. His eyes seemed to look through her. It was as if he already knew her thoughts.
“I try to make it work. When I was starting over after a rough patch, manifesting and thinking good thoughts really did help,” she answered honestly.
His eyes never left her face. A small twitch of his lips had her preparing for another blinding smile, but it didn’t come. He narrowed his eyes briefly before standing to leave. “It was great meeting you. If I get bit by another patient, I’ll make sure to manifest a positive outcome.”
Before she could respond, he was exiting through the door he came in. Yes, she watched the way his uniform pants clung tight in all the right places. As soon as the door shut, she turned to see both Jenna and Doris watching her with unmistakable smiles plastered across their faces.
“You’re welcome,” Jenna said before turning back to her computer.
Mallory saw Jenna take in a patient shortly after her, but she was far too distracted to pay attention. A glance at the computer told her there wouldn’t be much time to chitchat. She quickly completed the chart for Christian and did her best to put him out of her mind. There would be plenty of patients with sea green eyes she could get lost in. And dimples that made her forget what she was doing.
It didn’t feel like much time had passed when she looked at the old analog clock hanging on the wall and realized the day was more than half over. Once she had seen the number of patients waiting, she sent a quick text letting Dan know she would see him when the shift was over. Legally, she was guaranteed athirty-minute break, but when it was busy, they were creative with lunch breaks. No one wanted to disappear for half an hour while the others were struggling to keep up. Doing so, would only ensure they had to stay over. Any patient with an appointment who arrived on time couldn’t be turned away.
“That was the last one,” Doris announced after her last patient walked back out the double doors.
Mallory quickly started restocking and sanitizing her area. One busy day and it looked like a bomb had gone off. Shelves were bare, things were in the wrong place, and it was in need of cleaning. Mallory knew better than to save anything for the following day.
“Today was crazy,” Jenna commented as she restocked her area.
“Crazy isn’t a strong enough word,” Mallory replied.
Doris snorted in agreement from her station. “But don’t think we forgot about your first patient.”
Mallory’s heart skipped a beat. She had done a good job of putting him out of her mind, once they had gotten busy. His green eyes were nearly forgotten. “Nearly” being the key word.
“Yeah, did you get his number?” Jenna chimed in.
“No, I didn’t get his number,” Mallory said in exasperation. “He’s a patient. That’s not how it works.”
“We all saw him and would have been more than happy to turn a blind eye,” Doris continued.
“Of course, you would,” Mallory muttered. She quickly finished up so she could get out of there before being forced to acknowledge the way she was affected by that man. It didn’t matter anyway, since she’d never see him again. She stuffed her sweatshirt into her canvas tote and made her way to the coffee stand to meet Dan.
CHRISTIAN
Chris walked into quarters to find his partner, James, already waiting with the bags and radios. James had been his new partner since Alyssa finished school, leaving him without a partner. He’d lucked out. When he found out his new partner was going to be a transplant from Chicago, he’d nearly quit on the spot. Fortunately, they had started off on the right foot, because Chris rarely formed a new opinion of someone after a first impression.
“Hero. Anxious to save lives, I see,” Chris joked after opening the door to quarters and taking a seat at the table across from his partner.
“Listen, asshole, some people like to be early, so they don’t have to rush,” James retorted.
“I’m always on time, and never in a rush. Where’s our truck?”
“Day shift killed theirs, so they threw them into ours. They were arriving at the hospital when I got here, so they shouldn’t be too long,” James explained.
James stood and stretched. He was even taller than Chris, and broader across the shoulders. His skin was dark, and he kept his hair in a well-maintained fade. He was born and raised in a less than desirable section of Chicago, so he was rarely caught off guard by anything they encountered on the job.
“I hate when another crew uses our truck. I like being able to quickly check it then go for coffee without worrying we missed something,” Chris complained. “I really need coffee.”
“Maybe you should sleep between shifts.”
Chris flipped him off. “I had to get labs after work and then take my mom to the store. I did sleep eventually, though.”
