“On a Sunday?”
She winked. “No rest for the wicked and all that.”
It was for the best, but Luke still felt a hint of disappointment. “I’ll walk you out, then.”
“Perfect.” Bella twisted her wet hair into a quick braid and grabbed her bag. “Ready when you are.”
They headed down the hall to the elevator and waited together. Luke was torn between feeling like he should make small talkand not wanting to undermine yesterday’s easy conversation. Bella stepped in.
“Do you have a long shift today?”
“Yeah.” Luke nodded. “Probably twelve hours.”
“That’s… long.” The elevator doors opened, and they stepped inside.
“It is, but I love my work.”
“I get that. I love mine, too — mostly. And I’m definitely going to try some of that triage stuff from your talk last night.”
“Really?” Luke glanced at her. Her hands were folded in front of her and she was facing straight ahead, but she looked back and grinned. Her green eyes looked lighter today, and her cheeks were still slightly flushed, either from her shower or from their activities the night before. She looked lovely.
“Really. I don’t work with patients, but I bet I can still use some of your strategies. ‘Focus on the big picture, not the individual,’” she added in a deeper tone.
“Is that supposed to be me?” Luke asked, chuckling.
“It was. I sounded just like you.” She winked again. The elevator reached the bottom floor, and they got out.
“You didn’t,” Luke said. “I don’t know what you do, but you definitely aren’t an actor, because that was pretty terrible.”
“Maybe that’s my acting strategy,” Bella suggested. Luke snorted, and they stood, just looking at each other, until a pair of clearly hungover doctors brushed past them and broke the moment.
“Right, well, I’d better go,” Luke said. “I’m parked out front.”
“I’m in the back.” Bella hooked one thumb towards the hotel’s rear entrance. “See you around, then.” With one more smile, Bella turned to go — and Luke instinctively reached out, grabbing her hand. She spun back towards him, and he kissed her, just once, on the lips. It wasn’t anything like the passionate, all-consuming kisses they’d shared the night before — it was sweeter, more tender. If Luke hadn’t known better, he’d have thought it was the kind of kiss that spoke of a shared future.
He did know better, though.
“Wow.” Bella looked down. “I like this way of saying goodbye.”
“Same here. See you around, Bella.”
“Bye.” She waved and turned away again. This time, Luke didn’t stop her, but he did watch her for a moment as she threaded her way around the people in the lobby. Then he checked out at the desk and headed to his car.
As he drove towards the hospital, the windows rolled down to take in the fresh October morning — and hopefully bring him back to his senses — he found it was difficult to get Bella out of his mind. It wasn’t just the night with her, either, although that had been one of the best of his life. It was their conversation, the way she’d made him think in a new way. And it was what she’d said this morning, about using his triage techniques. The night before, he’d thought that if even one person listened, his talk would have been worth it — and the universe had sent him Bella.
The talk had definitely been worth it.
When Luke pulled into the hospital lot, he let out his breath. Once he was at work, it would be easy to put Bella out of hismind. All his memories of her laugh, and her kisses, and her teasing would fade away into the rhythm of saving lives.
He crossed the parking lot and headed to the attendings’ lounge, where he grabbed a pair of scrubs from the fresh laundry and put them on, leaving his suit in his locker. It felt good to return to who he really was. More and more, last night was starting to feel like a beautiful dream rather than reality.
He exchanged his loafers for tennis shoes, grabbed his ID badge, and headed straight to the ER. Since it was Sunday, Marco wouldn’t be in the hospital, which made Luke smile. He’d have nothing to distract him from his work today.
Down in the ER, he was promptly swept into the chaos when an eight-year-old girl with a broken arm from gymnastics was brought in just as he arrived. He followed the stretcher into one of the triage rooms and smiled down at the tearful child.
“Hey there,” he said, grabbing the overhead x-ray machine and pulling it over to get a look at the break. “What’s your name?”
“Ella,” the little girl said. Luke blinked. For a moment, he’d thought she’d saidBella.
