“I never said that.”
“You literally just did.”
My headache gave a hard throb, pain spidering along both of my temples. The stress of this conversation doing nothing at all to dull it.
What did it matter?
What didanyof this matter?
I could sit Avery and Marlow both down tonight and demand for them to break up with their significant others and they wouldn’t.
So, what was the point in begging for my approval?
Who cared what I thought?
Clearly, that never stopped Marlow from going off to that fucking wilderness camp to begin with. And clearly, it never stopped Avery from leaving his ridiculously highly lucrative job in the city to move back here for aman.
“Your choice,” Marlow reminded. “Either way, you’re coming.”
“Is this what’s going to get you off my back? A dinner?”
“It would be a start, yeah.”
I sighed. “Fine. Thursday. I’ll meet you.”
“Yes!” There was a loud clap on the other end of the phone. “Perfect. We’ll be going to La Palma. Dress nice!”
“Sure thing.”
Pulling the phone up to cradle in the crook of my arm, I settled the receiver back down onto it and brought it back to the desk, Beth taking it back from me immediately to exchange it for freshly printed papers.
“Violet said you wanted these.”
Behind her, the spot my other nurse had occupied was mysteriously absent.
Terran Bishop’s name was at the top of the first set of pages, along with his medical history and the form to discharge him, filled out and ready for me to sign. A pen was placed by my handthe moment I set the papers back down, Beth turning to address another doctor coming around to drop off a set of folders for the next rotation.
The pen scratched satisfyingly against the pages as I ran through them, each line dated and marked with my signature and printed name, the line next to it left for the patient to sign off on and be scanned back into our database as proof they were leaving of their own volition.
Leaving the pen behind, I gathered the papers into my hands and headed down the hallway, Beth’s laugh carrying on well past the first few doors I passed. Since Violet was determined to force me into doing this part of the job myself by disappearing and avoiding it altogether, I at least would have confirmation he was leaving.
Hopefully, to never return here again.
The promise of having my mind back to myself instead of being filled with nonsense was comforting. Perhaps by the end of the day, I’d even get rid of this headache.
Terran was sitting up in his bed when I swung into the room, his hand cupped around a small bowl filled with prepackaged fruit that had been dumped into it, his fork poised with a mango up against his lips while he stared out the room’s window aimlessly.
“You’re free to go.”
His head snapped around to face me, his mouth opening just enough to get a glimpse of that pink tongue hiding behind his teeth, running along the bottom row absentmindedly. “Free to go?”
I tossed the papers down onto his lap. “You wanted to be discharged by Monday, didn’t you?”
He set the bowl down onto his tray slowly, gathering the papers in his hands. “But… you didn’t even check me?”
“Are you experiencing any abnormal pain?”
“No.”
