“Honey, we’ve all been in love once or twice. I get it. Now get your head in the game. I’ve just had a phone call about a crash just outside of town. We’re about to get smashed so hard we won’t have time to take a shit.”
“Damn. I’m on it. Where do you need me?”
“I want you triaging. I’m going to take care of the interns, make sure they still want to come back tomorrow.”
“You got it.”
She’s not wrong. I don’t sit down for the next six hours of my shift and my phone sits forgotten in the pocket of my scrubs. I’m in the locker room, staring at the back of my locker wondering what I was looking for, when my phone buzzes.
I blink, pulling it out of my pocket.
Adam: sorry if I’m pushing too hard. Just tell me to can it
He sent three messages earlier, and I missed all of them.
Jen: Sorry. Shit of a day. I’m beat. Let’s talk about it more when I get home.
Jen: Did you talk to Vinnie?
Adam: Yeah. Fill you in when you get back. Dinner’s on the stove
I like this new version of us. I’m even smiling on the subway wondering what he cooked me.
When I open the flat door the rich, savory smell of meat stewing wraps me up like a hug. Adam pops his head around the corner a moment later. “Hey. I’m pouring the wine. Go put your feet up.”
I drag myself the last few steps to the sofa and sink into it with a groan. My back aches. My feet ache. My brain feels like it’s swirling in a fog. “How was your day?”
He comes in a moment later holding an enormous glass of red wine and a bowl. “Are you hungry? I made osso buco.”
My stomach rumbles, reminding me I didn’t have a chance to eat yet apart from the breakfast he made me. “Starving. Can you bring the bathroom here though? I really have to pee.”
I wave him away when it looks like he would pick me up to take me, and I accept the bowl of stew. Halfway through my second bowl and most of the glass of wine, I’m feeling way more human.
With a huge sigh, I put down the bowl on the coffee table and lean back, holding my belly. “That was amazing.”
“You liked it?” Adam clicks mute on the TV.
I nod.
“Bad day?”
“Bad crash on the M1. No casualties, though. Not at the hospital anyway. So that’s something.”
“Sounds like hard work.”
“There was this one woman. Wanted to argue with me when she had to wait half an hour. She’d come in with her kid who got something stuck up his nose. Couldn’t understand why he wasn’t top of the list.”
Adam snorts. “What was it?”
“Dunno. A marble I think. Get this, though. It had been up there for three days before she brought him in.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know how you don’t just lose it at these people.”
I shrug. “I almost did, but at the end of the day, she was just worried about her kid.”
There’s a pause. Adam pulls my feet into his lap and starts rubbing them gently, and my soul just about leaves my body. “You’re never allowed to stop doing that now that you’ve started.”
He laughs. “So I called Vinnie.”
