My mouth twitches slightly. “Yeah. I’ve thought about that.”
After taking a bite, she continues. “I should want safe, normal, predictable. Like others.”
“But you don’t.”
“No,” she says, her gaze flicks to mine. “And I definitely shouldn’t find the whole ‘badge on the belt, possibly dangerous’ thing attractive.”
It’s my turn to huff a quiet laugh. “Good to know,” I murmur.
She points her spoon at me. “Don’t let it go to your head.”
“Too late.”Waytoo late.
She rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling as she takes another bite. “You sure you don’t want any?”
“Maybe I’ll give the egg mac a shot,” I give in, brought to the point where I’m genuinely curious.
She starts to get up but I put my hand out. “Don’t. I saw where everything is. Keep eating.” I couldn’t sit while she serves me anyway, let alone after she worked a long and emotionally taxing shift.
I get up, moving around her kitchen with ease while I get a bowl, spoon, and scoop myself some of the noodles from the pot. I settle back into my seat, noting the way her eyes look hopeful that I’ll like it as I stick the first bite in my mouth.
I do, and… it’s good. Simple but good. And she’s right, it is creamier.
“Don’t look so surprised,” she mutters though she’s still smiling.
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m impressed.”
“That’s worse!” She lets out a boisterous laugh.
I smile; I can’t help it. Actually smile, something that her eyes lock on to. My mind is off the food, far from thinking about the noodles and cheese. It’s on the way she deflects pain with humor. On the way she notices more than she says. On the way she’s already brushing up against something dangerous… and doesn’t fully realize it yet.
Or maybe she does but is choosing to watch from a distance, to assess from afar to see it all in a way that she can’t from up close. Like she’s looking at an entire patient instead of a specific wound.
That’s a problem. Because now I’m involved. That puts her innately closer to danger. And I don’t want to walk away from things like this.
Or people like her.
Chapter 7
Alex
I don’t plan to stay long after dinner. She’s given me a copy of her patient notes, all withholding identifying information. Apparently, she’d asked one of her coworkers about any patients she’d encountered similar to the one she’d responded to the other day and “Alice had seen more than me.” I was worried that would happen.
Night shift seems to be getting more issues with this than Liv’s shift.
Liv collected all of Alice’s patients with her own and it’s showing a much bigger picture than I’d thought we’d been facing.
I knew this was big, but it’s so much more than that.
Liv walks me to the door, her bare feet quiet against the worn floor. Her apartment feels smaller now than it did when I arrived. Not physically, it’s just… different. The world weighing down on me is making it feel too small.
“Thanks for not making fun of the mac and cheese too much,” she says, leaning lightly against the doorframe.
“I showed restraint.”
