by David, Luna
As Ronan walked back toward his office, he paused at the breakroom, taking in his very pregnant nurse as she sipped her late-afternoon tea. The smug, satisfied look on her face had him shaking his head. “You did that on purpose.”
She snickered and then grew serious. “I honestly gave you the top three candidates from a technical perspective. It just so happened I knew you’d dislike two of them and really like the third, so hey, things worked out.”
“Yeah, they did. How are you feeling, mama? How about you head home a bit early today? Natalie can handle anything pressing from a paperwork standpoint, and I can handle everything else. There’s just a couple more patients to see before the day is over.”
“I’m happy to stay, Ronan. I’m feeling pretty good today, and I’ve taken plenty of breaks to keep my feet from swelling too badly. Do you want me to call Jamie and give him the offer?”
He sighed and nodded. “You might as well. He’ll be a great fit. Thank you for doing the initial interviews to narrow it down for me. Is Melissa working from home today?”
Gina smiled. The fact that her wife was finally able to work from home on Fridays was something they were both enjoying. “She is, yeah.”
“Great. After you call Jamie, why don’t you surprise her with an early start to your weekend?”
“I love you. You know that, right? I’m gonna miss working for you.”
He gathered her into a gentle but firm hug. “I know you do. I love you too. You and Melissa are family, so you won’t get the chance to miss me much. I promise.”
“So, you cool with being Uncle Ronan?”
He chuckled and murmured, “You bet your ass I’m gonna be Uncle Ronan. Now listen to your boss, go home and enjoy your weekend.”
She snorted indelicately, her eyes narrowed slyly. “Yes, sir.”
He chuckled, shaking his head as he walked away. Damn, but he was going to miss working with her every day. He couldn’t wait to see her and Melissa’s little baby boy. They’d make a beautiful family. If he had to lose Gina, for any reason, he couldn’t think of a better one than family.
JAMIE
Jamie walked around his bedroom, searching for the tie he was sure he’d left on his bed before he showered. The tie that was now nowhere to be found.
After another fruitless search of his bedroom and, just in case, the bathroom, Jamie started to think he was going crazy. Maybe he hadn’t set the tie out when he’d set out his suit. No. That didn’t sound like him because Jamie was organized. His lists and calendars were filled with the most minute detail. There was no way he’d forget his tie. It was literally the centerpiece of a suit.
And he needed the suit since all of his old scrubs had the other hospitals’ logos on them and couldn’t be used.
“Andy!” Jamie yelled for his roommate and best friend as he walked toward Andy’s bedroom door and knocked. Jamie could hear the music Andy played loud, and often, coming through the closed door. Even though it was only temporary, living with someone took some getting used to
Taking the chance that Andy wasn’t naked or something, Jamie slowly opened the door to Andy’s room. Andy was often getting lost in his own head when he was planning the lessons for that week’s classes. He taught at one of the local, private elementary schools.
Jamie found Andy right where he thought he would. At his desk, scribbling away in his sketch pad. What Jamie hadn’t expected was his tie around Andy’s neck.
Walking over to the stereo on top of the tall dresser, Jamie turned down the music that blared through the room. Andy didn’t even seem to notice at first. Jamie knew how he got. He got so wrapped up in getting the image he had in his head on paper. He loathed to interrupt him.
But Jamie had questions.
“Andy, man, why are you wearing my tie?”
Without even pausing or looking up from the drawing, Andy replied, “Because it reminds me of the sunrise.”
Jamie had no idea how to respond when Andy said things like that. On one hand…okay that was cool, but on the other, who took someone else’s clothes because of a reason like that? Jamie shook his head and smiled. “How did we end up friends again? That’s not a real reason to steal the clothes off my bed without saying anything to me, man.”
“I was going to say something, but you were naked and wet and doing god knows what in those forty-minute showers you take. I do have lines I won’t cross, Jamie.”
“It’s called cleaning.”
Andy finally looked up at him, his blue eyes shining with humor. “No one cleans for that long unless they’re cleaning for a very specific reason. Hot date?” Andy looked over at the digital clock on the desk then glanced back at Jamie. “Jamie, it’s seven a.m. Why are you dressed like that?”
Jamie shook his head. Sometimes Andy was such an airhead. He was lucky he remembered what day it was most of the time. Jamie was never surprised when a new Post-it popped up with some random note in Andy’s apartment. The two of them could not be more different.
“New job, remember?”
“Umm no?”
“Andy, man, I told you about it on Friday when we were out at the café. I got the call in the middle of our lunch.”
And finally, there was the recognition Jamie was hoping for.
“Oh yeah. This is that kinky doc’s office, right?”
Jamie laughed. “No, the doctor’s office isn’t kinky.” Jamie, at least, didn’t think it was. Dr. Kincaid did say he was into the lifestyle, but he seemed like an upstanding professional. Plus, even after only a few minutes talking to Gina, Jamie was sure she wouldn’t let anything like that happen at the office knowingly. “They just cater to those into alternative lifestyles, and I commend them for it. It’s probably hard for them to find safe places to go without judgment.”
Andy nodded, suddenly very serious. “Yeah, that’s true. Hell, even as a gay guy I’ve found it can be hard to find doctors who aren’t passing judgments.”
“Exactly.”
They talked for a few more minutes while Jamie looked for a new tie to wear, and Andy gathered his stuff and shoved it into his bag.
Jamie realized during all the inane chatter that he was nervous. Excited, too. This place was nothing like any other place he’d worked at the last six years. Traveling from hospital to hospital across the country had allowed him to get a taste of many different structures in every department he was placed in. But Dr. Kincaid’s office was miles off anything he’d encountered.
Jamie was sure he’d be fine. He was always fine. Always self-assured, on task, and organized. But he really had no idea what he could expect from working with patients who might regularly come in with injuries of some kind. What he was sure of was he’d probably have a lot of questions for Gina when it came to that. And he would ask because he refused to give less than his all to any of the patients under his care.
Saying goodbye to Andy, with a promise to pick up takeout on his way home, Jamie got in his car and drove to his new job. The constant question of why he had decided to accept the position kept going round and round with no end.
When Gina had called him last Friday to offer him the job, he’d been shocked. Not because he didn’t want the job or thought he couldn’t do the job but because he hadn’t had much time to think it over. It had literally been within an hour of leaving the interview, just as he had sat down with Andy at a local café to eat, his phone had rung.
The pay was good with benefits and perks most small practices didn’t offer, but those weren’t the only things he had to take into consideration. Jamie had been wondering, since he’d walked out of the building last Friday, if the practice was a good fit for him. Regarding the patients and the alternative lifestyles they led, it brought on a lot more questions than he had answers for when it came to the challenge of caring for them. How different would it be? Was he up to that challenge?
Added to that was Dr. Kincaid. Jamie wasn’t sure what he thought of the guy. He was attractive, in an objective sort of way,
like any other guy he would look at. Okay, so maybe he had strawberry blonde hair, soulful brown eyes, a beautiful face, and just enough of a sexy British accent to curl his toes. What guy didn’t? Jamie rolled his eyes at himself.
Physically, he was taller than Jamie by at least four inches which, he had to admit, he loved in guys. Not that it mattered when it came to his freaking boss. His build was slim, but even under the suit he’d worn, Jamie could tell he wasn’t soft like most men his age. He seemed imposing but warm and kind, though…there was just something Jamie couldn’t put his finger on, a quality about him that made him stand out.
Jamie wasn’t sure why that bothered him.
He made it to the building within twenty minutes and found Gina just unlocking the employee entrance along the side the building. She must’ve heard him because she looked over and waved. Deciding not to make the heavily pregnant lady stand there waiting for him, he parked and quickly grabbed his things.
“Good morning, Jamie.” Gina smiled a greeting as he approached her.
“Good morning, Gina. Let me take your bags,” he said as he reached out to take the heavy-looking bags in her arms.
She waved him off. “You will do no such thing. I am perfectly capable, but thank you.”
He smiled at her strong independence, just like his mom had always been. “I know you’re capable, but it’s still a nice thing to do for someone already carrying another human being in their body. Please?”
Her eyes locked with his for a brief moment before she nodded, handing over two of the bags. Jamie took them and followed her through the door. They were in a narrow hallway with a couple of doors along each side. It had only been about three days since he’d been there for his interview, but if memory served, this was the hallway they had walked down to Dr. Kincaid’s office.
Gina walked down the other end of the hall, pushing open a swinging door. “Bring those bags right in here, sweetie. And don’t you look great in a suit. I ordered your scrubs, though, if you’d like to change in a few minutes.”
Jamie nodded. “Yeah. That would be great.”
The room, which he realized was the breakroom, held a long table with chairs surrounding it and a long counter with a few cabinets above the sink. The fridge was situated at the end near the door. He placed the bags on the table and looked around. The room was set in warm tones of muted olive green and brown with a hint of purple accentuated throughout the small space.
Jamie started to reach into the bags to help like he would at a friend’s when he stopped, realizing he should probably ask first. When he looked up at Gina, he found her smiling at him. Jamie didn’t know her, but he had a feeling this was an I-have-a-secret smile.
“Just hand me the stuff in the bags, and I can show you where they go. Ronan likes to keep snacks and things in the lunchroom in case any of his patients need something. And for us, of course.”
One-by-one, he handed her a range of snacks from bags of dried fruit, to nuts and seeds, to fresh fruit, and dark chocolate. He was only slightly surprised that all the snacks were on the healthy side, since most doctors and nurses he knew ate like shit, but Dr. Kincaid—Ronan struck him as the by-the-book kind of guy.
Reaching for the final item, he was shocked to find paper plates. “You use paper plates?”
Gina looked over at him after standing up from putting the fruits away in the drawer in the fridge. “Yes.”
“You do know they are terrible for the environment, right? They use wood pulp, and the cost to the environment for transportation and production alone is outrageous. Even the cost comparison of a load of dishes in the dishwasher is an average of sixty-three cents versus seventy-eight cents to buy the same amount of paper plates.”
Gina just stared at him a good full minute, in turn, making Jamie realize how fired up he’d gotten over her purchase of paper plates. His friends would’ve understood, but Gina was probably thinking that hiring his crazy ass was a bad choice.
He was about to apologize when she burst out laughing. Jamie didn’t know how to react. She was laughing, so that must be…good. Maybe.
After another minute of hearing her laughter ring through the room, he felt himself smiling. She was nearly doubled over, holding her swollen belly with tears falling from her eyes. He didn’t know what she’d found so funny, but her laughter was contagious.
Suddenly, her hand flew to her mouth, and she let out a very lady-like squeak. “Oh my god, I think I peed a little!”
At that, Jamie broke out into laughter too.
Finally, after their laughter had died down, Jamie had Gina settled into one of the chairs around the table. “Care to explain what it was I said that caused you to laugh? I was sure your reaction was going to be something else entirely.”
Gina giggled. “You sound a lot like Ronan. Not the paper plates specifically, because that’s just…wow, but this incredulous tone you take on like everyone should know this or that and how unconscionable it is that we commonfolk don’t know.”
“I do not think that, by the way,” Jamie said with a wink and the best impersonation of a snob he could.
Gina snorted in response. “I couldn’t be any happier with my pick for a replacement. I have a feeling you and Dr. Kink will get along perfectly.”
Jamie was relieved she thought so because he wasn’t sure. Not yet any… Hey, wait a minute. He choked out an incredulous, “You call him Dr. Kink?!”
Nodding, she burst into another fit of giggles. Whether it was his incredulity or the nickname itself, he had no idea, but he couldn’t help but join in.
She finally got control of herself and said, “Yes. That’s his nickname around here and to the community, by and large. Oh, and lest we forget his special after-hours visitors. I mean, obviously, no one says it to his face, but come on! It’s the. Perfect. Nickname!”
He was about to respond when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Dr. Kink himself was leaning against the door jamb shaking his head. He walked into the breakroom, muttering under his breath, “Worst kept secret in the world. You watch, even after this she won’t acknowledge that I know about it. She’ll just continue to call me that behind my back.”
She gasped and put her hand against her chest in mock outrage. “Who, me? I would never!”
He gave her a baleful look, and when he leaned down to put his lunch in the fridge, she nodded and mouthed, “Yes I would.”
Jamie couldn’t control the snicker that came out, so he gave the doctor a nervous glance when he straightened and shrugged. Ronan rolled his eyes in her direction and headed her way, bending down to place a kiss on the top of her head. “Training my new nurse on the real important office policies, I see. Off to a good start, Gina. Thank you, as always.” He turned to Jamie and tilted his head toward Gina. “You’ll wanna be careful with this one. She’s trouble. Welcome aboard, Jamie. Have a great first day.”
Jamie was taken aback by the wink the doctor gave him as he headed out the door but managed to say, “Thank you, Dr. Kincaid.”
Gina rubbed her round, pregnant belly and grinned up at him, saying over her shoulder at the doctor, “You’re welcome!”
He watched as the doctor walked out of the room in his perfectly tailored, dark gray suit, looking imposing and very professional, and realized he hadn’t even had time to get nervous around the man. He wasn’t sure if that was a lucky break or a bad sign. He’d have to wait and see.
But one thing was for sure, there was just something about the man…
RONAN
Jeremiah Wolf stood beside the exam table petting his pup absentmindedly. “Who’s the kid?”
Ronan dried his hands after washing them and approached the table. Jeremiah’s pup was the last patient of the day, and then Ronan would be ready for the weekend. “Jamie? He’s our new nurse replacing Gina.”
“Gina’s not returning after maternity leave?”
“Nope. No leave. She’s chosen to be a stay-at-home mom. It’s something she’s always
wanted to do, and her wife is able to support them both in order for Gina to be able to be home.”
“That’s great. I know you’ll miss her though. How’s he doing so far?”
Ronan gave the Wolf pup scritches behind the ears and got a lick on his wrist as a reward. Petting the pup’s head and down his back, the pup leaned into his side for more rubs. “It’s the end of his first month, but he’s doing great, actually. The patients seem to like him. How did he treat you both?”
Ronan stepped away to pull up his rolling stool, and the pup whimpered and yipped when he realized he wasn’t getting any more pets. Jeremiah cut him off. “There will be none of that, pup. The doc needs to examine you. If you behave, I’m sure he’ll be happy to give you some rubs.” Jeremiah turned toward Ronan. “Jamie was great, actually. He seemed mildly surprised when he showed us to the room, and Michael sat on his haunches beside me on the floor and yipped until I raised my hand to pet him. But he recovered fairly quickly and even asked me directly which one of us was here to see you. And when I told him it was Michael, he asked me if I could help my ‘pup’ onto the exam table.”
Ronan couldn’t help but smile at Michael’s wide grin. “Good. I’m glad. Gina taught him well, then. I’ve seen it myself, but it’s always good to hear it from our patients. So, Jeremiah, what’s your pup gotten himself into this time?”
The pup whimpered and buried his face in his owner’s armpit. Whether he was embarrassed, scared, or ashamed, Ronan didn’t know, but he couldn’t help but reach out to soothe. Soft scratches on the pup’s side and his back seemed to help. Murmurs from his owner seemed to relax him even more, but he stayed hidden as Jeremiah said, “He’s having a hard time acclimating to his new brother. There have been some growing pains. As you know, my pup is mischievous, and his new brother is bigger and apparently doesn’t like teasing. We’re working on it together.” Jeremiah and Ronan shared a look of understanding as he nudged his pup. "Does he?"