Page 1 of His Alone

Chapter 1

I can do this. I might not have any job experience, but I totally nailed the interview. I’m confident. I’m independent. I can do this!

“There she is! Hey, new blood!”

Oh, crap. I can’t do this.

I whipped around just in time to see a woman at least twice my age rushing down the hall, grinning like the cat that ate the canary. A younger woman trailed behind her at a slower pace, shaking her head as she laughed.

The older woman reached me first, offering her hand as she said, “Welcome, welcome! You must be Piper. I’m Clara. We typically work in pairs here, so I wanted to at least introduce myself today. Starting tomorrow, you’re stuck with me.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said with a laugh. I turned to greet the younger woman, but she was toddling behind a little slower than I expected. That was when I realized how much her scrubs protruded around her stomach. “Oh…. Hi. Are you Emily?”

The girl nodded. “Yep. And you’re my replacement, right?”

“That’s me.”

“Well, you’ll love it here. I know I have.”

The other woman looked down at her watch and cursed, wishing me a good first day and promising to catch up with me later. She darted away and I was left alone with Emily. All I could do was give her a nervous smile as I clasped my hands together.

“I, uh… I didn’t think I’d get to meet you. I thought your last day was last week?”

“It was, but I convinced my boss to let me come in one more day to walk you through the routine,” she said, gesturing for me to follow her. She stopped after a few steps, putting her hands on her stomach and groaning before turning to me with a wry smile. “I thought a slower pace would be better for your first day. And believe me—it’s going to be slow.”

As promised, Emily led me through her daily routine at a glacial pace that gave me plenty of time to absorb the information. When lunch rolled around and we sat down at a table in the break room, I used the opportunity to thank her.

“Thank you for everything. I’m sure you can tell how nervous I am. This is my first job. Well, unless you count babysitting.”

Emily stopped fighting with her pudding cup to stare at me with narrowed eyes as she said, “Hey, you’re talking to a pregnant woman. You can’t mention babysitting without giving me your phone number and rates. Don’t laugh! I’m totally serious.”

“Well, if this goes south, I might have to take you up on that,” I said, only half-joking. “Any chance you’d be interested in a full-time nanny?”

Emily gave me a sympathetic smile and said, “This wasn’t my first job, but working a cash register didn’t exactly give me the experience to prepare for this. But you have to remember that you were taught all you needed to know in school. All you have to do now is figure out how to apply that to this job at this hospital. Trust me—you’re going to get into the swing of things in a couple of weeks and forget that you were ever nervous about it.”

“That seems unlikely, but I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.”

“You don’t have to, but you should. Seriously. There’s no reason to be nervous. And Clara is great to work with. She’ll watch your back.”

I nodded and picked at my sandwich, managing to each half of it while Emily tore through everything in front of her. When she was done and pouted down at her empty plate, I offered her the other half of my PB&J, which she accepted after very little prodding.

“Thanks. I swear, I’ve never been so hungry in my entire life. It’s nuts.”

“I can only imagine. How soon are you due?”

“I’ve got just under three weeks left. I wanted to work up until my due date but being on my feet all day was starting to take a toll.”

“And how long is your maternity leave?”

Emily snorted around a mouthful of food, taking the time to wash it down with a sip of water before she said, “Don’t worry. They won’t kick you out if I come back. I asked just to be sure.”

I waited for her to elaborate, but she was focused on finishing the last bit of the sandwich and organizing the trash on our plates to take to the garbage can.

“If you come back?”

She froze and I immediately regretted asking. She seemed to be thinking something over and I got the distinct impression that she’d been thinking about it long before I brought it up. Just as I was about to backtrack to avoid any awkwardness, she spoke.

“The length of my leave has yet to be determined. I… might not come back at all. I haven’t decided yet.”

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