Page 24 of Deal Takers

“I am.”

“Damn, Rainey. I’d love to see you the second I land, but I’m coming in around eleven in the morning. I’m still on nights, but I’ll head to the hospital early, so I don’t miss you. I cannapin the on-call room if you’d like to come check on me during your lunch break.”

Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking. A doctor and nurse hooking up in an on-call room? How veryGrey’sAnatomyof us. In our defense, when you work long hours, and sometimes opposite shifts, you take what you can get. Adam’s staked out a room on the third floor that no one seems to use, so it works for us.

“Okay, I’ll come see you then. It will probably be around one.”

“I can’t wait, baby. I love you.”

“I love you too, Adam.”

It’s not until after we hang up that I realize he never asked me about my weekend or wished me a happy birthday.

CHAPTER 16

ONE AND A HALF YEARS AGO

Rainey

“How the hell did you miss that?” Drew yells at the TV. “You have one job, cocksucker!One job!How hard is it to kick a damn ball through the goal post?”

I’m at Devyn’s house for our regular Sunday Funday. If I’m not on shift at the hospital, I’m here, enjoying a day filled with three of my favorite things: football, beer, and pizza.

Devyn’s smiling from ear to ear, jumping up and down. “Yes! Oh, I’m sooooo sorry your team can’t keep up. You owe me twenty bucks, Andrew!” Her face morphs into stern mom mode. “And put a dollar in the jar.”

Sunday hangouts are always fun at the Summers siblings’ abode, especially when the Hawks are playing their rival, the Goldminers. Devyn and her brother are staunch supporters of opposite teams. The Miners just won in overtime, and needless to say, Drew isnothappyabout it.

Drew mutters something that sounds suspiciously like, “Fucking Miners” as he walks over to the kitchen to deposit a dollar into the big jar on top of the fridge.

“I heard that!” Devyn calls. “Two bucks!”

I’m pretty sure that jar gets more action than my showerhead during a dry spell. Drew and his friends have trouble filtering their four-letter-words around the little three-year-old parrot known as Nathan. When Nate repeated his first bad word, Devyn implemented the swear jar. Everyone who steps into their condo is subjected to it. You curse, you put a dollar in the jar. Devyn must empty that thing out every other week. She says Uncle Drew is going to single-handedly pay for Nate’s college education. From what I’ve seen, that’s entirely possible.

“Baby, can we please go now?” the woman sitting on Brody’s lap whines.

Okay, let me amend my previous statement. Sundays areusuallyfun days…unless Brody brings his flavor of the month around. It doesn’t happen often—almost never, actually—but this one seems to be a stage-five clinger.

Brody slides off the chair and gets up to grab another beer out of the fridge. “Veronica, when I told you I was coming here today, you said you were fine with hanging out for all three games.”

“I didn’t know each game lastedthree hours!” she says and sulks as she joins him in the kitchen. “This is going to take all day!”

Drew resumes his seat next to me on the couch and leans over to whisper, “Where does he find these women? She’s fucking hot and all, but annoying as hell.”

I smirk. “You’re one to talk, Andrew. You’re not exactly known for dating women with substance.”

“But I never bring them around on game day,Lorraine. I don’t know what he was thinking.”

I watch as Brody and his date engage in a whispered argument. She’s all red-faced and flailing arms and the vein on his forehead is bulging so much, I think it may actually burst.

“Am I the only one who’s noticed how much Rainey and Veronica look alike?” Drew asks.

Brody obviously hears him because his eyes quickly flicker over to us before Miss Priss demands his attention again.

“She does not,” I argue.

Devyn gasps. “Oh my god, Lorraine! She totally does!You two could be sisters! How did I not notice that the second she walked through the door?”

I take inventory of the woman standing next to Brody. Sure, she’s short and busty like I am…and we have like complexions…and okay, she has red hair too, but hers is clearly from a bottle. That, though, is where the similarities end.

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