Page 43 of Grumpy Sunshine

It was a brown bear that looked like it’d seen better days.“I don’t see why not.”

He grinned, and the corners of his smile were wonky.

Excellent.

Exactly what I wanted.

Patting his thigh, I said, “I’ll see you in just a little bit, okay?”

“Yeah.”He sounded high.

Perfect.

I stood up and offered my hand to both parents again.“You have any questions?”

The mom leaned into the dad and said, “No.Thank you.”

I winked at her and left the room, finding Aella at the door of the room ready to get the patient wheeled back to me.

I winked at her and headed for the OR.

Time to get to work.

Eleven

It’s like these kids see the room clean and think, “Absolutely not.”

—Text from Aella to Silver

AELLA

I wouldn’t admit this, but I watched for him to come out of surgery for half the morning.

When he finally did, the butterflies in my belly started to fly.

I quickly looked away, focusing on filling up my cart in the supply closet and not at his overwhelmingly handsome form.

This was the way it went for me.

I looked at him when I could do it in a way that he wouldn’t be looking, or noticing, and I ran away when he got too close.

Honestly, I was surprised that I handled myself as well as I did last night and this morning.

I must’ve been high on adrenaline or something.

When I noticed that he was coming my way and not stopping at the nurses’ station, I promptly dropped an entire box of four-by-fours on the floor.

“Shit,” I said as I hunched down.

I could feel him getting closer despite the fact that I was doing everything in my power not to look at him.

I’d just picked up a handful of four-by-fours when I heard the yelling.

If the way that Chevy dealt with the young boy in room three didn’t do my heart in, the way he picked up his niece and whirled her around would have.

“Unca Evy!”the little girl cried.

Catalina.

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