Page 60 of Deprived No More

Walking into the doctor’s lounge, I stop in my tracks as both Holden and my husband stand feet from one another. Their backs are to one another as Holden stirs cream into his coffee, and Nick stares out the back window with his. Why am I suddenly so nervous? You’d think I’d been carrying on some extramarital affair.

“Hi, Kat,” Holden almost purrs.Holy shit. Is he trying to cause drama, or does he have no earthly idea how he sounds?

Quickly, my husband spins to face me at Holden’s greeting. “Hi, babe. What a nice surprise,” he says with a broad smile. Deciding to only focus on him, I head over to where his arms are outstretched awaiting me.

“Hi,” I return before accepting a kiss.

“You having a good day?”

“Busy. Haven’t decided whether I can call it good yet. But it’s better now.” There’s the distinct sound of the door opening behind me, and I can’t help but turn to see if someone is coming in or going out. I’ve never been a huge fan of public displays of affection, and definitely not at work. But there was no way, given Holden was in here, that I’d refuse to walk over to greet my husband and accept whatever he had to give me.

Again, my eyes connect for the briefest of moments with Holden’s, and I don’t know what to make of the look he’s sending me. Annoyance? As the door closes behind him, I look up at Nick. “Have the two of you patched things up after the stand-off in the parking lot”

“There wasn’t a stand-off, Kat.”

Pushing back, I look him dead in the face. “You threatened him. I was worried he was going to administration or your office manager when it happened. At the very least, I can’t imagine how you two are working together if you haven’t spoken to him about this.”

“We don’t really have to work together. He has his patients, and I have mine.”

“Nick. You know full well what I mean. If you’re on-call and one of his patients comes in, you have to be able to work together and vice versa. You need to say something to him.”

He steps away, appearing perturbed. Great. Now I’ve upset him, and he’ll think I’m defending Holden.

“You’re right. It’s just… that guy makes me come unglued, Kat. I’ll do it. I have to find the right thing to say first.”

Walking back over to him, I slide my arms around him. The hell with whoever comes in now. “I love you, Dr. Barnes. I have to go. I’ve spent too much time away from the ER as it is. We’ve got wall-to-wall sick folks down there today.” Glancing at my watch, I’m not sure I should even stay to get a cup of coffee.

“Go. I’ll bring it to you. I don’t have to be back in the office for a few more minutes.”

Standing on tiptoes, I place a chaste kiss on his big, beautiful lips and dart for the door with a big grin on my face. My man rocks.

“Kat, the lab just called. Mrs. Swinford in room twelve has an elevated troponin.”

Holy crap. That could’ve been bad. I look for Marty to review her case with him and find him in the physicians’ main work area. “Hey, Marty. Did you get the MedFlight patient stabilized?”

“Yeah. We finally got his pressure up. His rectal exam came back positive for blood in the stool, and the CT of his abdomen and pelvis shows he’s got a big mass in his colon. He’s unfortunately got a lot ahead of him. But I’m hoping they can do a colon resection and get it all.”

“Oh, god. I hope so. Hey, remember the patient in room twelve you asked me to pick up? Mrs. Swinford?”

“Oh, yeah. I completely forgot about her. Does she need her gallbladder out?”

“No, it looks like she’s having a cardiac event. She didn’t have any chest pain, and the EKG I ordered looked fine, but the lab called, and her cardiac markers are high.”

Marty opens her chart on the computer and reviews her results before looking back over her EKG. “Good call, Kat. I’d give cardiology a call and tell them her story. They need to come see her. I’ll put some extra lab tests in.”

“Thanks. I’ll go let her know she’s staying the night.”

Taking a sip of my coffee, I try to wrap up the remainder of my charts as I await a return call from cardiology. It’s been a very busy day, and I’ll be glad for the comforts of home. Luckily, I worked an earlier shift, so I can drive home to the lake house and avoid staying overnight in the bungalow. I won’t have another shift here for over a week and can focus on my kids. A big grin inhabits my face as I remember Halloween is coming soon. I need to get to work on their costumes.

We tend to bring them to town to trick or treat in the neighborhood here, as the houses are far too spread out at the lake house. Eventually, we may change gears and switch to a Halloween party or a locally sponsored Trunk or Treat event where kids gather to get candy from one decorated car to the next. But they enjoy the traditional running from house to house in their costumes, excited to collect wrapped goodies. Time goes by so fast, and soon enough, they’ll be too old for such traditions. I bite the inside of my cheek at the thought.

Lord, Kat. Don’t start going there again. Just enjoy the moment.

Bzzz. Bzzz.

Looking down at my phone, it dawns on me I’d completely forgotten I was waiting on the cardiologist to call me back. Completely lost in thought over my silly crew skipping from one house to the next in search of sugary confections. Laughing, I pick up my cell to catch their response.

Unknown number

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