Page 8 of Paging Dr. Breakup
His workdays here in Yukon Valley flowed more like a meandering creek than class V rapids, which was different from Harborview’s emergency department. He found that he didn’t mind the change of pace.Huh. Go figure.Cal blinked and rubbed his chin.
His stomach growled. 1:20 p.m. Damn, he’d missed lunch. He hadn’t adjusted to the fact that a small hospital cafeteria wasn’t open round the clock. He had ninety-minute windows to hit breakfast and lunch.
He’d missed today’s window.
Around the corner from his dictation area, the ED doors swung open with a recognizable mechanical clunk and whoosh. For a split second, he tensed, half hoping that a certain person with blue eyes was coming through the doors.
Then he heard a distinctive voice.
“See, I knew he wouldn’t stop for lunch.” An irritatedhmph.
Sounded like someone was in trouble, and that someone was him.
He squirmed in his seat.
“We figured if he didn’t need this meal now, he could save it for dinner later.”
“That’s so sweet of you, Mrs. Garrett.” Amberlyn’s voice grew louder.
Yep, Mom was here. Cal’s actual mother had showed up. In the hospital.
With lunch. For her grown son.
How the mighty had fallen.
“Did you want me to bring some dinner later for you and Clyde, honey?” Aggie said, coming around the corner. “Hi, Calvin!”
“That’s nice of you to offer, ma’am.” Amberlyn shot an amused expression at Cal. “But we’re good.”
Pop trudged along behind Mom and squinted around the ED, shaking his head. “Why don’t I stay out in the waiting area? Or outside. I don’t like keeping Doofus locked in the truck. I hate coming in this place.” Good ol’ Pop. He had never been jovial, per se, but he’d somehow turned into the town curmudgeon who nowadays seemed to enjoy the company of his mutt more than most people.
“Come this way, Mr. and Mrs. Garrett.” Amberlyn directed them to the empty seats on the opposite side of Cal’s work area.
Mom said, “We don’t want to disturb patients—”
Patients. Mom didn’t care about disturbing Cal. He snorted, then froze when Amberlyn glared at him.
“It’s no disturbance,” she said sweetly. “We’re between patients. There’s no problem with you being here right now.”
No problem, other than the fact that families did not generally bring lunchdirectly into their family member’s workplace. In the hospital. But hello, Yukon Valley.
Clyde, the other nurse on shift, popped his head out from where he was restocking supplies. “Hey, I thought I heard familiar voices!” Strolling over, he rested his clipboard on the fax machine. “Um, Aggie, I don’t suppose you brought any of those world-famous chocolate chip cookies?”
“As a matter of fact, I did bring you all a batch.” Mom pulled out two old Christmas tins.
The unit coordinator pushed back from her workstation and quickly joined the party.
Mom added, “You have to share these with the rest of the team, Calvin.”
The two nurses and the unit coordinator laughed and ribbed Cal. Their laughs turned to happy sighs as they bit into Mom’s cookies.
He peeked in the paper bag and inhaled. “Meatball sandwich?”
“One of your favorites,” Mom said, smacking Pop’s hand as he reached for a cookie. “That’s for the ED. Your batch is at home.”
“It’s not as good. It’s my no cholesterol, low sugar batch.” Pop groused and waved his hands. “Don’t you people do any work around here? Seems like a lot of goofing off happening.”
Amberlyn pointed her half-eaten cookie like a weapon, making Pop’s eyes bulge. “Bruce, we love you, but you don’t get to complain about how hard we work.”
