Page 114 of Double Daddies
“Great. I’ll text you the address.”
Cami
“What’s on the board?” I ask Rayna. Just seeing her makes me grin. It’s been a long time since we’ve been scheduled to work at the same time, and we have alotto catch up on. I haven’t been able to tell her about my new living arrangements yet, much less about my new love triangle. It’s not exactly a text conversation.
She widens her eyes dramatically—not that she needs much help making her large emerald eyes stand out. “You’re not gonna like it.”
“Uh-oh.”
“One of your people found you. Room 223.”
I do a double-take. “My people? What does that mean?”
Rayna throws her head back and laughs. “Youknow. You’re queen in many spheres, m’lady. Queen of the sarcastic comeback, the emergency floor, and Queen of nerds.” She gives me a meaningful look.
I roll my eyes at her. “I’m going to take that as a compliment, which I’m sure is how you intended it.”
“Of course, my liege.” She gives a flourish and bows.
“You’re supposed to curtsey, swine.”
The snort of her laughter follows me as I make my way to the room. I grab the chart off the back of the door, scanning it quickly before I knock and enter. “Hey, Joseph. How are youdoing today?” I give the patient a smile, but he doesn’t smile back.
He’s pale and nervous and was mid-pace when I entered. He stops to look at me but doesn’t answer.
“Joseph? I’m Nurse Rodgers, but I can’t help you if I don’t know?—”
“A n-nurse?” he stutters. “I don’t need a nurse, I need a doctor. I came here for a doctor.”
I refuse to take it personally and give him my most winning smile. “I’m not just any nurse, I’m a charge nurse. Do you know what that means?”
He stares at me, his lips pressed into a thin line.
“It means I’m in charge of the other nurses. So, if I determine that you need a doctor, I’ll be sure to get you one.”
Smiles aren’t working and calm reason isn’t doing the trick either. I might have to make a trip outside to ask Rayna what she’d meant, because if this guy is one of “my people” he sure isn’t showing me in a way I can recognize.
“I assure you, nurses can be just as capable as doctors. The only difference is we don’t go to med school, but?—”
“It’s not because you’re a nurse,” he mutters, looking at the floor, his long, greasy hair falling over his face like a curtain.
Joseph clearly likes to talk when he’s good and ready, so I decide to wait him out.
He clears his throat, and though he doesn’t meet my eye, he says loud enough for me to hear, “Is there a dude? A doctor, a nurse—hell, I’ll take the janitor.”
This makes me laugh, and even though I try not to, I can’t help but let a giggle escape. “Oh, honey, you don’t want the janitor goingnearwhat you’ve got.”
This gets a reaction. He snaps his head up and glowers at me. “What is it you think I’ve got, exactly?”
“I don’t know exactly, because I don’t know what your kink is,” I admit. “But I’m guessing by the way you won’t sit down that you’ve got… ah… a boarder you can’t evict.”
His eyes narrow and he glowers, but I meet his anger head-on. It’s just dressed up humiliation, but I’ll endure however he needs to express it.
My eyes travel down the length of his wiry frame and I see his hands are clenched into balls at his sides. And I catch sight of the Tardis tattoo on his left arm. “Do you know what Doctor Who would say right now?”
His eyes widen, then narrow into smaller slits. “No, and neither do you.”
“I do,” I retort. “He would say embarrassment is a human luxury. Come to think of it, I think aliens don’t even wear pants most of the time.” I give him a cheeky grin. “Gender is just packaging, and I’m not going to let your embarrassment get in the way of your health. Take a seat”—I point firmly at the exam table—“and let me see what we can do about making you feel better.”
