Page 2 of The Christmas Keepsake
Maddie:NO.
All caps with no pretenses or apologies.
Maddie:I don’t recall a wheelchair ramp leading up to the stage anyway.
Mallory:We could make one.
Maddie:My answer is still no. Theater was never my thing and you know it.
Yeah. Nan knew it too. Maddie liked the great outdoors. She loved long hikes, mountain climbing, and cycling, anything that required sunshine and adrenaline. Or, at least, she had enjoyed those things. Since the four-wheeling accident had left her using a wheelchair, life had changed. Maybe it was wrong of Mallory to expect Maddie to get onstage in front of the entire town right now when she was still adjusting to her new normal.
Mallory reached for her Dr Pepper, preparing to take a long sip when the sound of a woman clearing her throat stopped her.
“Sitting down on the job?”
Wanda Boswell stepped up to the counter with a snide expression. Wanda was also a nurse at Bloom Memorial, and she loved to catch others doing things wrong. Not that taking a break after eight hours of walking up and down the halls, delivering medication and helping patients to the restroom, was wrong.
Mallory offered a reluctant smile. “Actually, my shift was technically over half an hour ago. I never had a break or lunch. So yes, I’m sitting down on the job, technically, but the floor is quiet right now.” For the first time in hours. The Thanksgiving shift was notorious for cooking injuries. Turkey fryer burns. Family brawls. The winner of this holiday shift went to the man who’d actually been attacked by the turkey that was supposed to be today’s guest of honor. And by the looks of the guy when he’d come in, moaning, the turkey had won.
Wanda glanced around. “I love working the holidays. It makes me grateful that I don’t have family to worry about. It all seems sounnecessary, if you ask me.” She looked at Mallory a moment. “I guess we’re the same in that way.”
Mallory’s lips parted as she tried to decide if Wanda was insulting her or paying her a compliment.
“You volunteered for this shift, right? There’s no ring on your finger.” She shrugged. “No judgment from me. I think you’re a smart girl.”
Overtime pay and feeling like a third wheel weren’t the main reasons Mallory had chosen a shift over dinner at Maddie’s. Her main reason was Nan. Thanksgivings were never small with Nan in charge, even after Grandpa Mickey died. Nan cooked enough for an army, inviting anyone who needed a place to go. With Nan at Memory Oaks Nursing Care this year, the holidays would be different. While Maddie didn’t want to entertain the past, Mallory was stuck there.
“We just got a new arrival in curtain 12,” Wanda said. “I got him settled while you were checking on the hypoglycemic in curtain 2.”
Mallory nodded, taking note and wishing her coworker didn’t call patients by their diagnosis.
“And since it’s quiet on the floor and my back is killing me,” Wanda continued, “I think I’ll clock out early. You don’t mind, do you?”
Wanda didn’t wait for Mallory to argue. Instead, she continued walking down the hall, whistling loudly, which would undoubtedly wake the patients and ensure that Mallory was back on her feet until the next shift’s nurses arrived.
Picking up her phone, Mallory tapped out another text to her sister.
Mallory:Happy Thanksgiving. Save me some turkey and…
The sound of barking erupted down the hall, grabbing her attention.Barking?Either someone had the TV volume too high or one of the patients had a therapy dog. Therapy dogs were typically quiet. Well trained. They knew not to bark unless… something was wrong.
Mallory got up and moved quickly in the direction of the sound. While it was usually a patient’s buzzer that alerted her that a patient was in distress, maybe this time it was a loud, barking dog. After ten years of nursing, nothing surprised her anymore.
She followed the yellow-tiled hall to open curtain number 12 and yanked it back, pausing as her brain tried to make sense of the sight in front of her. Wanda hadn’t mentioned that the new patient was Hollis Franklin or that he had his dog with him. Hollis was lying on the hospital bed, his face pulled in a painful grimace as he clutched his left leg to his torso. On the floor beside him was his chocolate lab, Duke, barking anxiously.
“Hollis? What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”Stupid question.“Where’s your pain?” Her gaze moved to Hollis’s shin, where a long, open gash poured blood.
“I don’t think this should hurt as bad as it does, but…” He groaned. “I think I must have hit a nerve with my fall. That dog knocked me right off my feet.”
Mallory eyed his gentle giant dog suspiciously. “Duke hurt you? Do I need to call security? Animal control?” She didn’t even think hospital policy allowed a dog in the ER, but Hollis had a charm about him that made it hard for people to tell him no.
He cracked his eyes open just enough to look at her. “Not Duke. One of my rescues. It wasn’t the dog’s fault. I scared him.”
Mallory quickly gathered astringent and dressing. The wound didn’t appear to be a dog bite. “Duke stays within the confines of this curtain, and as soon as I get you all fixed up, you’ve got to take him out.”
Hollis nodded. “Promise.”
Mallory pulled up a stool and sat. “I can get you clean and bandaged, but after all these years, I can’t fix this hopeless need of yours to save every dog you meet.”
