“Great idea. I definitely need a taste of you to tide me over, until you’re in my bed tonight.” He didn’t even ask me to come over anymore. We both knew I’d go straight to his house and spend the night with him when I got off work.
A few minutes later, one of the nurses signaled to us and we went into the room to get Oscar. His mom looked exhausted, but she was smiling. As I adjusted the boy’s blanket, Oscar said, “Mama, these are my friends, Casey and Doctor K. They’ve been taking good care of me, so you don’t have to worry about anything.”
She met my gaze and whispered, “Thank you,” as her eyes filled with tears.
“It’s been our pleasure. Oscar’s a wonderful kid,” I said with a smile. “Have a good night, and we’ll see you tomorrow. Your son’s right, by the way, you don’t have to worry about a thing.”
As we made our way back to the elevator, Oscar still had some stuff on his mind, though. He asked, “What’s going to happen when we get home? Who’s going to take care of us if Mama’s still hurt?”
“We’re friends, Oscar, and I won’t just forget about you,” I told him. “I’ll arrange a home health aide to come over every day and help out, and I’ll come read to you, and visit, and just make sure you’re both okay. Your mom still has some time here in the hospital, but I’ll be giving her my phone number before she goes home, and we’re definitely not going to lose touch.”
“I’m giving her my number, too,” Theo added. “If either of you need anything, all you have to do is call.”
“That’s awesome,” Oscar said. “It’s always just been my mom and me, and she’s shy and doesn’t really have any friends. I’m glad you guys are going to be our friends now.”
When we returned to the second floor, Theo and I exchanged a knowing grin before heading off in opposite directions. Then I wheeled Oscar back to his room and tucked him into bed. “I knew she’d wake up,” the boy murmured, as his eyelids grew heavy. “I never stopped believing.” He fell asleep moments later, with some of that burden of worry finally lifted from his slender shoulders.
I spent the next hour rushing around and making sure everything was taken care of, so I’d be able to step away without leaving anyone short-handed. At five, I told my supervisor I was taking a fifteen-minute break. She seemed surprised, both because I rarely took breaks and because I’d only been on the clock an hour, but she nodded.
Yolanda caught my eye as I started to leave the nurses’ station. She was the only person on staff who knew about Theo and me, and she’d probably figured out the reason for this early break. She mouthed the words, “Be careful,” and I gave a single nod before heading to my rendezvous.
I looked around to make sure I wasn’t spotted before ducking into the stairwell. Theo was already there waiting for me. I crossed the landing and pinned him to the wall. As my lips met his, I had to hold back a sigh of relief. I’d been craving him all day, and apparently it was mutual, given the passion in his kiss.
When we finally came up for air, he nuzzled my neck and whispered, “Do you know how hard it is to be near you, knowing I can’t touch or kiss you?”
I grinned as I met his gaze. “Uh, yeah, since that’s exactly how I feel whenever we’re at work together.”
We moved to the steps, and when I sat down he straddled my lap and kissed me again. Then he burrowed into my arms and held on tight as I said, “You should head home and relax. You’re off the clock, and you’ve been here a minimum of twelve hours every day this week.”
“Being here is better than sitting home alone. Besides, someone should be available while the rest of the doctors are out getting drunk.”
“What do you mean?”
“All the physicians from four different departments are heading to a holiday dinner this evening. They rented a banquet room at a high-end restaurant and have been buzzing about it all week,” he said.
“Did they invite you?”
A humorless laugh slipped from him. “Of course not.”
“That’s absolutely not okay!”
“I would have declined the invitation anyway.”
“That’s not the point,” I said. “They still should have asked.”
“It’s better this way. They don’t want to spend time with me, and they know I wouldn’t have said yes. So, why go through the charade of inviting me?”
“Because it’s not right to exclude you like that!”
Theo tried to smile, but it didn’t chase away the sadness in his eyes. “It’s not worth getting upset over.”
I tried to calm down because I didn’t want to keep upsetting him, but this infuriated me. Yes, I fully realized Theo kept his coworkers at a distance. Hell, he’d done that to me too before I got to know him. But to purposely exclude him from a group event seemed petty and childish—the kind of thing I’d expect from high school kids, not medical professionals whose jobs required a certain degree of empathy and understanding.