"Your ankle okay? You didn't aggravate it, did you?"
"My ankle is fine. A little sore. I’ll ice it when we get home but that’s just from being on it so much."
He nods, then watches the ambulance in front of us.
"Bill and my dad have been friends since high school. His wife and my mom have been friends even longer. He was always over at the house growing up, and he insisted on giving me horseback riding lessons as soon as I started walking. When I came home for my twenty-first birthday, he bought me my first drink at WJ’s."
"It has to be hard knowing your patients as well as you do. I’m sure in medical school they tell you to detach yourself."
"How do you know that?"
"I watch Grey's Anatomy. And I might have an uncle who is a doctor," I shrug.
"I hate that. Detach yourself. It's so impersonal, and that's why I came home. I like knowing my patients and knowing their history. How they got this scar or that one. But yeah, it makes days like this hard."
When the ambulance pulls in, I park, and we head into the emergency room together. He greets his dad, and his mom wraps an arm around my shoulders.
"Come dear, let's sit down and wait on them."
Brice gives me one last look and I nod, telling him to go. I watch as he disappears through the double doors with his dad.
"Brice told me Bill is a friend of you both," I say to Brice’s mom.
"Oh, yes. He's a good man. How was Bethany?"
"His wife?"
"Yes. Introductions were probably the last thing on her mind."
"Honestly, a mess, as you'd expect. She saw it all happen but wasn't close enough to stop it."
"Poor girl. Well, it's in God and the doctor's hands now."
"What's their last name?" I ask.
"Mills. Why?"
"Just wondering. Like you said, no time for introductions."
Later, when she goes to find some coffee, I step up to the reception desk.
"A man was brought into the ER a little bit ago. Bill Mills," I say to the girl behind the desk.
"Are you next of kin?" she asks.
"No, I'm not asking for information. I'd like to pay his hospital bill. Is there a way to do that now or put a down payment on it?"
She starts typing on the computer and then gives me an amount for current emergency services and an estimated rate for a few nights' stay in an upgraded room. I pull out my card and tell her to charge it and put it on file for any further expenses that arise. She does so, and I'm signing some paperwork when Brice's mom walks back into the waiting room.
She looks at me, but says nothing. I tuck the papers into my purse and walk over to wait with her. She doesn't say a word.
Brice comes in to give us an update. "He's stable, got his leg set, and there are no internal injuries but lots of bruises. They will keep him until he wakes up and go from there," he says, walking with us to his room.
We enter, and Brice's mom stops in the doorway and looks at me.
Bethany walks over and hugs me."The nurse told me. I can't believe you did this. Thank you. I don't know how we will repay you, but thank you. You don't even know us, and I didn't think people like you existed anymore," she says, crying on my shoulder. I just hold her while everyone stares at me.
When Bethany finally releases me, she walks to her husband's side.