Page 39 of Forever Offsides

Even if it’s the last thing I want.

12

QUINN

Thankfully, I didn’t have to go to the field yesterday or today. My residency requires a certain number of hours in the OR and I’m more than happy about that. It was a busy day since I was either in the ER or the OR for most of it. My last patient of the day was a child with a broken femur after a nasty fall from his top bunk. Thankfully he came out of surgery okay, which was a good way to end it.

I twist my back until it cracks, pull off my scrub cap, and shove it into my back pocket.

“Morphine orders?” Rebecca, the ICU nurse for my patient, asks as we get him settled into his room.

“One milligram Q four hours with a PRN bolus dose of point-two-five milligrams. It should be in his chart.”

“No. I’ve got acetaminophen—oh wait.” She clicks on a different tab in the EMR. “Yes, sorry, there it is. It’s been a long shift.”

“I hear that.” I yawn and lean my hip against the wall beside his room. “He should be good for a while, and Sanders is on tonight, covering him. The kid’s a close watch since the bone nicked his femoral.”

She winces. “Did he get blood?”

“One unit of type specific. I put in an order for a repeat H&H at five in the morning, but watch him, and if you feel we need it sooner, I’m good.”

“I’ll mention it to the night nurse.” She checks her watch. “Change of shift is in thirty minutes.”

“I’m not here tomorrow, but if you need anything, just text-page me.”

“I think we’ll be good.” She smiles at me. “You look tired, Doctor.”

“All in a day’s work.” Actually, that’s not why I look tired, which I know I do. I’ve slept like shit this week, and it’s at the greedy hands of men. I wish I didn’t miss Rhett, but I do. I also wish I didn’t have to see him tomorrow.

Whatever. He appears over it, so I should be too.

A good night’s sleep will help, and since I don’t have to be up before dawn, I may have a fat glass of wine followed by a melatonin.

“I’m heading out. Have a good one.”

I wave to her, throw my patient one last glance, and leave the ICU. My stuff is shoved into my locker, but I’m too tired to change. I’ll shower at home. I head down through the lobby and out the front doors, taking a deep inhale of the warm summer evening. It’s still bright out—gotta love summer—and I take a left and head up Cambridge Street toward the grocery store.

I have no food in my house, and I’m more than a little tired of takeout. I want something healthy. I don’t think my diet this week has been doing me any favors either.

“Hey!” I get a nudge in the back and turn to find Braelyn with Wren Kincaid, Katy Lawson, and Keegan Powell. Wren, Katy, and Keegan are all doctors in the hospital, best friends, and Fritzes and therefore cousins with Skylar, Roman, Micha, and Forest. Wren works in the ER, and Katy in trauma, so I work with them a lot. Keegan is here per diem but occasionally our stars align.

In fact, Wren was the doctor who first saw my femur kid this afternoon.

“Hey! What are you three up to?” I ask.

“Grabbing a quick after-work drink and some appies before we have to get home to husbands and kids,” Katy explains. “Tinsley is meeting us too. You should come.”

Tinsley is Tinsley Monroe, the famous pop and movie star. She recently won an Oscar and is currently pregnant with twins. She was Forest’s childhood sweetheart but is married to his older brother. Forest didn’t take it well at first but is slowly coming around.

“Yes,” Wren agrees, pulling her long, blonde hair down from her ponytail. “It’s been a bastard of a day as you know. Hey, how’d that kid with the femur fracture do?”

“Good. He came out of surgery well, but he needed a unit of blood and will have a long recovery.”

“Poor kid. Yikes. This is why I deal with pregnant women and babies,” Keegan muses.

“And writing romance books,” I tease. “Speaking of which, I downloaded my next Victoria Nightshade book last night.”

Frankly, I need all the spice I can get right now, and fictional men are the ones who are going to give me all the heat and feels.