Chapter 2

  Katie Benson- 38 years old

  Katie kicked her feet up on the desk of the nurse’s station. She only had a few hours left of her shift and she would be off for the night. She hated covering shifts, but her and Brent needed the extra money to pay off the electric bill before they could move into their new place. Opened the doors of the cupboard and grabbed a small treat. Leaning back and opening it up. It was late, with the exception of a few patients most of the floor she was working on seemed to be pretty fast asleep. Not a lot of people were going to wake up and call her over the next few hours for a snack that would probably make it harder for them to sleep.She brushed the long ginger locks from her face. Peeling back the wrapper, she took a small bite of a rice crispy treat and scanned the hallways. A Quiet had started to settle over the hospital. Most of her fellow nurses were off. Or seeing their last patient of the night while introducing their replacement for the night shift.

  Katie drew a deep sigh and grabbed her phone from the pocket of her Green scrubs. Holding it up against her curvy chest, she tucked her head in to see the screen. She pulled up the text from Brent about going to the club in Downtown Salt Lake with Jeff. Her fingers quickly went to work on the keys. “I’m off at 12am. I’ll meet you guys there at 12:30. After I change out of my scrubs lol.” were the words she typed out. She waited a few minutes for a response, but nothing came. Brent had been doing a lot lately. He seemed to be ignoring her texts a little more often the last little while. It concerned her, but both her experience and intuition convinced her to think nothing of it. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking at the moment. Part of her wished her shift was over already so she could be on her way to see him. Another part of her knew that even she needed a little time away from him. Katie let out a deep sigh“You can’t miss someone if they’re always there I guess,” muttered to herself quietly. She couldn’t help but wonder if that philosophy was part of a bigger picture. She couldn’t help but wonder if maybe her brain was just trying to tell her heart that He just wasn’t as important to her as he was when she originally agreed to marry him.

  Katie stuffed her phone in her pocket and fiddled around in her pockets until she felt something. Her Engagement ring. She pulled it out and looked it over for a minute. It had a beautiful diamond studded band. The diamond wasn’t huge, but it was okay. Katie wasn’t the type of girl to get hung up over the size of a simple diamond. All she cared about was the person that did it. “Sorry I’m late.” came a familiar voice.Katie almost fell backwards in her chair. She hadn’t realized just how much time had passed. She pulled her phone out and looked down at the time. It was already 11:30pm.

  “Oh Dani? You’re working tonight?” Katie said with a smile. Relief washed over the redhead as the thought occurred to her that her shift was almost done with. “Are you ready to go learn how to get a blood sample from Mr. Martinez?” Katie asked, tucking her phone back into her scrubs and rising to her feet. Dani followed her to the supply closet to gather a few things before the two set off down the hall.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be. Katie?” Dani asked sheepishly. “Thanks again for helping me get this job. Kolby took everything in the divorce.” She said, her gaze dropping to the floor beneath her.

  “Of course sweetie. Anything I can do to help.” She said pushing the door open to the patient’s room. “Mr. Martinez! You know what time it is?

  He rolled his eyes sitting up in the hospital bed. “Do you have to call me Mr.Martinez? How about just calling me Paul for a change will you?” He said blinking a few times and rubbed his eyes. He propped himself up in the bed offering his arm for the two nurses. “It was just a car accident, you know? Plus all the pain has been centered mostly around my wounded leg. What do you ladies need my blood for anyways?” He asked with a hint of nervousness as Dani searched for the vein on his arm.

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  Katie laughed a bit as she scrambled around for a syringe. “The wound seems to have gathered some infection, Paul. We just need to figure out how to get the swelling to go down.”

  “By poking my arm?” He protested, watching as she rubbed a slightly dampened cotton ball over his arm.

  “They just want to run another test.” she said gently piercing his skin with the needle. “The sooner they figure out what to do the sooner we can get you out of here.”

  He withdrew his gaze for a few seconds. The television in the corner of the room seemed to only serve as background noise. He Quickly gathered his thoughts. Katie turned around and began cleaning the edge of the needle, then handed it over to Dani. He could hear the brief sounds of whispering. Dani took the needle and left the room in a rush. “What if I don’t wanna get out of here?” he said shyly. “You know? I come from a family that’s very well off. It’s not like I couldn’t afford to stay here for a few days.”

  “Oh come on Mr. Martinez. Why would you want to stay here for any longer than you need to.” Katie laughed, slipping off her latex gloves and putting on another pair.

  “Well. . . “ He paused for a second looking for the words. “What if I wanted to take the time and get to know you more? You seem like a nice lady. I barely even felt that prick, so You have to have some kind of a gentle soul.”

  Katie blushed a little. “What if I’m not though? What if I’m really just a cold heartless, controlling bitch, that’s just really good at taking blood samples?” Katie jested taking a step closer to the bed.

  “It’d still be worth it.” He smiled gazing up into her eyes. “A date with the most beautiful redhead in the city.”

  Katie’s cheeks flushed a rosy hue. It wasn’t often that men flirted with her. The closer she got to her wedding, the more she started to question her decision. Here it was, the chance for something different. She pondered for a second the idea of giving him her number but quickly changed her mind as soon as the gloves came off her hands. She held up her ring finger. “Sorry.” she dropped her gaze for a second. As intriguing as it was to think about, the reality was there. She was engaged to Brent and she loved him so, but she couldn’t help but wonder if the man she had agreed to start the rest of her life with, was really the man that she was meant to be with.

  The man let out a sigh, dropping his gaze for a second. “Does he treat you well?” He asked, forging a smile and returning his gaze to her.

  “He’s a perfect gentleman.” she replied, slipping off her latex gloves and picking up the nicely bagged blood sample. “Goodnight Mr.Martinez.”

  “I can take over from here.” Dani interrupted while slipping on her gloves. “You need to clock out. You know how HR is about overtime.”

  “Yeah you’re right.” Katie nodded, turning on the faucet and washing her hands under the running. “I’m going to surprise Brent at the club.” she said with an excited grin. She dried off her hands and pushed the door open. The hospital was quiet at this time of night. Most of the patients were starting to drift off to sleep. The sound of Katie’s footsteps echoed softly through the corridors. She stopped at the nurse’s station and placed her hand on the chair, supporting herself as she bent over to grab her bag. She slid the strap over her shoulders and pushed herself up. Her fingers curled slowly, then stopped suddenly. A white card had appeared in the palm of her hand. She opened her hand and read the inscription on the card, making her way toward the elevator.

  A dinging sound told Katie that the Elevator had arrived. She stepped inside the open door and leaned back against the wall of the elevator, reading the card once more. “Aeryn Love M.D. Specialist in human affairs.” she muttered quietly to herself. The door opened and Katie made her way down the hallway carefully. Along the walls of the main floor, were pictures of all the practicing attendings in the hospital. Katie slowed her pace just enough to read through each one. “Dr. Love. . Dr. Love. . .” She muttered to herself, searching the walls and pictures carefully. Much to her surprise, she couldn’t find the name anywhere. She glanced down at the card once more, making her way through the automatic doors. In all her time in healthcare, she’d never heard of anyone that specialized in “Human Affairs.” The whole concept made her think. She stuffed the card into the pocket of her scrubs and opened her car door. She turned on the radio and jabbed her keys into the ignition. Her mind raced, pondering the events in the final hours of her work shift. Did Human affairs mean he was some sort of relationship counselor? Who could possibly know about this though? She’d never shared any of her fears or concerns with any of her coworkers. How could anyone possibly know something wasn’t right in her mind? Questions filled her mind the entire drive down the road.