Bear No Malice | Paul Lahote

Three

"Son of a bitch!" I pulled my hand out from it's red cleaning glove and threw the heavy thing on the floor, holding my now throbbing left hand against my chest. I glared down at the culprit, being a simple cabinet door, and kicked it for good measure. As the pain slowly faded I pushed my crazy hair out of my face and leaned against the counter with a sigh.

I'd spent the better part of the morning deep cleaning the entire downstairs of the house. My skin crawled at the mere thought of the dust and dead spiders I'd managed to find. My only consolation was that Rhett wasn't there to laugh at my terrified squeals.

In my own defense, though, the house looked fantastic. The plastic covers were removed from the grey/blue matching furniture set in the living room, all the windows were clean and clear, no milky texture tarnishing the glass, all of our belongings were out away and organized into freshly cleaned closets and cupboards. Now all that was left was cleaning the outside of the cupboards, which I had rather clumsily stubbed my finger on.

Just as I bent down to pick up my discarded glove my phone rang from the counter. I picked it up and answered without looking.

"Hello, I'm looking for Emma Mason?"

"Yeah that's me," I responded as I tried to scrub out the grease from the overhead cabinet.

"My name is Kara Myers, I'm one of the charge nurses here at Fork's Community Hospital. Your formal interview is scheduled for one this afternoon, just calling to remind you."

Surprised, I ran a hand through my hair. "I had no idea, nobody called me for an initial set up."

Kara sighed on the other line. "That would explain why it's almost two and you aren't here. I just figured you got lost, being new here and all."

"Oh, fuck. I'm sorry! I'll be there as soon as possible," I rushed out before hanging up rather rudely. I dashed upstairs and showered the grime off of me before throwing on an old pair of navy scrubs and throwing my hair into a bun. I didn't bother with make up and snagged the truck keys before running outside, pulling the door shut behind me.

The drive was quick and easy, and I pulled into the quaint hospital lot in record time. My shoes softly pounded on the pavement as the automatic doors opened for me. It seemed surprisingly busy as I made my way to the nurse's station.

"Hi, I'm Emma Mason, and I'm extremely late for an interview."

A girl with white hair walked up with a smile. "Kara Myers, we spoke on the phone. I'll take you to our unit coordinator and she'll conduct the interview. I mean, technically, you're hired. This is more of a formality."

"What a fantastic first impression," I huffed. Kara laughed and we exited the ER and further into the building.

Kara knocked on an office door as a greeting came from the other side and we walked in.

"Emma, this is Drew Fisher, unit coordinator for the ER. Dr. Fisher this is Emma Mason."

Drew stood to full height, roughly six foot, and extended his hand to me. "Mrs. Mason I apologize for the confusion, my initial email never went through for this interview. Thank you, Kara." We sat down as Kara flashed me a smile and closed the door behind her.

"How are you settling in? You just arrived a couple days ago, right?"

"Yeah, it's been going good. Finally got most of everything unpacked and cleaned."

Dr. Fisher nodded. "So honestly, this interview is more of a hospital formality, and for all of the fun paperwork. Once we get all of that out of they way I can take you down to meet everyone, maybe even let you jump in. Sound good?"