Lily parked her truck in the employee's parking lot when she arrived at the hospital. After a brief breakfast with Daniel and Tami, she excused herself and began to get ready for work. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun at the nape of her neck and she was wearing bootcut blue jeans with a plain pink T-shirt. On her feet were white sneakers with the Nike check mark on the sides of them.
After she had applied a bit of mascara and foundation to her face, she decided she was ready and grabbed her handbag with her wallet and headed downstairs to find Daniel and Tami still eating breakfast. The look that crossed Daniel's face when he had seen her made her blush. He had looked at her like she had contained all the oxygen in the world and he needed to kiss her to live off of it. She remembered feeling color rise to her cheeks and seeing Tami looking at Daniel for fear that he might really kiss Lily right then and there. Embarrassed, Lily had turned away and headed outside to leave wondering what kind of conflict she left behind between Daniel and Tami.
Looking in her rearview mirror, she brushed a few flyaways from her face and grabbed her handbag from the passenger seat. She hopped out of her truck, locked the door with her keyfob, and headed inside to be met by her favorite nurse.
Lucinda Ryrie was a short stout woman with a hearty laugh and demanding temper. She'd wanted to be a nurse since she was in 2nd grade. Nearing her sixties Lucinda had three children all out of the house. Two were out of college, one of them, her oldest son, was married and in a matter of months a bouncing baby boy had been born into Lucinda's family. The other boy, a tall, fair haired "wastrel", as Lucinda called him, worked at a plant at least twenty-five miles north of where Lily lived and spent his time drinking away his money. Lucinda's oldest, a dark haired nymph with plenty of suitors, graduated high school at sixteen and at eighteen graduated college. She was a dietician in Salt Lake City now.
Lucinda was happily married and had been for thirty-five years. Her husband, Dave, was a milk truck driver with a big round belly and great sense of humor. At times, Lucinda could be so serious, Dave was good for her that way. Lucinda hardly laughed, she often smiled and teased. The only time Lily had really seen Lucinda laugh was when a patient, who had been laying on his stomach, farted in the doctor's face when he was operating on the patient's lower back. After that, Lucinda wouldn't stop talking about it, and she still laughed whenever the subject came up.
"What's got you grinning up a storm?" Lucinda said when Lily walked in through the sliding doors. Lucinda had been filling out a piece of paperwork on a clipboard by the receptionists' desk when Lily walked in.
"What?" Lily asked completely caught off guard as she signed in on a piece of paper one of the receptionists pulled out for her. Since when had she been grinning?
Lucinda gave her a smirk that said I think you know what. "Kat," Lucinda said beckoning a receptionist from behind the desk, "what would you say she looks like?"
Kat, Katherine, looked up at the sound of her name. She was a skinny woman in her forties with a pixie haircut of dark chestnut hair. She turned her head to look at Lily. Who Lucinda was gesturing at with her hand. "Like she's in love," Kat said after Lily had shot her a look that said Don't say anything.
Lucinda smiled in approval, "Well Lily, don't leave us hanging. Who is it?" Lily could feel herself turning bright pink. She wasn't in love with Daniel! Wait a second, what made her think it was Daniel who she was in love with? What was going on with her head? Did she have dementia? What other brain diseases were there? Did she have a stroke that morning that she didn't know about?
"I'm just not going to talk to you right now and—"
"A cowboy! You've got yourself a cowboy!" Lucinda announced basically to the world.
Lily was turning red, "Lucinda!" she gasped accusingly looking around to see if anyone had heard. Of course someone had. The rest of the receptionists at the desk looked up at Lily with large girlish grins on their faces. People in the waiting room turned their attention to the commotion knowing to look at Lily since the receptionists were looking at her. Her face was burning up with embarrassment.
"I'm right aren't I?" Lucinda said barely able to contain the glee that seemed to be overflowing within her. "It's all you ever talk about Lily. You always said the only boy you could ever fall in love with was a cowboy. It's happened hasn't it. What's his name?"
"Honestly Lucinda," Lily said feeling like her face was on fire, "you can be such a child sometimes."
At this, Lucinda smirked sarcastically, "Child? Child? Look who's blushing her face off."
"I'm going to get my scrubs," Lily announced trying to ignore the stares she was receiving from everyone around her. In a desperate attempt to cover her face, she used her purse to cover up any form of embarrassment. It was no use since everyone could pretty much tell she was embarrassed because she was covering her face.
"Hey!" someone shouted as she shoved past them, but stopped in her tracks when she recognized their voice. "Rookie!" he shouted in anger.
Lily let out a sigh lowering the purse from her face and then turning around to face her accuser, Dawson Parsons. Dr. Parsons was a very attractive, tall, dark haired, brooding doctor who seemed intent on making her life miserable. Most of the single nurses at the hospital had major crushes on him and Lily couldn't understand how they managed to deal with the fact that they were basically in love with the spawn of Satan. He was an extremely intelligent doctor who cared about his patients, but would instantly become furious if anything went wrong. Lily couldn't understand why someone with such a good resume in medicine, would be working in a small town like Montpelier, Idaho. He was young, at least in his early thirties, and devoted. Which made him prone to blow up at any moment, and mostly, his anger had been directed towards Lily. Maybe because she talked back whenever he became angry with her, but she wasn't going to let someone like him intimidate her.
"Doctor," she said the tone in her voice a mixture of greeting and also bite me!
"Do you have any explanation of why you practically shoved me into the wall?!" his eyes showed he was going to hold nothing back as he lectured her.
She coughed impractically. "Because you're a jerk and I was trying to make it look like an accident," she mumbled loud enough for him to hear.
"Excuse me?" he said lifting his brow. The look of surprise on his face was suddenly replaced with rage.
She stared him square in the eye. Silently, she dared him to fight back. She knew he would. All she had to do was wait for him to say something that she could turn around and pinpoint it directly on him. Over the years, she had practiced this on people who would say something rude to her at school and often times, her sister.
"I said, 'Because you're a jerk'," she crossed her arms and squinted her eyes hoping he would be intimidated by her display.
"Watch your mouth rookie," he spat, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all."
"Yeah you would know right?" she said curving her mouth into a smirk of maliciousness.
The fire in his eyes burned with annoyance and also amusement, "You do realize I can get you fired?" the fire burned brighter. He was a little intimidating, but not as intimidating as...
Daniel's effect on you? her stupid brain said.
The thought of this caused apprehension to appear on her face and Dr. Parsons caught it with a sickening grin, "It appears I've found something to intimidate you with rookie," he said. "I was starting to get worried."
The apprehension was replaced by amusement, "Oh, Doctor I made you worried? I'm flattered!"
He stared at her like he would fire her right there, but he turned on his heel and walked away. A chuckle rose up inside of her and threatened to burst out. Finding her composure, she suppressed the laugh and continued to walk to the locker room to change into her scrubs. Man, the guy was a jerk.
Five minutes later, she was hanging her purse up on a hook inside her locker when a message appeared on her pager telling her to report to the emergency room.
When she had gotten the call that morning that they needed her, they had informed her that they were running low on staff. People were either on vacation or they had called in sick. This was one of the many reasons they needed her. You never knew who might come in or at what time. Usually people were in the ER because of a mistake they made or someone else's stupid decision. Other times the person's body was reacting to a certain something the person had no control over.
No control over. The constant thought and constant reminder that made her feel like she had failed Tami. Everyone at the hospital knew of Tami's cancer. They had been extremely sympathetic towards Lily when she had shown up for work a week after she returned home from Boise. Everyone except Dr. Parsons. The brute had treated her just like he did now. Ever since he came to the valley, he acted like he was king.
With another sigh, she shut her locker and spun the dial to reset it. On her way to the E.R, Lucinda fell into step beside her and began to rattle off, "You didn't answer my question from earlier," she said as they took a left close to the E.R. "What's your cowboy's name?"
"Would you just let it go Lucinda?" Lily said half in annoyance half in shame. He never was and never would be her cowboy.
"You've got yourself a cowboy," Lucinda sang.
Man, she could act like such a little kid. All Lily could do was roll her eyes. How long was Lucinda going to pester her about it? A very long time. This was not going to do. Maybe if she tried to change the subject.
"I'm needed in the E.R. Lucinda," Lily said as they came closer to it, "let's not chit-chat now."
"Dear Lily, don't try and change the subject. You walked in here all starry-eyed," Lucinda said matter-of-factly as their scrubs brushed up against one anothers. "If there's anything about me it's that I know a person's in love when I see it. You have come so far from that broken girl last week to... well this girl. You've changed. I can see it in the way you carry yourself. As if you know your purpose now. Not to mention that you blushed fiercely when I started yelling that you were in love."
Lucinda thought a moment before asking Lily, "When you stand up to Dr. Parsons..." she paused for a moment, "I guess what I'm trying to say is, if he wanted to get you fired, he would have done it by now."
Lily stopped dead in her tracks, "What are you implying?" even though she had asked the question, she very well knew the answer. After all, it was true wasn't it? She had been suspecting it for a few weeks now. Because sometimes boys were mean to the girls they liked. What if Dr. Parsons really did like her? He sure had a weird way of showing it.
"Stay safe Lily," Lucinda said putting a hand on her shoulder, "We still don't know what he's capable of."
"You sound just like him," Lily said as she opened the door to the ER. Inside was a little girl by a brunette woman who Lily assumed was her mother. Dr. Parsons was with them with a blood pressure cuff on the girl's arm. Just her luck.
"Where the heck have you been?" Dr. Parsons said viciously. The blood pressure cuff started to inflate. Through piercing eyes Lily examined the girl.
She couldn't have been more than ten years old. She was clammy and on the verge of passing out. The girl made a noise in the back of her throat and Lily grabbed a clean basin sitting on one of the tables and held it underneath the girl's mouth. A few seconds later, the little girl vomited.
Dr. Parsons glared at her. If looks could kill she'd be fired, murdered in her sleep, cut up into little pieces, and then fed to the sharks. Still, it didn't stop her from glaring back. She was not going to let him get in her way of being happy with her job.
"How long has she been throwing up?" Lily asked the woman. She brushed the little girl's hair out of her face and behind her ears. She looked numb.
"What's your name honey?" Lily asked as she felt the girl's forehead. No fever. She just looked clammy.
"Elise," she mumbled.
"This is the first time," the woman said.
"When did she start having these symptoms?" Lucinda said holding a clipboard. It was the first time Lily realized the older woman had been in the room the whole time.
"After her horse bucked her off," the woman clasped the girl's hand. It was written plain as day all over the woman's face that she was more than worried. There was no mistaking it now. This woman was the girl's mother.
The way she said it jarred something in Lily's mind, "Did she hit her head?" Lily asked setting the basin down and looking into the girl's eyes. They held a sort of cloudy haze. As if Elise were not interested in what was happening around her.
Lily held up two fingers, "How many fingers Elise?" Her eyes shot up to look at Lily. The girl focused a moment. She shook her head trying to see how many fingers.
Lily put her hand down. Elise had taken too long. She couldn't see clearly. Seemed to focus too much. "Has she complained of anything, headaches, nausea, not being able to see clearly?"
"All of those," the woman answered, "and yes, she hit her head on a post when the horse bucked her off." Lily winced as if experiencing the incident herself. She knew what it felt like to get bucked off. There were certain places you could land so it wouldn't hurt so much, but some people weren't always lucky. Lily rubbed Elise's hair back on her head to reveal a small purple bruise on the right side of her forehead.
Dr. Parsons was looking at Lily with interest. The whole time he had not said anything. He looked like he was studying her. Something she didn't really enjoy. He looked away when she caught him staring. At least he hadn't been looking at her like Tami had described Daniel looking at her. If he had been, she would've been the one to murder him in his sleep and then feed him to the sharks.
Lucinda looked up from the clipboard with a questioning look in her eyes, "Lily, are you suggesting—"
"Traumatic brain injury," Lily interrupted as Elise made another noise in the back of her throat causing Lily to grab the basin again. Elise let out more vomit than before.
"We need to get her in for a CT scan," Dr. Parsons said speaking up for the first time. He took the blood pressure cuff off of the girl's arm and lifted her onto a gurney softly telling her to stay still. The mother, on the verge of tears, covered her mouth with her hand and mumbled something incoherent.
"She's in good hands," assured Lily, "we'll take good care of her."
The mother offered a small smile before shaking hands with Lily in a business-like way, "I know you will," tears brimmed around the edges of her eyes, "I just wish that I could've been there. I feel like it's my fault that she's hurt this bad."
Lily offered a reassuring smile, "There's nothing you could've done to prevent this." She said also trying to convince herself of the words she was saying, "What's done is done."
The mother gave Lily a hug before following the gurney out that was being rolled by nurses and a doctor other than Dr. Parsons.
"How did you know?" a male voice behind her said.
Lily spun around to be met by a very solemn looking Dr. Parsons. She almost couldn't believe the man that she was looking at. Instead of the intense, angry gaze that usually ruled his mood, she found a relaxed, content looking man. "I've been doing this since I was eighteen," she put the basin full of the girl's excess on the sink, "there was always plenty of kids who would end up getting a traumatic brain injury due to sports. In case you haven't noticed, we do a lot of that here," she continued.
"I see," he said stepping by her and starting to head out the door.
Lily couldn't stop herself, "You know you haven't been nice to me ever since we met. What gives now?" Dr. Parsons turned to face her. In his face held a look of determination. Satisfaction.
"What do you think?" he said mockingly.
"You think that I break easily. You test my limits, trying to see which one you can easily use against me. Well let me tell you something Dr. Parsons I don't break. I may crack every once in a while but you will never see me break. No one shuts me down and when they try to I always find the opportunity to shove it their faces that I am better than the person they think I am. I may be young, I may make mistakes, but there is one thing I can assure you Dr. Parsons and that thing is that I am not stupid."
Dr. Parsons smiled, the first genuine smile she had actually seen him display. Then, without a word, he turned and walked away.
This was, without a doubt, going to be a very interesting day.