Page 12 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

“Ignore them,” she said, leaning in close, almost whispering in his ear.

“Who?”

“The nurses. I’m sure you know what it’s like with gossip. Bring someone new in, someone young, someone who might be... good looking, and it’s a recipe for more talk than if someone was being fed shots to get information.”

“Fed shots?” he asked, grinning.

“Tequila. That might be me,” she said. “Or not.”

Something said it might be a bit true. “As long as you’re not drinking on the job.”

“Never,” she said seriously. The humor in her eyes vanished. “I tend to be pretty laid back. It’s my personality. I say it like it is, but I add a dose of humor. You know, dealing with kids all the time, half of them are scared. They don’t want to see us any more than we want to cause them pain.”

“But sometimes pain has to be caused to make someone feel better,” he said.

“Exactly. Not the best part of the job. I’ve found that if the kids see me happy while walking into the room, laughing with everyone around me, it makes me more presentable. Or calms them.” She leaned in again. “Doesn’t mean they have to know what I’m talking about.”

He laughed. “Is Dr. Raines the same?”

“Oh God, no,” she said, shaking her head, her hair shifting around and smacking him in the face with a hint of something floral. “She’s in her late forties. She’s got teenagers and they live in Boston. For her, she wanted the ten days off. I’m not sure what her husband does. Some office job I think. She stays here in the hospital for her five days.”

He knew that was an option. The hospital owned apartments for medical professionals to stay at while filling shifts or in a case like only having eight hours off to sleep and still being on call, they might want to stay right on the grounds.

Thankfully, his apartment was only a mile away, so he’d rather go home.

“Do you get called in often in the middle of the night?”

“No,” she said. “It’s rare. And the four hours before the office is open and after it’s closed, it’s not really all that busy. Depends on the number of kids admitted. Right now, there are only three. After hours, it’s when parents are here more, or between eight and nine. So I try to make it a point to get my visits done by then, then come back around to talk, get the nurses set up for the night. Obviously, emergencies can and do happen in the middle of the night and they will call.”

“I’ll make note of the same,” he said.

“You can do things the way it works for you. Just like if there aren’t a lot of cases, they like you to go to the ER and help with any pediatric cases there.”

“I didn’t see where you had an ER fellowship,” he said.

“I don’t,” she said. “But you do. I’m sure that made you very desirable here. My cousin Hudson is one of the ER doctors. There isn’t a full-time pediatric one here, but while we are in the hospital during the week, we go down and ease any cases there that are started with kids.”

“And on the weekends?” he asked. “Sixteen hours here.”

“On the weekends, that is a lot of what we do. Patching in after they are assessed, then treating what we can. It lightens the load, but there is only so much I can do. You, on the other hand, you’re going to come in handy and be a second doctor for those days while rotating to this ward.”

He knew that coming here and he was fine with it. It’s not like it was going to be as crazy as his last job.

And if it was, then he’d be okay with that too. Because what he needed more than starting over was something to distract him from his memories.

4

LIKE AN EQUAL

“Hi, Jaylen. I’m Dr. Gabriela Mills. This is Dr. Luca Brewer. But you can call me Dr. Gabriela.”

She didn’t want to introduce Luca that way. She didn’t know what he preferred and she wouldn’t step on toes and assume.

“Dr. Luca is good with me,” he said.

“How are you feeling, Jaylen?” The little girl had her eyes open, but Gabriela could see she was half awake while the cartoons were on. They were probably on all night to keep her company in the hospital.

Then she looked at the chart on her screen. Ten-year-old with stomach flu and dehydration in the middle of the night. Would have been released yesterday if she could have kept anything down, but no reason to do that when they could keep her comfy in a room here. Didn’t look like the little girl had eaten yet either this morning.