Under Different Circumstances

Chapter 18

"If you think that was sweet, you should see them together," he remarked with a chuckle.

The lunch lady behind us cleared her throat, and we quickly paid for the food on our trays. On our way to a free table, we passed a table where some nurses were having their lunch.

"Doctor Halstead," the nurse closest to us called out and grabbed Will's arm, "why don't you sit with us?"

A few nurses agreed eagerly while others looked slightly embarrassed. The one who had spoken batted her eyelashes at Will and put on a flirtatious smile, pouting her lips.

"Not today, Maureen, thank you," Will declined politely and freed his hand from her grip. "Ladies," he excused himself from the table.

Maureen's eyes snapped from Will to me, and her smile evaporated. I stared back for a second, then followed Will to an empty table by the windows.

"Wow. If stares could kill, I'd be needing your medical assistance right now, Doc," I quipped as I set my tray down and sat across from him.

"I think under her stare you'd die instantly, and even I couldn't help you anymore," he remarked with a chuckle.

I glanced over at the nurses' table and the back of Maureen's head but quickly looked away when she turned to shoot daggers our way.

A snorting laugh escaped my nose, and I quickly rested my chin on my hand and covered my mouth with my fingers to stop myself from laughing even more. Will snickered too.

"She just confirmed every bad stereotype about nurses lusting over doctors," I noted incredulously.

"Maureen can be a little full-on, that's true. Her and a couple of nurses she hangs out with. But all other nurses are amazing and complete professionals," he clarified.

"Yeah, some of them looked uncomfortable. Anyway, how are you doing?" I moved on and started on my lunch.

"Same old, same old. We've actually had a relatively quiet week. Which is always good in the ED," he said. "How have you been doing since the attack?"

"It's been okay. I definitely feel much better now than I did during the first few days. It helped a lot to know that the guys are in lockup."

"Yeah, I can imagine. I'm very glad that you didn't let what happened deter you from Jay and wanting to get to know him," he remarked. "Jay's job comes with a lot of risks and dangers which sometimes follow him into his private life. I think many women would have turned the other way and ran after something like that."

"Maybe," I pondered, "but what happened wasn't his fault. And I'm not planning on running away any time soon."

"I'm glad to hear it," he smiled and took a sip from his water. "You know, Jay usually doesn't tell me when he's dating someone until it's been going on for a few months and he's sure about the relationship. But he told me about you right from the start."

I raised my eyebrows. "Did he? What did he say?"

"On the evening of the day he met you and I treated you at Med, he called me and asked what I thought about you. He said that he'd never met someone and felt such an instant connection with them," he told me with a smile that reached up to his genuine, brown eyes.

His phone buzzed. He kept his eyes on me and watched a shy smile form on my face in reaction to what he'd said. Then he picked up his phone.

"Are you kidding me?" he exclaimed in an annoyed tone at the message he was reading.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I had my landlord check on the broken aircon in my apartment, and he just texted me that he doesn't see anything wrong with it! It just blows out air without cooling it, you doofus," he cussed at the phone.