A Heart Healed

He just let out a sigh and glanced at the nurse next to her for a second. “Does he have to be here?”

“He’s probably going to be looking after you tonight so if you have something you want to tell me, just say so.” The look in his eyes told her that he really didn’t want to say anything. Well, there was no more pressing him today. When Ian came in earlier in the week, he didn’t want to speak to anybody at all, instead choosing to speak through whichever visitor came in.

It had taken him his whole stay until breakfast the previous day to say a word to her. When she had spoken to his mother, she said that he was just shy, but there was definitely something else happening there. “How about if you write it down for me?” she offered, taking out a pen and a spare piece of paper from the leftovers in his file.

He nodded. After he took it and scribbled what looked like a whole paragraph before he crossed it out again, Ian finally had something for her.

The meds upset my stomach.

She raised a brow and looked at the skinny boy again. “Not a problem. I’ll see what I can do for you.” Naomi placed his file back in its slot as her patient’s gaze went back to the window and she left the room, her all too willing companion following behind her.

“I’m surprised you got him to talk,” he said. “We’ve been trying, but he refuses.”

“I know, and what’s causing it is between him and his psychologist. Come on.”

It was like this for another few beds. Naomi entered the room, checked on her patient, and then as soon as they were en route to the next one, she was asked another series of questions. As much as she wanted to believe that it was his desire to learn more about her work, it was slowly starting to get on her nerves.

Once she finished off with Mrs. Hendrickson, a lovely lady who came in with a bit of high blood pressure thanks to her teaching job, she was done for the night and could go home until the hospital summoned her back again.

“Is your shift finished now, Dr. Bennett?”

Oh, right, she forgot about him. Naomi had to pause her internal celebrating to look at him again. His arm was curled across his body, rubbing the skin of his arm as his gaze was moving between her and the floor.

It almost reminded her of her brother’s son when he had something he was burning to ask, usually something that ended up with her spending a lot of money, but this was a grown man.

“Dr. Bennett, would you let me take you out for dinner sometime?”

Oh.

Naomi should have expected that. Thank heavens for her dark skin or else the heat in her cheeks would have been given her embarrassment away. That was the least of her worries though as the male nurse waited for her answer, looking just as embarrassed as she was.

Her hand moved to its opposite, letting her nails poke into her wrist. What should she say? Naomi had no interest in dating now. Even at her age of twenty-nine, there were no plans for marriage or children anywhere in her immediate future even with her parents’ constant questioning on when they could expect more grandchildren.

Plus, the man before her was actually kind of cute in some light, but she didn’t even remember his name! What kind of person would date someone whose name they couldn’t bother to remember in the first place?

No… It would be easier to just let the boy down easy. She couldn’t devote the time or attention to a relationship, especially since she was applying for a new residency period at other hospitals.

“Look,” she started with her fingernails digging a little more into her wrist. “I’m flattered you asked, but I’m sorry. I’m not really interested in dating at the moment.” She really hoped that she didn’t sound harsh. Naomi really did try to let him down gently, but the silence that hung around them as soon as she finished speaking just made her heart beat loudly in her ears.

“I understand,” he just let out slowly. The disappointment was all over his face.

“It’s not you,” she wanted to say but that sounded too much like a breakup line and even she could imagine how terrible that kind of thing sounded coming from the person who just rejected you.

“I guess I’ll see you around then,” was the response she went with instead before she turned and escaped that situation as quickly as she could. She could deal with the aftermath tomorrow, but for now, all she wanted was to sign out and go home.

*****

“You okay? Did something happen in the last half an hour that you’re not telling me?” Olivia finally asked her as they sat in their cab home. She knew the question was coming since she’d been quiet the entire ride, and despite this happening more often than her best friend was giving credit for, Olivia wasn’t wrong about whenever Naomi had something on her mind.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s nothing,” Naomi let out with a sigh. What was she supposed to say anyway? One of the nurses whose name I can’t remember for the life of me asked me out and I refused? Olivia would say she was insane because there were a lot of nights where the two had been telling one another that they needed to find boyfriends after graduation, then when they found stable jobs, and even last week actually.

It had become a sad routine between the two of them since they started their residence.

After shift, like once or twice a week, the two best friends stopped at a liquor store and picked out a single bottle of whatever they were feeling for, usually because one of them would be on call for the evening and had to be at least able to give advice if they were woken up in the middle of the night, and then continued onto Naomi’s apartment where they’d have the whole thing and do whatever together.

Naomi didn’t mind the single life as much honestly. She had her friend, her brother, her work, and her cat. What else could she possibly need?

“Are you sure there’s nothing? You know I’ll find out eventually.”

Her phone vibrated against her leg. Naomi forgot to switch silent mode off. She just glanced at her friend and shrugged before turning her attention to her bag, opening the zip and digging through it before she found the vibrating device.

Jules.

She was definitely answering this. “Hey, Jules. What’s up?”

“Hey, Mimi, just calling to see if you’re home yet.”

Seriously? He was going to play this game again? “I am an adult, remember? Credit card debt and everything.”

His low chuckle sounded through the phone, reminding her of home. “Never stopped me from looking after my little sister. Anyway, that wasn’t the only reason I was calling, but I’ll wait for you to get home before we talk about that.”

As if that was a good sign…

“I’ll call you back when I get back to the apartment then.”

There was a brief moment of silence before she heard her older brother’s voice again. “I’ll keep my phone on then.” Immediately after that, there was a click. He hung up without a goodbye. Naomi just moved the phone down to her lap and stared at it with her brows drawn.

What was going on there?