“Thanks, Mom.”
“Don’t thank me. You know I’m happy to help,” she says as I shut down the engine.
“I just got to work. I’ll send a text to the girls to let them know what’s going on.”
“Let me know what your cousins say.”
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you too.” She hangs up.
Getting out of my car, I grab my bag along with my lunch and go inside. I pass the elevator and instead take the stairs. My love of takeout and all things carbs means I need to work out when and however I can; otherwise, my ass will double in size. I like my ass, but I don’t need any more of it to love. Reaching the metal door for the second floor, I shove it open and head down the hall, approaching the nurses’ station where Latoya and Maya, two of the nurses, are in deep conversation. Walking past them, I see Fiona who works overnights. She’s the head nurse on the floor—an older woman with a plump figure and caring eyes—standing in front of her medicine cart near a patient’s room.
“Hey, Harmony,” she greets me with a warm smile. “It’s me and you today.” She nods to the stuff in my hands. “After you drop your bags and clock in, meet me back here.”
“I’ll be right back,” I agree, passing her. Going to the break room, I put my lunch away in the fridge and my stuff in my locker before clocking in. I clip my badge to my scrub top then go out to find Fiona, whose cart is now farther down the hall in front of another room. Knocking on the open door, I wait for her to tell me to come in. The room is quiet when I enter, and I find Fiona next to the bed with a man not much older than me. He’s sitting up in bed with his leg, which is in a cast, slightly elevated.
“Harmony, this is Mr. Russell,” Fiona introduces us, and I smile at him when his eyes come to me. “He was in a car accident two days ago and had surgery this morning on his leg. He’s here until tomorrow morning and will be your first official patient.” Her words have Mr. Russell looking at her with wide eyes.
“Don’t worry. Harmony will take very good care of you.” She smiles at him reassuringly, and I plaster her same expression on my face. I haven’t had any patients on my own since I started working here. I knew it would happen eventually; I just didn’t know it would be today. “As soon as we finish the nurses’ meeting, she will be back in to give you your medicine and help you to the bathroom,” she tells him.
“Sure,” he agrees, studying me closely, so I keep the smile on my face. I don’t need him freaking out and thinking I’m incapable of taking care of him, or Fiona thinking I’m not ready.
“If you need anything before then, just press your alarm.” She points out the button on the side of the bed and he nods.
“I’ll see you soon,” I tell him, before I follow her out of the room.
“Are you ready to be on your own?” she asks me as we step into the hall, and I let out a short laugh. I’m not sure it would matter if I was ready or not, since she just told me that I have at least one patient.
“I’m ready,” I assure her, squeezing her upper arm.
“I knew you were.” She smiles softly. “Today and this evening should be slow. We only have five patients on the floor, and as of right now, there is only one new admit coming in this evening.”
“I’m excited,” I tell her.
“Good, let’s get our meeting done so the girls can get out of here,” she says, so I follow her to the nurses’ station, where we get an update from Latoya and Maya on all the patients on the floor and the doctors who will be on call throughout the day. Once we are done with the meeting, I go through med count and sign off Maya, who I’m taking over from, and then I head back to Mr. Russell’s room with my cart. I fill the order for his pain pills and enter his room. The TV is now on, but he’s not watching it; he’s looking at his phone.
“Hi, I have your pain meds,” I tell him, and his eyes come to me. “Lunch should be coming around soon as well.” I go over to his bed.
“Hospital food.” He makes a face, and I smile, watching him set down his phone near his hip on the bed.
“It’s not so bad.”
“If you don’t have taste buds, it’s not bad. Unfortunately, mine are still working.”
Laughing, I hand him his pills then pick up his standard pink hospital cup and hand that to him as well. “Tomorrow, when you get out of here, you can go out to dinner and have whatever you’d like,” I murmur, watching him tip the tiny plastic cup back and swallow the pills before taking a gulp of water. Handing me back the cup, his eyes move to my badge clipped to my top.
“So, Harmony Mayson, are you offering to take me out?” he asks and I shift uncomfortably. He’s not a bad-looking guy. He’s cute in that wholesome boy next door kind of way, with dirty blond hair that is cut short and parted at the side, and blue eyes that stand out against his tan skin. Too bad for him, my mind has suddenly become obsessed with wild and untamable.
Laughing awkwardly, I shake my head. “Sorry, no, but I will help you to the bathroom,” I say, and he shrugs.
“I guess I’ll take what I can get.”
With a smile, I help him out of bed and into his wheelchair then take him into the bathroom. After he finishes, I get him back into bed then leave him to get some sleep. The rest of the night goes by quickly between admitting our new patient, running meds, and doing paperwork. When I finally get off, I’m exhausted and thankful I only have a few more days of having to drive an hour to return home.
***
Surrounded by boxes, standing in my new living room, I blow a piece of hair out of my face and continue to put away my books and knickknacks on the white shelves at either side of the fireplace. The house is coming together quickly thanks to my family. My mom was not kidding when she told me she would get me packed up and moved out of my apartment by the weekend. In fact, she did it all in two days. When I got home from work the day before yesterday, Monday, I found out she, my aunts, my sister, and my cousins had packed up my apartment from top to bottom. They even cleaned out my fridge and freezer, the bathroom, and around the boxes and furniture, so I didn’t have to.
Yesterday, my first day off work, my dad, brothers, and uncles got my stuff put into a moving truck and parked it out front of my new house. Last night, I stayed with my mom and dad in town, and today’s been a whirlwind of family coming over to help empty the truck, set up my furniture, and store stuff away. About two hours ago, my parents left to return the moving truck and to go eat, and everyone else besides, June and July took off not long after, with plans to come back tomorrow to help finish putting together the furniture they had dismantled.
I pick up and unwrap one more of my snow globes out of the box I’m unpacking and shake it before setting it on the shelf, watching the white dust inside settle over the New York City skyline. My dad got me the snow globe when he took me to New York for my eighteenth birthday, and it’s one of many. I didn’t always collect globes. My collecting started when I was fourteen and was supposed to go with my grandparents to the Bahamas. Instead, I had to have my tonsils removed, so my grandma brought the beach home to me in a glass ball filled with sand and seashells. Since that one, I’ve collected dozens from all over the place. Unpacking another, this one a clear ball with a photo of my family inside, I shake it as well before putting it in its place. Then I look toward the front door when I hear the roar of pipes getting closer to the house.