Page 52 of Loyal
She looks down at her Linkin Park T-shirt.
“Did you get to see them in concert?” Laura sounds excited now.
Sami nods. “I had to sneak out. I got caught, but it was worth it. Chester was brilliant. He’s a soul that was taken far too soon.”
“So true. That is so amazing. I wish I had a chance to see them before he passed. Dammit for being too young.”
Sami laughs. “Being old ain’t all it’s cracked up to be either. Trust me.”
Laura smiles warmly. “Age hits us all differently. If you hadn’t outed yourself, I would have never known you were old enough to have seen Chester Bennington live. Especially with him on your arm. You guys look good together. Like you belong.”
“Thank you,” Sami beams.
The conversation turns onto other topics as Sami continues to interact with my family. I feel her relax more and more, to the point she even does a shot with the girls. I know what was going on inside scared her, but this is what it’s really like being in the club. Sitting around bullshitting with your best friends.
This is what it would be for us. A place for us to belong. People we could trust over all others. Somewhere for her to shed her inhibitions and be the woman she wants to be instead of the one her family and society have programmed her to be.
This is the place for her. Right here in my arms.
I think I’m on my way to convincing her of it.
Now I need to work on her daughter.
“Girl, you got that glow about you,” Gina sighs as she approaches the nurses’ desk.
“What glow might that be?” I ask without thinking.
“The ‘I’m sufficiently’ laid glow. It’s not fair.”
One of the other nurses laughs softly as she walks by.
I check the area, making sure no families are near us before looking back at her and hiss, “Gina, we’re at work.”
“Please, we work in labor and delivery. Everyone here knows what fucking is and has done it. It’s not shameful. You should know this. You have a crotch goblin of your own,” she says, making me roll my eyes.
“You know Farrah hates it when you call her that.”
“Is she being nicer to you yet?”
“No,” I mutter.
“Then I’m going to keep calling her a crotch goblin.” She shrugs, unapologetically.
The alert for room four goes off.
“Want help?” Gina asks, finally remembering we’re at work.
“Do I? No, but you can come with me,” I tell her as I round the desk.
“I always love tagging along with you. Seeing you in action,” she teases.
“Don’t you have patients of your own?” I tease her back.
“Nope. Not right now at least.”
We head down the hall to room four.
“Hey, Mama, how are you doing?” I ask as I hold my hand under the hand sanitizer dispenser.
