Page 13 of Guarding Over You
“Have a good night, Dr. Ridgeway.”
“Thanks,” he said to whoever called that out. “You too.”
The nursing shifts changed over earlier than the doctors’. Floaters seemed to fill in more than regular staff. Or the regulars didn’t stay long.
The ER wasn’t a place for the faint of heart.
But it was the place he always wanted to be.
Even if it carried memories he didn’t always handle well internally.
Not that he let people know, but days like this… Days where family members were crying over deaths or a life-altering diagnosis. Yeah, those were the days maybe he wished for another career.
Wished that he could save everyone.
Wished that he wasn’t human like the next person but had superpowers to make the world right.
But like his siblings, he was calm under pressure. Smooth in the roughest of situations.
Did he break in the silence? In the peace of his home when no one was around to witness it? Sometimes.
Just not as often as he had earlier in his career.
Maybe getting slammed with the stabbing death on his second day here hardened him, but it made him a better doctor too.
If he told himself that enough, he could get through the crying of others, the tough times, and know he did the best he could.
He walked to his SUV, the late June sun beating on his face, even at seven thirty. He’d get another hour of sunlight. He loved this time of year for that alone.
The drive home was less than ten minutes. He pulled into the development, row after row of homes looking the same, eight of them in a block. He was lucky enough to be on the end and only have one neighbor.
He parked outside his garage door. He had his weight set in there in the summer. Come winter he’d take it apart and shove it in a corner, then use the gym at the hospital the four days he worked so he could get his SUV out of the snow.
Tossing his laptop, phone, and badge on the kitchen island, he walked up the stairs to his room. He moved into the bathroom, turned the water on, stripped out of his scrubs, climbed into the steam-filled space and let the water beat over his head for a good two minutes.
Once he felt all the tension leave his body, he washed every part of himself twice like he normally did, then climbed out, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt and made his way to find some food.
With a leftover chicken breast on a plate next to a mound of macaroni salad, he opened his glass doors and stepped out to his small patio table, taking a seat and eating while he looked at the grass behind him.
Best part of this place, or this building, was not looking at neighbors, just open grass leading into the woods behind.
The two sections of fence between each property gave them a smidgen of privacy. He could still hear noises, but not always see where it was coming from.
He heard his phone ringing, so got up and moved back to the kitchen to grab it. His mother, so he answered and put it to his ear.
“Hi, Mom.”
“I’m not interrupting you at work, am I?”
“I wouldn’t have answered if you were. I got home about twenty minutes ago and am eating on the patio. What’s going on?”
He’d always worry when his parents called, remembering the one he got over three years ago that his father had taken a serious fall and broken his back. He was already on his way home to start his career, which put another stress on his shoulders.
On everyone’s.
But they’d gotten through, everyone coming out on the other end in a better, stronger place.
“I didn’t know your schedule and wanted to extend a dinner invitation to everyone. We are getting close to Clay’s wedding, so buttoning a few things up. He and Meredith shouldn’t have to do it all for their special day.”
