Page 87 of With Spite

My birthday had gone downhill once I’d gone back to work after lunch.

Not even the small present my brother had delivered after I’d left Hux’s place had fixed the bad day.

I’d seen eight patients, and five out of the eight patients had the flu.

I just somehow knew that I wouldn’t be getting away from contracting it, either.

Which would fuck with my asthma, and I’d be a miserable woman for two weeks until I got it set straight.

The lethargy that overtook me the moment that I walked out behind Odin and Sage was palpable.

Both Odin and Sage commented on it as they walked with me to our vehicles.

“You look rough, girl,” Sage pointed out. “You doing okay?”

“We need a new nurse. Two new nurses,” I admitted.

Odin snorted. “And an office assistant.”

“We have one of those coming, thankfully.” Sage fist-pumped before she reached her vehicle. A new SUV that her man had helped her get after she’d traded her old one in. “The nurses are coming, too. By Friday. We worked with that temp agency, remember?”

We had.

The agency paired us with two men who would hopefully be starting later in the month.

“I still think that one is fishy,” I admitted, thinking about the forty-five-year-old male with the list of accolades in his background. “I mean, what kind of decorated man, that was used to making bookoos of money, would want to work in a small Montana town after working in only big cities? I mean, he has a doctorate for Christ’s sake. He should be working as a doctor. Not a nurse.”

When I’d looked over the possible applicants with Odin and Sage, I’d been stunned. I’d worked my ass off to become an NP. There was no way that I’d go back to being a nurse’s aide that I’d held in the very beginning of my career.

“One that is getting older and tired of the bullshit that large cities bring,” Sage pointed out. “I came from a big city, remember?”

“You were lured here,” Odin pointed out. “I do tend to agree with Bernice. I can’t afford to pay him what he was making. He went from making damn near eighty-five dollars an hour to a fraction of that with us.”

“Cost of living is less here.” Sage shrugged. “Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth. And he had glowing reviews from all of his bosses, remember? Everyone loved him. His face is painted on his old hospital’s building, remember?”

I had.

He’d come from a city not far from where I’d once lived. His face had been memorialized on the side of the hospital along with a patient who had passed away from liver failure.

“Okay, I’ll stop looking gift horses in the mouth,” I teased. “Have a good night. Are we sure we aren’t opening tomorrow?”

“It’s a holiday,” Odin grumbled. “We’re not expected to be open on holidays. Plus, Wendy is off, and I want to hang with her since Constance is busy.”

Wendy and Odin were so cute together.

Constance was great for the two of them.

“I’ll agree with that.” Sage sighed. “I had all weekend off, but I’m still exhausted. I’m going to use the time to get caught up on a few charts. Y’all should do the same.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Odin grumbled again as he opened his truck door. “Y’all get in your vehicles so I can leave already.”

We did.

Odin left the moment we were securely inside.

Sage took a left out of the small lot, while I took a right.

I went straight home and changed, then caught the key off the counter that would let me into Hux’s place and hurried across the street and a few doors down.