Page 50 of The Candle Palace (Jamison Valley 6)
We lay together, not really watching the TV as we cuddled, occasionally sharing a kiss. Until the movie he’d been watching was over and the white credits rolled on a black screen.
“I should drive home,” I murmured, making no move to get off the bed.
Milo tucked me deeper into his side. “Just five more minutes.”
“Ahem.”
Milo and I jerked awake at the throat clearing. I sat up straight, blinking away sleep.
Oh, God. Damn it! We’d fallen asleep. I searched for the clock. It was three in the morning. Shit.
I flew off the bed, keeping my eyes on the floor. Michelle, one of the night-shift nurses, was staring at us with her hands on her hips. I couldn’t look at her, not when my face was crimson with shame.
How could I have been so stupid? How could I have fallen asleep?
“Sara.” Milo reached for me but I stepped farther away from the bed.
I couldn’t look at him either.
I grabbed the keys and my phone from the side table and blew past Michelle into the hallway. It was dark, the overhead lights dimmed. I didn’t bother with the elevator, not wanting to stand and wait for it to come up. Instead, I rushed down the stairs. Every step echoed in the stairwell, the rhythm of my footsteps like a hammering punishment.
I’d fallen asleep in a patient’s bed, with a patient.
I was so getting fired.
Fired. Fired. Fired.
That word rang over and over in my mind as I got in my car and drove the three blocks home. My phone rang with Milo’s name on the screen as I walked inside my condo. I ignored it, flipping on the lights and going for my bedroom.
There would be no more sleep, not tonight.
The few hours I’d slept next to Milo had been so blissful. So peaceful. But had they been worth it?
Amber wouldn’t keep me on her staff. It was against policy for a hospital staff member to get involved with a patient. We weren’t talking gray area here. This was black and white. An offense Michelle was obligated to report, if she hadn’t already.
If I’d found Kym asleep with a patient in his bed, I would have reported it too. Probably. Maybe.
I wasn’t sure.
My moral compass had been turned upside down these past couple months. Before Milo, I would never have imagined myself falling for a patient. But here I was, undeniably in love with Milo Phillips.
This love came with consequences.
I sat on my bed, watching the clock on the nightstand tick along until it was time for me to take a shower and get ready for work.
I’d find a new nursing job. Probably. Maybe.
Regardless, the job I’d come to love and cherish, the job that had brought me pride beyond measure and had filled the lonely void in my life, the job that made me shine.
That job was gone.
Was it worth it?
Amber was seated at a chair in the nurses station when I arrived on the burn-unit floor. She didn’t say a word as she stood and nodded for me to follow her toward the staff lounge.
We passed Michelle in the hallway on the way, and this time, she was the one unable to make eye contact. I kept my chin held high and my shoulders straight.
In the hours I’d sat on my bed, I’d come to terms with what would happen.
