“Friday. Friday,” I singsonged as I finished cleaning up exam room five. “Thank God it’s Friday.” I continued the tune as I skipped toward the nursing office to make sure there weren’t any outstanding voice mails from patients waiting to be called.
“If you say Friday one more time, I will strangle you with this blood pressure cuff,” Marlene huffed in her designated chair in front of her designated computer. I scrunched my face behind her back.
No, we didn’t all have our own chairs and desks and computers—just Marlene. She’d claimed hers, thirty-five years ago, according to her, and it was a certainty that unless you wanted to see the giant white light guiding you toward the pearly gates, you stayed the fuck away. The torn-up piece of masking tape haphazardly placed across each item even said that in black Sharpie. This is Marlene’s. Stay the fuck away.
“Oh, c’mon, Mar,” I said with a grin. “Everyone loves Fridays. It’s like a universal religion. It melts people from all over the world into one big pot.”
Though, the truth of it was, I’d had a fucking knot in my stomach ever since I’d turned Will down, and some of my weekend cheer was probably a means to cope. But she hadn’t turned down one of the nicest guys she’d ever met for the date she’d been fantasizing about ever since she’d met him.
Had she?
“Not me,” she muttered. “Especially when it’s my weekend to be on call.”
See what I meant earlier? Tuesdays were Marlene’s favorite day of the week.
I honestly didn’t know what she did on her days off. I’d often try to imagine it, but I usually ended up picturing her yelling at a young grocery store cashier about the rising prices of pork loin.
“You shouldn’t have too many calls, though,” I reassured, even though I knew it was useless. “There’s only a handful of patients that could deliver this weekend, and most of them are on their second and third pregnancy. It’s old hat for them.”
“Yeah, right,” she huffed her disagreement. “I’m sure one of the thirty-weekers will gorge themselves on chili dogs and then call in a panic because they’re confusing gas pain with contractions.”
“Always the optimist,” I teased with a laugh.
“Keep laughing. But I know you’ll be just like me one day,” she stated with a pointed brow in my direction.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Remember this conversation after you’ve been doing this job for another twenty years, and then you’ll understand.”
Doing this job for another twenty years?
Jesus Christ, I hoped not.
I mean, I didn’t mind this nursing job. I often found myself enjoying the patient interactions, and since Will had recently added hospital deliveries to my list of job responsibilities, I hadn’t found myself getting bored.
But deep down, I knew this wasn’t my final career stop. Eventually, I wanted to do something else, something more. I wanted to feel like I had a true purpose.
Running a women’s clinic for the underserved population.
It had been on my mind since Carmen’s prolapsed cord delivery. I couldn’t shake the nagging thought that her situation could have ended terribly. Sure, no medical professional can predict emergent situations like a prolapsed cord, but in her case, she could have been more educated. She could have actually received prenatal care throughout her entire pregnancy. Her baby’s fate wouldn’t have had to rest on a struck of luck.
Because Carmen and her little girl were lucky.
If she hadn’t been at the hospital the exact moment her water broke, the baby wouldn’t have made it. If something had been wrong with Carmen’s baby, it would not have been detected until delivery, and then, it might have been too late. So many factors, and thank God, fate was in Carmen’s favor that day.
I also hoped I wasn’t a lonely bat with poor dental hygiene at her age. I wanted a husband, not seventeen cats.
“Tell me, what has you so happy about the weekend?” Marlene asked and waggled her brows. “Hot sex?”
A shocked laugh escaped my lungs. “Uh…no.”
“Hot date that could possibly lead to hot sex, then?”
“No, you horny woman,” I said on another laugh, and Marlene grinned wide and unashamed. “No hot date. No hot sex.”
But you could have a hot date…
And hot sex. Hot, hot, hot sex with Will and his penis.
I could’ve gone on the date with Will. I wanted to. He’d asked me, and at first, I’d felt my stomach climb up and into my throat, but the bottom had dropped out just as quickly. It all seemed like it was in jest. Like he would’ve been dating me just to help his reputation.
Can I date you because I want to?
His words repeated inside my brain.
Did he want to date me?
I didn’t know. He seemed earnest in those words, but his earlier words… Dating you. Maybe that would solve some of my problems?
Yeah, not so much.
But you really like him.
I did. I really liked Will in all of his handsome, brilliant, funny, and sometimes hilariously awkward glory. He made me laugh. God, he made me laugh. And smile. My days had become better just because he was in them.
“All set, ladies?” Will poked his head into the nursing office with his briefcase in his hand and his suit jacket slung over his arm.
“Quitting time?” Marlene asked, and Will nodded with a smile.
Marlene didn’t waste another moment. She was logged out of her computer and grabbing her purse before anyone could say otherwise. For a woman who didn’t like Fridays, she sure looked happy to be strolling out of the office.
“Have a good weekend, Mel,” Will said with a smile. “See you Monday?”
My chest panged at the idea of having a whole weekend without his stupid smile and any hope of having it just for myself being missing when I did see it again. “See you Monday,” I said, but the words felt all wrong. And the situation felt all wrong as I watched him turn out of the doorway and head down the hall.
My body jumped into action before I could process what I was doing.
My legs moved at a rapid pace down the hall. “Will!” I called toward his back. “Wait a minute.”
He stopped in his tracks and turned toward me. His head tilted to the side in question. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” I nodded and took a deep inhale to catch my breath. “Yeah, everything’s great.”
“Okay,” he responded with a confused smile.
I stared into his deep blue eyes as I tried to find the right words, but I didn’t know what to say. I figured shouting the words Date me! would be a little weird. But it was those two words that just kept sitting behind my tongue, ready to shoot out of my mouth like a rocket.
“Is there anything else or…?” he asked when the silence had reached an awkward amount of time.
Now or never, Mel. Just say it. Say. It.
“Date me!” The words burst past my lips before I could stop them. Oh. Jesus. My eyes went wide in embarrassment. “I mean,” I started and nervously cleared my throat. “Is the offer still on the table?”
Will’s eyes creased at the corners once his smile consumed his face. “The dating offer?”