Love On Call

Mari tried not to think about that conversation, and especially tried not to imagine Glenn with another woman, kissing another woman with that most amazingly soft, incredibly knowing mouth. She didn’t have very good luck. She kept trying to pinpoint the exact moment when everything had gotten out of hand between them—and just how much she had been responsible for the disaster. Of course, the first kiss was probably the mistake, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to regret it. She’d been kissed before, but never like that. Never so thoroughly, so tenderly, so forcefully, so…right. Glenn’s kiss had been so much more than a kiss, and Mari had been touched by so much more than just the sensual glide of her teasing caresses. Somehow Glenn had managed to make her feel exciting and excited, desirable and so eager for more of…everything. Glenn’s presence, as much as her touch, had ignited some slumbering part of her and awakened a fervor in her body and her heart to experience life at the peak of passion. Beyond the safety net of caution. And of course, she couldn’t, could she. Not now, not yet. Not when she’d barely begun to let herself hope the nightmare was over.

Mari sighed, shelved the last chart from a surprisingly quiet Friday night shift, and watched the clock tick ever closer to seven a.m. Antonelli came into the break room and dropped into a chair beside her.

“Did you finish your backlog of discharge dictations?” Mari asked.

He shook his head. “I got tied up playing Pokémon.”

She laughed. “Do you rule?”

He grinned, looking boyishly handsome and not the least bit apologetic about ditching his paperwork. “But of course.”

“Just remember, if you don’t do your charts, I’ll have to—and if it comes to that, you could find yourself working a lot of nights and weekends. I make the schedule, remember.” Mari’s threat was an empty one, since she knew he’d get the charts done by the deadline, but it didn’t hurt to make him at least think she was immune to his charm. Unlike every other woman in his universe, apparently.

“As long as it isn’t this weekend. My kid sister is home on leave for two weeks, so I’ll be spending most of the weekend at my parents’. Big family get-together.”

Mari’s heart hurt for an instant. Weekends had always meant family time for her too, until first her illness and then her estrangement from those closest to her put an end to the easy sharing. “She’s in the Army?”

“Marines,” he said proudly. “The little squirt managed to work her way into a Huey command and flies support for Special Ops in…well, over there.”

“We’ll get you out of here ASAP, then.”

“Thanks.” He cleared his throat and looked away briefly. “So. How about you? Doing something fun with the rest of your weekend?”

“Nothing special.” Mari envisioned the weekend spreading slowly before her and tried again not to think of Glenn, who she knew was off call as well. She’d checked the schedule more than once, just to see her name in print. Lord, really silly, but she couldn’t make herself stop. “Still unpacking, decorating. You know.”

“Boy, that sounds lame. You want to come home with me? Always got plenty of food.”

Mari’s throat closed. The kindness of strangers—but Antonelli wasn’t a stranger any longer. Their shared struggles and triumphs had forged a real bond between them. “I’d love to, but maybe not on a special weekend like this one. Rain check?”

“Sure. My mom will try to talk you into marrying me, though.”

Mari laughed. “I wouldn’t want to give her false hope.”

He grinned and shot her another sure-to-melt-most-girls’-hearts look just as Abby appeared in the doorway.

Abby asked, “You two have anything to sign out?”

“I’ve got a thirty-three-year-old in cubicle two,” Mari said. “We’re waiting on micro to report on the urinalysis. Probably just a straightforward UTI.”

“Got it.”

Antonelli straightened, coming to attention unconsciously in his chair. “The guy in six is admitted and waiting for a surgical bed and observation. Probable diverticulitis. They’re trying to quiet it down with antibiotics and fluids.”

“Did he get his first dose of IV meds yet?” Abby asked.

“Yep—triples, all charted.”

“Good. Who’s on call for surgery?”

“Beecher.”

“Did she say she’d be in to see him?” Abby asked.

“Said she’d be by on rounds later this morning.”

“Good enough, then. See you both Monday. Get out of here.”

Antonelli scraped back his chair, got to his feet, and shot past Abby out the door.

“How’s it going?” Abby asked as Mari rose.

“Fine,” Mari said. “How are Blake and Margie doing with their volunteering?”

If Abby noticed her quick change in subject, she let it pass. “They’d stay here around the clock if I let them. They both remind me of Glenn.” She frowned. “Come to think of it, where is she? I haven’t seen much of her all week, and she hasn’t called Flann once in the middle of the night. Did you ban her from lurking here at night?”

Mari forced a smile. “Not guilty! Maybe she’s finally decided to trust the rest of us to take care of things all by ourselves.”