“Soyouarealive…”Peyton slides into the empty chair next to me at the nurse’s station. She’s got her dark hair pulled back in a claw clip, and she tips her glasses as if she’s staring down her nose at me.
Peyton is one of the overnight charge nurses in the Emergency Department. My job consumes so much of my time that I haven’t made a lot of friends here, but Peyton is the exception. We quickly bonded over our shared love of cheesy Vegas hypnotist shows and the trauma of having older brothers. We swapped stories, recipes, and relationship advice, and we never missed a Friday night happy hour. Well, until recently.
Between our conflicting schedules and my hectic life outside of work, I haven’t seen much of Peyton. In fact, I haven’t seen her at all since I met Roman.
“Hey!” I grin, pulling her into a hug.
“Don’t hey me.” She smirks, pushing away. “You disappear for weeks and then show up a couple of days ago with a brand newboyfriend who has the entire hospital talking? Talk fast because my shift is over in fifteen minutes and not even your dating life can keep me here after the night I’ve had.”
I laugh, turning my tablet off. My charting can wait, because a little venting session with Peyton is just what I need. “I don’t know if I’d call him my boyfriend.”
“Then let’s call him Julius Caesar because, based on the pictures, the man is built like an Italian Warrior.”
“Pictures?” I wince. Where in the world did she see a picture of Roman?
“Grace from Radiology snapped one. Don’t worry, I told her how incredibly inappropriate that was and made her delete it right away. After I stole a look, of course. So spill. Who is he?”
“Well, his name is Roman, so you’re not all that far off with the Italian warrior thing…”
“Roman…” The pitch of her voice gets higher as she says his name. “Love it. Where did you meet him?”
“In the park.” Not entirely a lie.
“How long have you been seeing him?” she presses, resting her chin on the counter, and leaning forward.
Jesus, why did it have to be so hard to answer these questions? I’m going to have to get a better story because it’s not like I can spout the truth to anyone who asks.
“A few weeks.” Technically, that’s not a lie either. We’ve been “together” in the sense that I’ve been working for him and living there for almost two months now.
“God, Maddie, that’s so exciting. What’s he like?”
Now there is a question I can actually answer.
“He’s really cool,” I gush. “Passionate about what he does. Driven. A great father. And we have a lot of fun together. He makes me laugh. And actually listens when I talk about work. He’s interested in it.”
“And you forgot to mention the very obvious fact that he’s drop dead gorgeous.”
“And there’s that.” I smile. Roman is the type of handsome that you never get used to. No matter how many times I see him, it always takes my breath away.
“Well, that’s great. I’m really happy for you.” She squeezes my hand.
“Thanks Peyton. Maybe we can all go out in the next few weeks and you can meet him.”
I’m so immersed in Roman’s world that it would be nice to have him in mine sometimes. I hope he’ll be up for the idea.
“Done. You tell me when, and Mark and I will be there.”
Peyton’s shift ends, and she leaves me alone to work on my charting. I can’t get my conversation with Roman from last night out of my head. The idea that Talia could have been saved must eat him alive, and I can’t imagine how hard it is not knowing what happened.
He mentioned the records were sealed, but that isn’t always the case and I might be able to access at least a portion of it. Maybe I can give him a bit of closure.
Records is down the hallway, and I take advantage of the lull in patients to go check. I provide the tech with some basic information, and she gets started.
“Let me just check...” She types furiously on her keyboard, staring at the screen. “Hmm. Are you sure this is the name? There’s nothing coming up.”
I nod. “That’s strange. I’m sure it’s Talia Molanari. It would’ve been about six months ago.”
“Nothing.” She shakes her head. “I can’t see anything at all in the system, which is odd if she was ever a patient here. Even if the record was redacted, it should still at least show up that we treated her.”
