“Really, Dare?”Jerry’s voice quaked with his shudders.“Thirtywholeminutes?”He gave him a mock impressed look.
Waller added through teeth that chattered with shivers, “Try thirty wholehourson that frozen ridge.”
Brown grinned, pulling out a thermos of MRE hot cocoa.He poured two steaming cups, handing them to Jerry and Waller.“Warm up, heroes.And thanks for that HEAT round.Knocked the wind out of the bandits for sure.”
Jerry sipped, the rich, warm chocolate melting the chill from his bones.His teeth chattered as he sipped.He longed to feel warm again.He’d never tasted anything so wonderful.
Except maybe one thing.His mind kept thinking about strawberry colored hair and lips that tasted just as sweet.
Clarksville Memorial Hospital, Tennessee
As she helped wheel the bed through the double doors, Olive caught sight of the patient’s father pacing in the hallway.He wore a black sweater emblazoned with the image of Darth Vader adorned with a candy-cane striped scarf and the words, “I Find Your Lack of Cheer Disturbing” written in typical Star Wars font.It made her smile.Obviously, his family had come from a Christmas party.
She looked at his son’s sleeping face.He’d come into the ED symptomatic of appendicitis.Unfortunately, his appendix ruptured before they could get him into surgery.She knew the two-hour surgery had felt like a lifetime to those parents.
She handed him over to the recovery team, then returned to the operating room to finalize her notes.Using the access card attached to her scrubs shirt, she swiped it into the system and began clicking through the prompts.
“Lieutenant Duncan,” Grayson barked from the doorway, his nasal voice cutting through her thoughts like a scalpel.“Chart’s a mess—fix it before you clock out.And next time, anticipate my moves.I shouldn’t have to ask for the curette twice.”
Her neck muscles tightened.“That would be ‘Captain,’ doctor.It’s been a long time since Fort Bragg.”She’d had enough of his mouth today.When she saw him listed as the doctor for the surgery, the temptation to claim her mild headache had grown more severe, and head home on that excuse had nearly affected her professional judgement.He’d asked her out in North Carolina five years ago and had taken great offense at her reminder to him that he had a wife.When he started working here in Clarksville, she actually began contemplating finding a different job.
She glanced at him.The years hadn’t been kind to him.He was tall, thin, balding, and his skin had a faint yellow cast.She watched as his cheeks turned red.“Nevertheless.”
“I’d be happy to review the video of the surgery with you so you can explain to me how having the curette in hand before you even knew you needed it is a violation of any written rule.But I will require my rep to be with me during any such post-mortem.I assume for the sake of transparency, you would not object.”She turned her back to him and finished typing, then logged out.It should have surprised her that he still stood there, his eyes narrowed, as if trying to decide what to say.“Was there something else, Doctor?”
“Duncan, you will not like even one single minute of crossing me,” he said.
She smiled and pulled her surgical cap off her head.“Doctor Grayson, I’m not trying to cross you.I’m simply standing up to a bully.”She walked forward until she had to look up at him.“You see, unlike your, shall we say, unfortunate wife, I’m not afraid of you.”
His eyes narrowed, and a muscle ticked in his jaw, but he finally spun on a heel and marched away.Olive considered the stark contradiction that humanity could produce men with the character and moral fiber of Doctor Grayson and, at the same time, men like Jerry McBride.
“Girl, that was something,” Audra Green said from behind her.
Olive looked over her shoulder.“Someone has to say something.The Army might have forced a retirement to get rid of him, but I doubt this hospital will do anything.They’re short-staffed, and he’s cheap.”
“I heard Becky made an official complaint.”
“Yeah.Expect a lot of those.”
“Better watch your back.”
Olive scoffed and said, “He can’t hurt me.”She tossed her cap into the laundry bin next to the door.“In our current culture, having cameras on everything we do is all the transparency I need.”She waved her badge at the door sensor, and the door swung open.“I’m headed to lunch.”
She went the back way to the cafeteria.At three forty-five on Christmas Eve, few people worked in the clinics and offices, though it had been moderately busy earlier in the day.Her phone dinged, and she saw an incoming message from her mom.Instead of texting back, she just called her.
“Merry Christmas Eve,” she said.She grabbed a tray and walked over to the salad bar.“How’s Alabama?”
“Busy.Your Aunt Hilda got in this morning.”
“I’m so glad.”
“What are you working tomorrow?”
“Seven to seven.”Olive scooped green peas on top of her lettuce.“I can video call when I get off.We can open presents.”
“Sounds perfect.Love you.”
“Love you, too,” she said, then slid the phone back into her scrubs pocket and finished making her salad.Impulsively, she grabbed a slice of red velvet cake to go with it.Christmas Eve only happened once a year, after all.
