Chapter 18

Three days later, on Tuesday, I had my appointment at Med to have my stitches taken out.

I had just sent off a reply to Jay, the unit had finally made some arrests and was hopeful that they could return to Chicago soon, when Will and a nurse walked into the treatment room.

"Hailey! Good to see you again. How have you been?" Will greeted me with his biggest smile.

"Hey Will, good to see you too. I've been great. Hated having to rest, but I did my best."

"Sounds good, let me quickly check your vitals and then I'll have a look at the stitches," he informed me and took his stethoscope off his shoulders.

"Vitals are normal and healthy," Will concluded a minute later and moved on to take a look at my laceration. "You took excellent care of this. It healed perfectly," he commended me.

"I had a lot of help from my mum and my friend Zoe," I explained.

"They did a great job. Now let's–"

"Doctor Halstead, we need your consultation in treatment room 3. It's urgent," a young nurse called from the hallway.

"Okay, I'm coming, April," he told her and turned to me, "Nurse Doris will take out your stitches and also instruct you on how to take care of the scar and what to watch out for," he said as he inched out of the room.

Before he rounded the corner, he shot me an apologetic smile.

Nurse Doris got to work while making small talk with me. It didn't hurt to get the stitches pulled, and I already knew most of the care instructions she gave me from the time I had taken care of the scar on my arm. All in all, the appointment only took a little over 15 minutes.

On my way out, I ran into Will in the hallway.

"Hey! How did it go? Wasn't too bad, was it?" he asked.

"Nope, all good," I confirmed with a smile.

"I was about to take a break and grab some lunch at the cafeteria. Would you like to join me?"

"Sure!" I agreed, happy at the opportunity to get to know Jay's brother better.

"It's really not the best food, but I've gotten used to it," Will said as he led the way to the cafeteria.

We picked up some trays and got into line. We were discussing the food options when an elderly man, stabilising himself with a walking cane, tapped Will on the shoulder.

"Doctor Halstead?" Will turned around to face the man. "Excuse me, Doctor Halstead. I wanted to thank you again for everything you did for my wife, Annie. If you hadn't discovered that aneurysm, I don't know what, I would've, I …" he stuttered, unable to find the right words.

I watched him struggle and my heart went out to him.

"That's alright, Mr Watkins. It's what I'm here for after all. You did well by bringing her in when you did," Will encouraged him.

The old man nodded, and his shaky hand fiddled around in his pocket. He retrieved a banknote and tried to hand it to Will.

"I can't take this, Mr Watkins," Will objected and softly pushed the man's hand down. "Why don't you buy your wife something from the gift shop instead?" he proposed and patted Mr Watkins on the shoulder.

The man's eyes lit up at the suggestion and the mention of his wife. "Alright," he agreed. "Thank you, Doctor Halstead."

I watched him shuffle off. "That was sweet," I observed.

"If you think that was sweet, you should see them together," he remarked with a chuckle.

The lunch lady behind us cleared her throat, and we quickly paid for the food on our trays. On our way to a free table, we passed a table where some nurses were having their lunch.

"Doctor Halstead," the nurse closest to us called out and grabbed Will's arm, "why don't you sit with us?"

A few nurses agreed eagerly while others looked slightly embarrassed. The one who had spoken batted her eyelashes at Will and put on a flirtatious smile, pouting her lips.

"Not today, Maureen, thank you," Will declined politely and freed his hand from her grip. "Ladies," he excused himself from the table.

Maureen's eyes snapped from Will to me, and her smile evaporated. I stared back for a second, then followed Will to an empty table by the windows.

"Wow. If stares could kill, I'd be needing your medical assistance right now, doc," I quipped as I set my tray down and sat across from him.

"I think under her stare you'd die instantly, and even I couldn't help you anymore," he remarked with a chuckle.

I glanced over at the nurses' table and the back of Maureen's head but quickly looked away when she turned to shoot daggers our way.

A snorting laugh escaped my nose, and I quickly rested my chin on my hand and covered my mouth with my fingers to stop myself from laughing even more. Will snickered too.

"She just confirmed every bad stereotype about nurses lusting over doctors," I noted incredulously.

"Maureen can be a little full-on, that's true. Her and a couple of nurses she hangs out with. But all other nurses are amazing and complete professionals," he clarified.

"Yeah, some of them looked uncomfortable. Anyway, how are you doing?" I moved on and started on my lunch.

"Same old, same old. We've actually had a relatively quiet week. Which is always good in the ED," he said. "How have you been doing since the attack?"

"It's been okay. I definitely feel much better now than I did during the first few days. It helped a lot to know that the guys are in lockup."

"Yeah, I can imagine. I'm very glad that you didn't let what happened deter you from Jay and wanting to get to know him," he remarked, "Jay's job comes with a lot of risks and dangers which sometimes follow him into his private life. I think many women would have turned the other way and ran after something like that."

"Maybe," I pondered, "but what happened wasn't his fault. And I'm not planning on running away any time soon."

"I'm glad to hear it," he smiled and took a sip from his water. "You know, Jay usually doesn't tell me when he's dating someone until it's been going on for a few months and he's sure about the relationship. But he told me about you right from the start."

I raised my eyebrows. "Did he? What did he say?"

"On the evening of the day he met you and I treated you at Med, he called me and asked what I thought about you. He said that he'd never met someone and felt such an instant connection with them," he told with a smile that reached up to his genuine, brown eyes.

His phone buzzed. He kept his eyes on me and watched a shy smile form on my face in reaction to what he'd said. Then he picked up his phone.

"Are you kidding me?" he exclaimed in an annoyed tone at the message he was reading.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I had my landlord check on the broken aircon in my apartment, and he just texted me that he doesn't see anything wrong with it! It just blows out air without cooling it, you doofus," he cussed at the phone.

I had to suppress a giggle at his use of the word doofus.

"Maybe you should set the AC on fire. Then your landlord will definitely see that it's broken," I suggested with a teasing grin on my face.

His eyes shot up and his brows furrowed in confusion. Then the realisation set in.

"I take it Jay told you the full story of the shed fire," he concluded with a smile spreading across his lips. "I'm understanding more and more why Jay likes you so much."

My heart leapt in my chest, and my cheeks warmed up.

"It's a great story," I remarked and shrugged my shoulders, keeping a casual front.

"If he told you that story, then it's only fair if I tell you something embarrassing from his childhood," he mumbled while typing out a response to his landlord. "Wouldn't you agree?" he glanced up at me and grinned mischievously.

"Oh definitely. We need to keep things fair here," I agreed with a fake, serious expression on my face.

Will put his phone down on the table and stared off into the distance for a moment, thinking of a story to tell me.

His eyes lit up when he found the right one. "I've got one," he chuckled to himself. "Until he was eight years old, Jay was an adamant believer in cooties. He was so convinced that they were real that when a girl in elementary school ran up to him and kissed him, he came home and went straight to bed because he thought he had contracted cooties from her and would be seriously ill. He even started running a psychosomatic fever until our mum convinced him that cooties weren't real."

My mouth dropped open slightly. "No way!" I breathed in disbelief. Then, I burst out laughing, "You're right, that is a good story. I can't believe it!"

Will beamed, "Glad you like it. Just tell him that if he tells you more stories about me, I have plenty more about him too."

"He told me the exact same thing," I noted after my laughter had died down, and I reverted my attention to my food.

"How's he doing? I only managed to get a hold of him once last week. He and the unit are in Wisconsin?" Will inquired.

I realised that Jay hadn't told him about the accident with the boy. "Yes, they're working together with the local police over there. Seems to be a pretty big case, but he can't tell me anything about it. I just know that they're working relentlessly and don't take breaks," I explained. "I really hope they can close the case soon."

"I'm sure they will," Will reassured me and took a look at his watch, "I'd better get back to work. This was fun."

"Yes, it was," I agreed. "When the unit is back, we're planning on doing a night at Molly's. You should come too," I told him as we placed our trays on the rack and left the cafeteria.

"Sounds good! Let me know when," Will smiled. "See you soon."

He headed back to the ED and I went to work for the rest of the day.

Late at night that day, as I walked up the front steps to my house, I got the call I'd been waiting for.

"We caught the break in the case that we've been hoping for. The bad guys are in lockup, and we have more than enough evidence to charge them," Jay blurted out as soon as I had accepted the call. "We have a day of paperwork ahead of us tomorrow, but then on Thursday, we're finally heading back to Chicago!"

"Finally!" I rejoiced, feeling excitement bubble up inside me. "Congrats on closing the case!"

"Thank you. I'm so glad that it's over. It was a frustrating case," he let out a sigh of relief.

Finally hearing and talking to a joyous and excited Jay again, made my heart swell.

"I can't wait to see you again! And sleep in my own bed!" Jay paused for a moment, "And maybe combine the two," he trailed off.

I chuckled as I locked my door behind me and walked into my kitchen. "Come back to Chicago, and we'll see," I purred in my best flirtatious voice.

Jay let out a breathy chuckle. "Let's change the topic or I might jump in my car and drive over right now," he implored. "What have you been up to today?"

"I just came back from work, I started training Zoe for a bit today and my mum joined too. They've decided to take over my position together," I started recapitulating my day.

"That's a good idea," Jay commented.

"Yeah, I think so too. That way they can help each other out while they're both still learning and figuring things out," I agreed. "And earlier today, I had my stitches taken out at Med and had lunch with your brother."

"Oh no! What kind of stories and lies did he tell you about me?" he joked, but I detected a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Wouldn't you like to know," I teased. "Lunch with him was a lot of fun. Will is great."

"I'm glad you two get along so well," he said and let out a big yawn which he passed on to me and made me realise how tired I was.

"I'm going to head to bed now," I told Jay. "It's been a long day."

"Yeah, me too."

"I'm so happy to know when you're coming back now, but somehow it makes me miss you even more," I murmured as I headed up the stairs to my bedroom.

"You'll have me back sooner than you know."