Part 76

A.J. Quartermaine was wearing a suit and tie. Quinn had always thought he was a particularly handsome man, and he could be very friendly when he was in the right mood. For some reason, he was in the break room Quinn no longer ever tried to determine why he was ever in any given part of the hospital other than his parents' or brother's offices.

"Hi!" he said, to Quinn, giving her the cup of coffee he had just poured and pouring another one for his own. "The prettiest nurse in PC General," he screwed up his eyes to read her name tag. "Q. Connor. How are things on this floor, Nurse Connor?"

He seemed to be very happy today.

"Fine," she answered. "I got the midnight shift for Thanksgiving Day, cut to six hours, still triple time, so I can sleep before dinner, and the football games, so I can't complain."

"Mighty fine. Mighty fine. Glad to hear it. Where are you going for dinner?"

"My parents, but they are going somewhere else, so I'm going with them. You?"

"We're all flying out of town," he answered, taking a sip. "To a secret location," his eyes danced with mischief. "To meet my younger sister."

"Oh, another undisclosed location? Like where she goes to college?"

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"That your sister goes to college at an undisclosed location?"

"Yeah!"

"Stuff like that gets around. Not much you can do about it. It's unusual. So somebody tells somebody else who tells somebody else. My patient told me, actually, Zander Smith, you know, who got shot instead of you?" She took a sip of coffee to observe him. "Doesn't that scare you? That someone wanted to shoot you, I mean?"

"Heck, no! I wish it had been me. Old pain-in-the-neck – Zander, you know – is still alive and kicking and probably reducing somebody else's life to a mess. Therefore, I'd have lived, too. Then I could have been your patient."

"Believe me, you would not think that it was worth it."

He laughed and left the room, saying, "Of course it would be! What's a little pain compared to seeing your face everyday! Have a great holiday, Nurse Connor!"