Friend, Fling, Forever?. Janice Lynn

to fill the vacancy. It was the story of Kami’s childhood and was still ongoing. Would her mother never learn?

      “Okay, Mom,” she sighed, putting her lunch in the break-room refrigerator. “I’ll feed Bubbles. Any idea when you’ll be back?”

      “A couple of days. I’ll text to let you know for sure. Don’t forget to love on Bubbles.”

      “Right.” Because she wanted to stick around at her mother’s apartment longer than she absolutely had to. Not. “Well, I’m at work, so I need to go. Bye, Mom. I’ll feed Bubbles.”

      She’d probably love on the scrappy cat, too. Goodness knew that if her mother had a new man in her life, the cat would be ignored until his departure.

      Kami had a lot of empathy for Bubbles.

      * * *

      “I was disappointed I didn’t see Baxter this morning,” Gabe teased as Kami came over to where he sat reviewing chart notes. Gabe loved his job, loved being a doctor, and loved knowing that, if the need arose, he could do everything humanly possible to save someone’s life. Knowing he’d see Kami made the prospect of going to work all the sweeter. He never knew what was going to come out of that sassy mouth of hers.

      “Maybe he’s already given up his exercise kick,” Kami mused, not looking as if she cared one way or the other.

      Actually, she looked distracted and he wondered who she’d been on the phone with earlier. He’d been coming back into the department from the NICU, where Beverly and her husband had been sitting with their baby. He couldn’t imagine the stress they were going through as each day was a struggle for their tiny baby girl to live. He’d been thinking on the fund-raiser, hoping it raised enough money to cover the couple’s out-of-pocket medical expenses, not to mention all their day-to-day expenses that still had to be paid despite their being at the hospital instead of their jobs. Whomever Kami had been on the phone with, it hadn’t been a pleasant conversation.

      “Doubtful.” Gabe leaned back in his chair and eyed the petite blonde nurse standing a few feet away. Were there problems with the fund-raiser? Or had the call been personal? “My guess is he was already there and gone by the time I got there. He’s determined to buff up for you.”

      “Yeah, yeah.” She didn’t sound impressed. “Someone should tell him I’m not into buff.”

      Gabe arched a brow. “I thought all women were into buff.”

      She rolled her eyes. “Men are into buff. Any intelligent woman would rather have a man of substance than bulgy muscles.”

      “Can’t a man have both substance and muscles?”

      Kami shrugged. “Apparently not.”

      “You’re overlooking the obvious.”

      Her forehead scrunched. “What’s that?”

      He waggled his brows. “I’m substance and bulgy muscles.”

      Giving him a critical once-over, she seemed to be debating his claim. “You’re not that gross. You don’t have that no-neck, bulgy-muscles look I can’t stand.”

      Gabe wasn’t sure if she’d insulted or complimented him. “That means I don’t count?”

      “You don’t count, anyway,” she said flippantly, handing him a piece of paper she’d jotted patient vitals on.

      Ignoring the paper, he asked, “Why’s that?”

      “We’re talking muscles and substance, remember?” she said matter-of-factly and gestured to the paper she’d handed him.

      Gabe laughed. “Right. I forgot. Disqualified on all counts.”

      “Exactly. Now, are you going to go see the poor lady in bay three? Her blood pressure is crazy high at two hundred and fifteen over one hundred and thirty-seven.”

      “Slave driver,” he accused, glancing down at the numbers on the paper she’d handed him as he headed toward the bay. “But rightly so.”

      * * *

      Connie Guffrey’s EKG was normal, as were her cardiac enzymes. Fortunately, after Kami administered IV medication, her blood pressure decreased to closer to the normal range, but Gabe decided to admit her for overnight observation due to her having developed some shortness of breath and mild chest pain just prior to plans to discharge her home.

      Kami agreed doing serial cardiac enzymes overnight was in Ms. Guffrey’s best interest and arranged the transfer to the medical floor.

      “Don’t look now,” Mindy advised, “but you know who has been watching you all night. I think he really does want you to buy his date.”

      Kami immediately turned toward where she’d last seen Gabe. He was busy talking to a respiratory therapist who’d just administered a breathing treatment on an asthma patient.

      “I told you not to look,” Mindy reminded her.

      “Doesn’t matter that I looked because you’re imagining things.”

      “Not hardly. And you know what?” Mindy looked absolutely smug. “He’s not the only one who’s been staring.”

      Realization dawning as to her friend’s meaning, Kami frowned. “I have not been staring.”

      “Sure you haven’t.”

      “The only time I’ve looked at the man is when we’re discussing a patient or treating a patient.” She scowled at her friend. “Don’t you have something better to fill your time than making up stories?”

      “You just looked at him, Kami.”

      She gave a duh look. “Because you told me not to.”

      “Exactly, and you immediately seized the excuse to look at him.” Mindy bent forward and whispered, “I think you like him.”

      “Of course I like him. He’s a nice guy who I work with. We’re friends.”

      Mindy shook her head. “Not buying it. You should be more than friends.”

      Kami’s gaze narrowed. “Says who?”

      “Me.” Mindy leaned against the raised desk area that provided a divider for the nurses from the examination bays. “Apparently he thinks so, too, or he wouldn’t have asked you to buy his date.”

      “The reason he asked me to buy his date is because we’re just friends and I wouldn’t get the wrong idea.”

      “Which is?”

      “That there could ever be something between him and me.” Kami outright glared at her friend. “This isn’t some television show where doctors fall for nurses and harbor secret feelings. This is reality and the reality is that he and I are just friends and that’s all we want to be. Don’t make this into something it’s not.”

      “Maybe you should make it into something it’s not.”

      “You sound like a broken record. Let it go,” she ordered, then, frowning, added, “Besides, I thought you planned to bid on him.”

      Mindy crossed her arms, regarding Kami. “I should.”

      “Good. Buy him. He’s taking his date to Gatlinburg for a fun-filled Saturday of visiting the aquarium, playing laser tag and putt-putt golf, riding go-karts, and topping the night off with a dinner show. You’d have a great time.”

      “I should hire you as my press agent. My bid might break records.”

      Kami jumped at Gabe’s interruption. “I didn’t hear you come up. I was…uh…telling Mindy she should bid on you.”

      “I heard.” He grinned at Mindy. “She convince you?”

      “I’m saving my pennies, Dr. Nelson.”

      He