The three dots appear almost immediately.
M: How bad?
D: She said she hopes we're treating each other well.
There's a pause that's longer than usual, and then:
M: That's very her.
D: I told her if we were together, I was treating you very well.
Another pause.
M: Dakota.
D: Yeah?
M: You really are.
A slow smile works its way across my face, and I start the truck, heading for home.
Chapter 12
Molly
"Is there anything else I can get you?" I ask the patient I'm helping this afternoon. She's waiting to be induced, and I've watched how stressful that is for others.
"It's a little warm in here, can we turn the heat down?" She asks, putting her hair up in a bun off her neck. "I know it's freezing outside, but I've gained forty pounds with this pregnancy and I'm always fucking hot."
I laugh as I watch her get more comfortable. "Yes, we can definitely do that for you." When I've gotten everything situated, I leave the room and head to the nurses station.
"Molly! I haven't seen you in a couple weeks."
"Macie, I missed you!" I run over and give my coworker a hug. She came to us from Calvert Memorial a few months ago. She's become one of my favorite people outside of Dakota, Lucy, and Magnolia Grace. "How were your days off?"
"Alright." She shrugs. "It sucks being single, I'm sure you know," she sighs. "I wish I had someone to spend time with, but I haven't been able to make meaningful friendships with anyone except you. And," she gives me a wink. "I know you're seeing someone whether you truly want to admit it or not."
This makes me feel a little bad, because I have been there before. I've felt like the person being left out because I wasn't in a relationship or had nothing else going on. It does suck being the person sitting at home by yourself when everyone else is out living their lives. "I'm sorry, you should've texted me. I'm kind of seeing someone, but that doesn't mean I don't have time to hang out with friends. Especially since my brother stole my BFF, and now they're sucking face every day."
Macie laughs and leans against the counter, settling in as she looks at me, a smile on her face.
Another one of our co-workers Sam comes over, looking between the two of us. "So how did the two of you become friends? You seem like you've known each other forever, but you haven't worked together that long."
I think about it for a second, because it happened organically enough that I don't have a huge story to tell. "I don't know that there was one specific moment," I admit. "She just kind of showed up and fit. She doesn’t make a lot of noise, does her job and does it well, and she’s not mean. You have no idea how rare that last part is." I reach past them and grab my clipboard off the desk. "We work well together, and then somewhere in the middle of all of that I started to genuinely like her as a person."
She tilts her head, and something soft moves across her expression before she pulls it back into her usual easy smile. "That might be the nicest thing anyone's said to me since I moved here."
"Laurel Springs takes a minute," I tell her, because it's the truth. It's a town that loves its own, but it's also a town with a long memory and a short runway for people who come in too hot or expect things to be handed to them. "But once it decides it likes you, it really likes you. You just have to let it get there on its own timeline."
"Is that your way of telling me to be patient?"
"I'm telling you that you've already got me, and I'm telling you that you need to get yourself out a little bit more." I point at her. "When's the last time you went somewhere that wasn't this hospital or your apartment?"
She has to actually think about it, which is the answer right there. "I went to the grocery store on Thursday."
"Macieeee…" I drag her name out, giving her a look of disbelief.
"I know, I know." She groans and drops her face into her hands for a second. "I just don't know where to go by myself. Going to a bar alone feels pathetic."