Page 10 of Quinton's Quest

And he could die the next day in a car crash.

Well, that was true as well.

Or I could meet the man of my dreams, marry him, and we might live fifty or sixty years together. I just couldn’t be certain. All I knew for sure was that I couldn’t do it for Mama. If I married, it had to be for the right reason.

For love.

I rose, grabbed our bowls, and headed to the dishwasher. Mama believed the dishwasher used too much water and preferred to wash dishes by hand. If I managed to fill the dishwasher first, she’d wag her finger, and then relent. Downstairs? In her apartment? The dishwasher had never been used.

“You’re working tomorrow?” Mama brought our mugs to the sink, dumped out the remnants of the tea and handed them to me so I could load them.

“Yeah. Nephrology.”

She patted my arm. “You’re good at that.”

Although she wasn’t wrong, she wouldn’t understand my true reticence. Leo might’ve just started at the hospital, but eventually he’d be performing surgeries. That meant interacting with him. No way around it.

I’d have to be on guard.

Both for my sanity and, more importantly, for my heart.

I gave Mama my best smile. “I’m going to make it an early night.”

She gazed into my eyes. “One day you’ll tell me what’s troubling you.”

Her insight didn’t surprise me. That she thought this was more than a twenty-four-hour thing did.

“Maybe. I’m not certain your heart would be able to take the stress.”

She laughed. “As long as you use protection and stay safe, I’ll survive. Goodnight, little one.”

Given I was almost a foot taller, her nickname never ceased to amuse me. “Goodnight, Mama.”

I’d hoped for a quick and deep slumber. Instead, it took forever to fall into the most erotic dreams I’d had in a very long time.

Chapter Four

Leo

“Idon’t know how you pulled that off, but I’m impressed.” Charles mopped his face as my patient was wheeled out of the operating room and off to recovery.

I wanted to admonish the nurses to watch the man carefully, but I resisted that urge.

Quinton’s words kept swirling in my mind.

He claims not all nurses are lazy. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt in this new hospital.New year, new leaf, new life.Or so you tell yourself.The memory of that horrible day kept popping up in my mind.

I removed my gloves, my gown, and my mask. As I stood for a moment, taking in the flashback of the chaos for Mr. Chavez and then the relief at perfectly executing the surgery, I took a moment to bask. I exited the OR and headed to recovery.

A nurse I didn’t recognize approached me. “Mrs. Chavez is in the waiting room. She’s got four children under the age of seven.”

I blinked. Then tried to do the math on that. Then hoped maybe she’d had a set of twins. I scrubbed my hand over my face. “Any other family members? Friends?”

The nurse, whose name tag read Sheila, shook her head. “They’re new to the country and have no close friends or family.”

And now the woman had a husband who would need care for weeks. “Is there someone we can get to help? A social worker? Community support care? He needs rest, and it doesn’t sound like he’ll get it.”

Sheila blinked at me—clearly surprised I’d thought of something like that. “I’ll see what I can do.”