Fool Me Once (Codie Snow #1): A Romantic Suspense Series by Jade C. Jamison Page A

grousing all day about the bitch.  Codie tried to remember that Elaine should have her respect due to her education and her experience, but Codie hated her just the same…not just her personality but also her caterpillar eyebrows.  Thank heavens for the eyebrows, because they were the perfect reminder that Elaine wasn’t perfect.  The woman couldn’t even properly shape her ugly eyebrows.
    Something Codie had realized after a few years of working at the nursing home that, yes, she could complain and mutter and mumble behind her shift leader’s back—something she used to do, thinking it would help her feel better—but it never helped the situation improve, and it didn’t help her emotional state in the long run.  Instead, she found that if she shoved a piece of gum in her mouth and chomped on it, taking out her aggression on the chewy pink sweetness between her teeth, it wasn’t so bad.
    One shift at a time.
    Today, though, it was getting to her.  And she knew it was because she’d already had a taste of freedom, of something different.  Becoming a cop might not be the solution, but she knew now that she needed to change gears.  When it was time to leave work, Elaine stopped her.  It was one of the games she liked to play.  “Hold up, Snow,” she snapped from the nurse’s station.  “Did you finish your final rounds?”
    “Yes.  And I let Latisha know that Mr. Graham will need to be checked again in about half an hour.”  Elaine loved pretending the CNAs under her charge were stupid and lazy, but they worked well together, checking with each other when changing shifts.  None of them liked surprises, so they all kept one another informed.
    But Elaine obviously didn’t care—or was too stupid to catch on.  “You finished your charting?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”  Codie knew it grated Elaine’s nerves when she called her ma’am , so she did it as often as possible.
    Elaine didn’t give away her displeasure, but Codie saw the corner of a thick eyebrow respond by moving ever so slightly.  That made her satisfied.  “Let’s check a couple of your charts.”
    “I’ve already clocked out.  They’re fine.”  Elaine stood.  “And if they’re not, I know you’ll be sure to go over them with me tomorrow.  I just want to go home.”  Codie didn’t flip her the bird, much as she wanted to, but she started walking toward the front door.
    “What the hell’s the matter with you today, Snow?”
    Codie wanted to say that she was ready to tell the nurse to shove the job up her ass, but without a plan, she couldn’t take a risk of losing said job with being insubordinate.  So she told her half the truth.  “I don’t feel good today.”
    And who cared if it was her own damn fault because she’d drunk way too much the night before?
     
    * * *
     
    After going to bed early that night and going to work the next day like a robot, falling back into the same old routine, Codie felt restless.  She knew then for certain that she had to quit her job.  There was no way she was going to be a nurse’s bitch, certified or otherwise, for the rest of her life.  She needed more out of life, and she wasn’t getting any younger.
    And she knew, while she sat at the kitchen table that evening stabbing at an innocent piece of lettuce, that her restlessness might seem to be caused by her love life, but she realized in the back of her mind that it was a hell of a lot more than that.  Sure, she’d been agonizing over Slade and Pete, trying to decide who’d be the better guy to end up with, but she knew that she needed to get her own life together first.
    She needed to be happy without a man before she started plotting out her life with one.
    So it didn’t help her frame of mind when Pete called her later, just as she was getting ready for bed.  It might have been late, but when she saw who was calling, there was no way was she letting him go to voicemail.  “You remember all the different crime scenes