Playing Doctor by Jan Meredith Page B

room and enjoy it. She lay there, in the drowsy warmth of the bed she had shared with Gabe, and clutched his pillow to her chest. Despite the fact that the sheets still held the warmth of his body, a cold shiver spread through her and she felt an extraordinary void at his absence. Loneliness pulled at her like a steel weight.
    If she had done the right thing, why did she feel like she’d just let the most unexpectedly magical opportunity slip through her fingers?
    Chapter Eleven
    “So, how was the trip to Lexington?” Connie snapped the lid on a plastic container of leftover sausage biscuits and set it on top of the microwave in the employee’s break room.
    Beth wasn’t above bribing the staff with food to get them to attend monthly departmental meetings. It was a sure way of baiting night shift to linger, and day shift to come in early. Buffalo wings and loaded potato skins were on order to ensure a good turnout for the meeting at shift change this evening.
    She gathered the leftover handouts from the morning staff meeting, tapped them smartly on the table and slid them into a folder. Although two weeks had passed since her trip to Lexington, today was the first time she’d seen Connie for more than a few moments at a time. She’d known Connie would ask, had thought about what she’d tell her and what she wouldn’t. Whatever she divulged, she only wanted to say it once, and then tuck the memories of that weekend away forever. Thinking about it only made her want things she couldn’t have, and she’d done little else but think about Gabe and their night together.
    “The wedding was beautiful. Drew captured some great shots. He even got some of us doing CPR on one of the wedding guests. He sent some of them to my phone.” Beth took her cell from her pocket and handed it to Connie.
    “You’re kidding me. You just can’t get away from the job, no matter what,” Connie complained. She pulled up the photos and flipped through the screens. “That’s the thing with being a nurse. If you were a grocer and one of the caterers shouted, Hey, I’m out of bread , you wouldn’t just jump up and start looking around for bread, would you? But no, be a nurse and see someone lose consciousness and you automatically fall on the guy’s chest and start pounding… hello .”
    “What?”
    “Holy stud in a tux, Batman! Is that Thor giving compressions?” Connie worked her fingers over the screen, enlarging the photograph for a better look.
    Beth clutched the stack of handouts to her chest. She hadn’t gone through the photos. Hadn’t wanted to see Gabe’s face on the screen. Hadn’t wanted to be reminded of how good they’d been together…and that she’d sent him away.
    “Um, let me see.” She glanced at the photo. Her heartbeat quickened. The rest of her flushed with heat. “Oh, that’s, um…Dr. North. He was a, ah…groomsman.”
    “Love the hair,” Connie murmured. “Hell, love everything.” She flipped to another shot and tilted her head, squinting at the screen. “Beth, he’s looking at your ass.”
    “What? Let me see that.” Beth snatched the phone out of Connie’s hand.
    The focal point of the shot was of the paramedics loading Albert into the ambulance, while in the background, she, Beth, was on her knees, and yes, her ass was in the air while she stuffed the defibrillator back into his medical bag. Sure enough, there was Gabe, standing right behind her…looking squarely at her ass.
    Beth closed her eyes, dropped her head. Oh, God, had Drew noticed this? Had he already sent copies to the bride and groom? If not, could she be lucky enough to find his computer on, get into his file and delete the damn things? Heat stung her cheeks.
    Connie looked at the photo again and then back at Beth. Her green eyes narrowed. “You got laid…by Dr. Thor!”
    If her face got any hotter, her skin would steam. Beth spun around and headed out of the break room, Connie hard on her heels. She rushed down the hall