page21 (1/2)

"Are youher voice She tries to wiggle out fros to the sides of her hips

"A former boyfriend comes to your house with a teddy bear with a heart? Umyeah, little mad Sure as shit suspicious"

"For your infore boxes," she says primly "And what does it ift"

"You are naive," I tell her adamantly "You seriously can't see this as a ploy? That he wants so more from you?"

"I don't get why you'd think that" And to her credit, she looks genuinely perplexed

"Hello," I say sarcastically as I point to the offensive object "Cute teddy bear with a ribbon and a heart"

While e, Josie's face softens and her s She reaches out and takesthem "Want me to throw it away?"

Fuck yes!

"No," I gru to say

"Because I will," she says sweetly "If it bothers you that much"

"No," I gruain

"Reed" The way she calls my attention to her so softly, I can't help but listen "I don't want Aiden I'm here with you Doesn't matter what his intention hat matters is how I accepted it And I chose to think of it as a gift from a friend"

I sigh and stretch my body out on top of hers With my arms pressed into the mattress at her side, I look down on her and admit, "This is different for me"

"Don't let it be," she says softly Her eyes are war of my insecurity

"You have a lot of history with this guy I don't think he wants to be just friends with you But I also trust you, Josie, and I know you're not going to play with me"

"No, I'd never do that," she agrees gently "But what I had with Aiden is just that History I'm in the present with you"

I smile sheepishly, but I don't need to discuss this further Her words are enough, and I have ht now

So I putteddy bear and the guy who gave it to her

Chapter 18

Josie

I hover over the coh the patient's online chart He presented with a coestive heart failure and an aortic valve replacement, yet I don't think the shortness of breath is froe to his lips leads me to believe this is his chronic obstructive pul up, so I write an order for a pulmonary function test

A burst of laughter sounds frohing about soh I kind of want to know Reether and we got by with a whole lot of laughter to combat the stress

It's been interesting having Aiden working at the hospital with us He was always the roup, and he's even , even during soh the e on people with others shooting at you and shelling your building, your hand gets a little steadier in normal circumstances Frankly, it really ood ca me

It made him into an immensely superb doctor, and I'd like to think the countless lives he's saved was a fair exchange for a broken heart Of course, I suppose it's easier for me to feel that way now that I've moved on and have Reed in my life

"Josiecome see this," Aiden calls out to me from across the hub

The hub is the circular area set in the ency department with curtained rooms around the perimeter There are several workstations, desks and computers for the nurses and doctors to work on between patients

I log off my screen, check my watch, and note I can spare thirty seconds I walk over to where Aiden and Kevin are staring at Kevin's phone When I reach them, Kevin holds the phone out so I can see the screen It's a YouTube co various medical procedures

I watch as person after person faints