“Good morning, Dr. Riley.” Wendy nodded politely and entered data into the ultrasound machine without bothering to tell her to undress or how to lie down. The fifty-something woman with the short, no-nonsense hair was Jess’s favorite exactly because she didn’t waste time trying to fill silences.
As Jess positioned herself on her left side, goosebumps erupted on her skin that had nothing to do with the fact that she’d ignored the paper gown that would have to be removed in another minute anyway. Her heartbeat accelerated in anticipation of the exam. Shit. That wouldn’t do. The picture quality worsened with tachycardia, plus it sent the signal she wasn’t back to her old self again. If only the calm from this morning could be harnessed and brought into the exam room. But if she got up to perform tai chi, Wendy would probably call for a psych consult.
Sometimes when I need strength or calm, I close my eyes and do the form in my mind. Jess had dismissed Lena’s statement as a weird, new-age, pseudo-hippie thing, but what did she have to lose?
As Wendy stuck the EKG leads to her chest to synchronize the pictures with her heartbeat, Jess closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She pictured raising her hands in front of her body and pushing downward with the exhale. In and out. With each breath, she led herself through the short form she’d learned so far.
“Ready?” When Wendy’s voice pulled her from her mental exercise, Jess fixed her gaze on the monitor and the display of her heart rate.
Sixty-eight beats per minute. Normal. Phew. “I’m ready.”
“Hey, Jess!” The greeting stopped her as she was leaving the hospital.
She stepped back from the automatic door to keep it from opening. Dr. Rock Chick, of course. She smiled. “Diana, hi. Good to see you.”
“You too. You look great.” Diana nodded in the direction of the cardiology ward. “Did you visit Mrs. Jameson?”
“Yeah. Thank you for keeping me updated. Her daughter is driving her home now.”
“That’s nice of you to come and visit her again this morning.”
“I promised.” Jess was sure she could leave it at that, and Diana would skip to a new topic. Jess had never shared personal details at work. But Diana was becoming a friend. “Actually, I wasn’t just here to visit. I had my checkup, and everything has improved. I’m almost back to normal.”
“Wow. Congratulations.” Diana enveloped her in a hug that was over before Jess could decide whether she liked the display of friendship in the hospital’s main entrance hall or not. “Does this mean you’ll be back at work soon?”
“Yeah. I had a talk with my boss, and we decided to play it safe and give me another couple of weeks to recuperate. But then I’ll be back to torture residents again.”
“I’m looking forward to that.” Diana grinned and pointed to Jess’s cheek. “And who did you fight in your free time?”
Jess’s hand rose to cover the faint scratch she’d discovered as she looked in the mirror this morning. It must have happened during the fall. Heat flooded her face as she thought of Lena in her arms. “When we came here yesterday, we were on our way home. I, uh, I picked apples with Lena…um, to make jam. Lena was planning to do a new batch to sell. She sells them at the farmers market. Only the blackberries are missing. The blackberries we found were brown and dry, and she was really devastated she had to reschedule and look for another good place to pick.” Whoa. Why was she babbling all of a sudden? That had never, ever been her problem. Maybe the relief that she got a clean bill of health had addled her brain.
Diana’s eyebrows had slowly risen, and now the corners of her mouth twitched. “So you picked apples, but now she needs some blackberries to make jam?”
That’s what she should have said. “Basically, yes.”
Diana grinned. “I have the perfect solution. Emily inherited this beach house, and we have way more berries than we can ever use this summer. It would be a shame if it all went to waste. You could even make a weekend vacation out of it. Stay a night or two.”
Jess couldn’t picture it. She’d have to take Ella, of course, with all her stuff to change and feed. Sharing a cozy cabin with Lena? Her mouth was dry, and she had to swallow twice before she could get a word out. “Overnight?”
“Yeah. It’s a nice house with two bedrooms. We can’t get away at all next month because of our work schedules, so you can take the keys and go whenever you want.”
Oh, two bedrooms. Jess didn’t know if she should be relieved or disappointed. “Thanks, but…I don’t know.” Going to a beach house sounded nice. She’d been off work for over two months, but that was nothing like a vacation. Her mom’s garden was lovely, but a change of scenery sounded like the perfect getaway before she started work again. “Maybe.”
“Let’s go and get the key from Emily, and you can decide later.” Diana briskly walked toward her partner’s office, who was a senior attending in the ED.
Jess followed, grateful Diana had chosen the back route. She wasn’t in the mood for the curious gazes of the staff.
After knocking twice, Diana hesitated for a fraction of a second before opening the door. Emily Barnes sat ramrod straight behind her desk and looked up with a stern expression. When she saw Diana, a smile softened her features.
Jess marveled at the transformation of her usually icy colleague. How these two had ever kept their relationship a secret for even a minute was beyond her. “Dr. Barnes.”
Dr. Barnes’s eyes widened as she realized Diana hadn’t entered alone. She cleared her throat. “Dr. Riley, good morning.”
“Oh, no.” Diana sighed. “This is a strictly
