Piper Reece caught the knowing look that Carrie sent the orderly passing by and the twinkle in his eye as he smiled back. Shaking her head, she raised an eyebrow at her flirty co-worker.
“I take it you found your next conquest.”
Carrie nodded, a smile creasing the corners of her eyes. “Oh yeah, I sure did. And it was fabulous.” The tiny little woman with the perfect curves somehow managed to make her scrubs look as sexy as a little black dress. Carrie had made it clear that she had no qualms about hitting on patients or dating co-workers, especially new doctors.
Piper, on the other hand, couldn’t imagine using her job to pick up men, especially as hard as she’d worked to land the head nurse position at Parkland hospital. Her salary was finally climbing to a reasonable level, and she was looking at several private hospitals that would double her pay once she had a bit more experience under her belt.
Nonetheless, there were times when she was jealous of the cute little nurse and her crazy love life. Piper had been so focused on school for so long and had jumped right into her career when she’d graduated that she hadn’t been on a date in over a year, much less have time for a real relationship. She was very ambitious; wanting to prove to her parents that she could be something on her own without needing them to foot the bill.
“Carrie, you’re really something else,” she responded with a giggle, printing out the last set of prescriptions for the resident doctor and the patient who was being discharged this evening before she headed home for the night. She had a date with her DVR, a frozen pizza, and a bag of microwave popcorn. It was the first real downtime she’d had in the last three months, and she wanted to enjoy every minute of it.
Carrie was headed home as well, her shift over, and she tapped Piper on the shoulder as she blew by with her usual flurry. “Hey, if you feel like it, I’m meeting some of my girlfriends at Grapevine for a drink. It won’t be a late night. You should join us. It’ll be fun.”
As much as she appreciated the invitation, Piper didn’t feel incredibly social. “Thanks, but I’m really tired tonight. Think I’m just going to chill at home.”
Carrie shrugged and said goodnight as they both retrieved their belongings from the staff room and made their way toward the parking garage. Piper climbed into her car and considered what it might be like to meet up with Carrie and her friends, but then shook her head and turned in the other direction, heading toward her apartment in Addison. She wasn’t the party-girl type and she knew she never would be. She just didn’t fit in with those kinds of girls.
Her phone was ringing when she walked in the door, and she moved quickly to answer it.
“Hello?” she answered breathlessly.
“It took you long enough,” her sister, Sterling, quipped in an irritated voice.
Piper smiled as she dropped into a chair by the kitchen table to talk. “You know, if you would call my cell, you’d find me more easily. I just walked in the door from work. What’s up?”
“Oh, sorry,” Sterling replied. “Listen, word has it there’s FBI crawling around the area, a couple of agents from out of town. I just wanted to know if anything out of the ordinary had come through the hospital, any unusual shootings or stabbings or anything that may be considered... suspicious?”
Piper covered her mouth to keep from giggling. Her sister had just landed a job at a local news station and was determined to catapult her career with a breaking story before anyone else in the media. She was constantly calling Piper, asking her about patients, arrests at the hospital, and just about anything that may turn into a lead. Except each time Piper refused to discuss her patients or share any confidential information that could cost her the job.
“Sorry, I can’t help you there, but I’ll keep my eyes open.” And she would. She knew better than to share the information should anything come her way, but she knew it was much easier to just let Sterling believe otherwise.
“Thanks, Piper. Oh, I was thinking of going to see a movie this weekend. Want to come?”
“Sure, I’d love to. Just text me a time and a place when you figure it out.”
She said goodnight and hung up, finally ready to relax. She got up and made her way into the bathroom, turning on the hot water, preparing her bath. It was going to be a long, relaxing night and after a long week of endless shifts at the hospital, she was so very thankful for it.