“Deal.” He grinned.

I checked my appearance one more time.

New blue scrubs, check.

New shoes, check.

Lucky silver necklace, check.

Today was the first day of my externship and my nerves were a mess. I wanted to make a good first impression, but there was no chance of that happening if I couldn’t get my hands to stop shaking long enough to put eyeliner on, let alone insert an IV.

“I think I’m ready,” I said a few minutes later as I walked into the kitchen. Brody and the girls were sitting at the island eating waffles, the cozy smell of syrup loomed in the air. A morsel of jealousy sat in my stomach as I packed up my lunch and thought about them hanging out here all day while I was at the hospital. I was also incredibly thankful that Brody was willing to babysit my kids all day. Figures the one day my mom had a doctor’s appointment and couldn’t help me would be the first day of my program.

“Thanks for staying with them today.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“My pleasure.” He grinned at the girls. “We’re gonna have fun today, right?”

“Yay!” They cheered.

“I’m thinking we mow the lawn, give Diesel a bath, clean out the gutters, then have a bunch of broccoli for lunch. Sound good?” He wiggled his eyebrows at them.

Lucy and Piper looked at each other with disgusted faces. “Noooo!”

“I think you should make them wash the dishes too, they’re six years old now, they can handle it,” I teased.

They just shook their heads back and forth, their eyes wide.

“I’m gonna head out. Girls, you go easy on him today, okay?”

“Yes, Mom,” Lucy said.

“Piper, you too.”

“Mm-hmm,” she mumbled, shoving a giant bite of waffle in her mouth. It had only been a few weeks since her accident and I was so thankful she finally had her appetite back.

I kissed each of their cheeks and grabbed my purse. “If there are any problems, I have my phone with me.” I leaned down and kissed Brody’s cheek. Both of the girls giggled. They still weren’t completely used to our moments of affection toward each other, but we weren’t hiding anymore. I loved him, he loved me and we were going with it.

“We’re good.” He grinned and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me in tight. “Good luck today. I know you’re gonna do great.”

“Thanks,” I sighed, my nerves starting to get the best of me. “I just want this day to be over. I’m anxious to come home and snuggle up with the three of you tonight.”

“Sounds like a date,” he said.

I smiled at him and turned to head out when he pulled my hand back toward him. I spun around and locked eyes with him; his jet-black pupils swam in a sea of brilliant green and focused right on me. I pulled my browns together and looked at him curiously.

He looked at the girls, then back at me. “Pay the toll.” He cupped my rear and drew me in close to him, planting a firm kiss on my lips, while the girls squealed and covered their eyes.

The automatic doors of the hospital slid open and the familiar smell hit me. It’s unmistakable, that hospital smell, a weird combination of latex and iodine and death. If colors had smells, I think white would smell like the hospital. Pink would be flowers, yellow would be fresh air, blue would be the sea.

White … definitely the hospital.

I walked up to the registration desk where a girl sat chomping on her gum like a cow, looking bored out of her mind.

“Hi, my name is Kacie Jensen. I’m supposed to start my externship today, but this is my first time here and I’m not exactly sure where to go.”

She glared up at me from her cell phone and without responding, pointed toward another large set of automatic sliding doors with EMERGENCY ROOM painted above them in bright red. “Thanks,” I said as I looked back at her.

She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her phone.

Brat.

I slowly crept through the doors like a timid sixth-grader who was scared of walking into the wrong classroom. The hallways formed a big square that surrounded the nurses’ station that was decorated with fake plants and cardboard cut-outs of apples and rulers for Back-To-School time.

“Help me, help me, help me!”

I spun around to a woman walking my direction, balancing a stack of file folders two feet high in her hands that started slipping out of her hands. Dropping my lunch bag and purse where I stood, I lunged forward and caught the manila tower before it spilled all over the floor.

She sighed. “Oh, thanks. That would’ve really sucked.”

“No problem.” I smiled at her.

I guessed she was in her early forties, though her face was youthful and could’ve passed for a twenty-year-old. She was a little chubby with a bright, contagious smile.

“I’m Darla.” She grinned as she set the files on the counter. “You are?”

“Oh, I’m Kacie Jensen.”

“You’re the new girl, huh?”

“That’d be me. Am I in the right place?”

“Yep, this is it. Fancy, ain’t it?” She rolled her eyes.

“Where should I set my stuff?” I looked around.

“Come back here, we call this the Square. Everyone has a shelf to put their crap on.”

I followed her into the nurses’ station and set my bags down in an empty space.”

“Kacie Jensen?” A woman bellowed as she came around the corner.

“Yes.” I spun around nervously.

“I’m Maureen, you’re with me. Let’s go.” She waved as she strolled past the Square.

“You’re with Maureen?” Darla whispered as I walked past her.

I nodded.

“Good luck,” she mouthed.

I quickly stepped in behind Maureen. “Hi, Maureen. It’s nice to meet you. I’m very excited to work with you,” I said to the back of her tight gray bun as she continued walking.

“No chit chat, we’re very busy today. Just follow my lead.” She didn’t even turn her head when she spoke to me. “Don’t expect me to coddle you, this is the real world. If I tell you that you did a good job, it’s because you did. If you need someone always telling you how great you are, call your mother.”

Whoa, she was tough.

My first day was filled with cleaning up puke, changing out bedpans and perfecting the art of blood pressure taking. What it lacked in excitement, it more than made up for in how fast the day flew by. Before I’d even had a chance to look at the clock once, Maureen was telling me to go sit down for a thirty-minute lunch break. I didn’t know exactly where I was supposed to go, so I grabbed my lunch bag and sat at the desk next to Darla while she continued transferring all the files she almost dropped into the computer.

“You married?” she asked, staring straight ahead at her computer screen.

“Nope.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Yep.”

“He got any cute single friends?”

I giggled when I thought of Viper, the only single friend of Brody’s that came to mind. And he wasn’t exactly single … it really just depended on the day and Kat’s mood, from what I understood.

“Nah, not any good ones.”