You Make It Easy

No Shame.

Maya~

"I'm not used to my gloves feeling weird," Bridget says as I watch her put on her gloves as we stand outside waiting for the ambulance.

"Okay, you don't need to rub it in."

"Seriously, look. My hand looks stupid."

"Now you're just bragging."

She laughs, "Knowing Christian, you'll have the same problem."

"Okay, we both know I don't want a gaudy diamond. Yours is beautiful and suits you but that's not my kind of ring."

"What's your kind of ring?"

"A simple gold band with an emerald-cut diamond."

"You don't want gaudy but then tell me you want an emerald-cut."

"It doesn't need to be huge. Like a two-carat diamond. Yours looks huge."

"I think mine is only two carats."

"There is no way that it is only two carats."

"Well, I didn't ask."

"You should ask."

"Okay, I'll pester him when I get home."

"Good, you should."

"You didn't let me finish. Only if you talk to Christian about marriage and kids."

"I have therapy tonight and he has a game."

"You're avoiding it."

"I am not. I'm trying to get it all straight in my head before actually saying something."

"That's called avoidance."

The ambulance pulls up without its lights on. I open the door, "What do we have?"

The EMTs look at me, "DOA."

"What? That's not what the call was about."

I step into the ambulance and try to find a heartbeat and listen for breaths. When I get nothing, I get out and look at my watch, "Time of death, 11:29. Put the sheet over him."

They pull the cloth sheet over the body before wheeling him out of the ambulance. Julia meets me by the doors, "Was that your call? I thought he was just having trouble breathing?"

"He was but he was also DNR. We picked him up from a nursing home. We didn't even get five minutes from the place and I had already called it in. You must've missed it on the radio."

"Okay. Did you get any stats?"

"Yeah, I did. BP was low at 100/66, heart rate was 58, and his O2 saturation was nearing 90%. The nursing home staff said he was also experiencing chest pains."

"Okay, thank you. Probably a heart attack."

She nods, "No problem. So I heard through the grapevine, that we have a newly engaged nurse here."

"Yeah, Bridget got engaged."

"Not going to lie, I was hoping it would be you."

"You and about ten others but that's not happening any time soon."

She shrugs, "I guess we're impatient."

Joey pops his head through the seats, "We gotta get back and restock," he tells her.

I close the door for them and go back inside. I rip my gown and gloves off, shoving them into the garbage. "I called the morgue. They'll be up soon."

"Thanks."