Chapter 290
[ 576 words ]
Chapter 290:
Julian looked at Brenna, who gave a small, helpless shrug. His brow furrowed, but he didn’t press. “Take care of yourself,” he said. “Both of you.”
Brenna squeezed his arm as they passed. At the employee exit, she stopped and turned to face Caroline.
“I don’t know what’s going on with you,” Brenna said quietly. “But I’m here. Whenever you’re ready. No judgment. Just me.”
Caroline felt the burn of tears behind her eyes. She nodded once, not trusting her voice.
Brenna pulled her into a quick, fierce hug, then stepped back and pushed the door open. “Go home. Sleep. Doctor’s orders.”
Caroline stepped through the heavy double doors leading to the employee parking deck. The damp, freezing autumn air hit her face instantly.
𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺
She walked toward the designated pickup zone. She pulled out her encrypted phone to message K.C. Bell for an immediate ride.
She leaned against a concrete pillar, the cold seeping through her thin scrubs. The silence of the garage was a stark contrast to the chaos in her mind. She closed her eyes, and an image of Jarrod’s face, fierce and desperate as he kissed her goodbye, flashed behind her eyelids.
A wave of dizziness washed over her, and she gripped the pillar to steady herself, the weight of the last twenty-four hours finally crashing down on her.
Inside the hospital, Brenna was venting her frustration to Julian as they walked back toward the ER. “I just don’t get it! We tell each other everything. Why is she building this wall between us now?”
Julian put a steadying hand on her shoulder. “When people are in crisis, Brenna, they don’t always act rationally. She’s isolating herself. It’s a classic symptom of severe stress or depression.”
Just then, Sarah Jenkins and Dr. Evans rounded the corner, their faces alight with fresh gossip.
Sarah spotted Brenna’s worried expression and immediately pounced. Her voice dripped with thick, fake sympathy.
“Oh, Brenna, honey,” Sarah cooed. “Don’t tell me you’re still worried about little Nurse Thompson. I saw her storm out of the cafeteria. Probably just having another one of her dramatic episodes.”
Dr. Evans chimed in, a malicious smirk on his face. “I heard she’s been looking terrible lately. Some people just can’t handle the pressure of a real hospital. Maybe she should go back to whatever small-town clinic she came from.”
They were trying to bait Brenna, to pull her into their toxic circle by tearing down her best friend.
Brenna stopped walking. The worry in her chest was instantly incinerated, replaced by a massive surge of fierce, protective anger for her best friend.
She walked aggressively over to the duo. She got right in Sarah’s face, her voice low and shaking with pure venom. “Keep Caroline’s name out of your filthy mouth.”
Sarah jumped back, genuinely shocked by Brenna’s ferocity. She looked to Dr. Evans for support.
Brenna turned on him next. “And you. Caroline has forgotten more about emergency medicine than you’ll ever know. The only reason you have a job here is because your father sits on the board. You’re a joke.”
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Message from Noa: Have a wonderful weekend dear readers. God loves you and Noa wishes you all the best. (=◡=) /
Also, I wanted to share that I really like Ephesians 5:2, because, at the end of the day, what God wants from all of us is to live a life walking in love: ‘And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God’ (ESV
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