It was the hospital that was my true home.
“Let’s go see Dexter’s dad.”
Jay nodded and down we went once again, not seeing a single soul I knew.
I was anxious to see Jack Monaghan not only from a doctor’s perspective, but also from a personal one. What would Dexter’s dad be like?
“They should have operated last night, so we should be able to see him in recovery today.” I said, as we drove the few blocks to the hospital.
“Park in the underground car park. I’ve got a staff card.”
Dexter pulled in and I swiped my card so we wouldn’t have to pay for parking.
The light went green and we went into the familiar concrete cage.
When we got out, all three men were stiff and uncomfortable.
“What’s up?” I asked, leading the way to the elevators.
“This place is terrible.” Dexter said, looking around at the concrete walls and dark spaces.
“Yeah, I suppose it is.” I’d never really thought about it, except from a safety aspect, which was typical for women.
It was daylight, so for me it was much less scary than at any other time. Walking into the carpark alone at three a.m. wasn’t fun.
“Let’s go see your dad.”
We made our way up to the surgical ward and I spoke to Gerry, the surgeon who’d worked on Jack last night.
“Where’d you go yesterday, Claire? No one saw you leave and some of the nurses said they saw a big guy carry you out of Emergency.”
“Um… yeah. I wasn’t feeling well yesterday, Gerry. Sorry I didn’t stick around to do hand-over properly.”
He shrugged, although I could tell he wasn’t impressed by my obvious lack of professionalism.
I opened my mouth to apologise again, but decided against it and shut up. I strived to be an exemplary employee. Was never late, did doubles, accepted extras, was always on call.
Unlike Gerry, I didn’t have a wife, or kids, or golf. So, for the one time I didn’t do everything right, which was not even my choice, I wasn’t apologising again.
“Tell me what happened with Jack Monaghan.”
Gerry launched into a post-op round of information and I took the chart from him.
“He handled the operation better than any surgery I’ve ever done. He’s bouncing back like he never had a problem in the first place.”
I smiled gently and tried not to roll my eyes. So, they hadn’t picked up the fact that Jack was a werewolf…. Correction—wolf shifter.
Good.
His bloodwork looked normal too.
Obviously, if there was a marker for the paranormal, it didn’t show up on routine checks. Or humans didn’t know what to look for.
“Great. I’ll pop in before my shift to check on him. Thanks, Gerry.”
I turned and left the doctor, who was giving me looks like I had no right to speak to his patient.
I did. And I would.