1
Morning Glory (Sadie)
It’s too early in the morning to be up close and personal with stark raving crazy.
But it’s not like time itself, or anything, ever mattered to him.
I knew something was up as soon as the whispers started. First Dr. Cartwright, wearing a sour smirk as he stepped up to June’s desk. “Get the Howard girl’s results in quickly, please. I’d love to get him the hell out of my office ASAP.”
“On it!” June, our lab admin, smiled sweetly, acknowledging the order on her screen for a blood test with a nod. Apparently, this isn’t the first time they’ve had to deal with him, or else she’s really good at hiding her panic. “Ladies, look alive for this one! Did ya’ll hear? It’s Marshal again.”
Her soft Missouri drawl rolls over the cubicle to the table I’m sitting at with Quinn, helping her re-stock today’s supplies. “Sure did, Junie! One blood test for the world’s last living Neanderthal. Shame we’re out of tranquilizers.”
Quinn gives me a sideways look, her eyes narrowed. “You ready to have some fun today, kiddo? Out of the frying pan and into the fire…but that’s how we learn, right? God, I hope you find a good place to stick him on the first try.”
Before I can open my mouth to answer, June appears around the corner, her eyes wide as she taps her long fingernails against the low divider wall. “Actually, it’s for his little girl. She’s a total sweetheart, as long as you don’t set off Papa Bear.”
“Papa Bear?” I blink, echoing the phrase. She can’t be serious.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more endearing term for the strange, scary, hyper-aggressive whirlwind known as Marshal Howard.
It’s too cute. Too endearing. Not at all fitting for the angry disgrace everyone in Port Eagle calls the Castoff when he’s not in earshot – and sometimes when he is.
June never answers. The phone at her desk rings, its deafening sound sending her running.
It’s just me, my nerves, and Quinn humming quietly with her back to me. I try not to dwell on the hulking problem due any minute.
God, I hope he doesn’t recognize my name. I carefully remove the student badge with my name, pulling it off my scrubs and tucking it into my pocket. After his thing with my brother, Jackson, several years ago…
No. Don’t do this, I tell myself. Quinn knows her stuff. Treat it like a routine procedure, and you’ll be fine.
Quinn reaches over, grasps my hand, and beams. “Don’t worry, doll. You’ll do fine. I had a guy with veins like tree roots on my first rodeo. Must’ve stabbed him half to death before I struck red.” She sticks out her tongue.
Hardly reassuring. “Yeah, well, I’ve never done a kid before.”
Much less a child whose father is a volcano wrapped in pure muscle.
“Everybody has their first complainy-pants,” she says, her not-so-lovely term for the difficult patients. “Consider yourself lucky you’re getting broken in early, Sadie.”
Oh, I try.
Swiveling my chair around to my desk, I sift through supplies. At least we’re well stocked with cartoon character Band-Aids and plenty of numbing agents. Quinn continues humming along to the low Christmas music piping through the building’s speakers.
I’m sweating like a dog. It’s only my second week of on-the-job training. I always figured I’d hit a few landmines along the way to my phlebotomy certificate and a job that pays more than minimum wage, but damn, the freaking Castoff? So soon?
It’s too quiet in the lab. My pen sounds like a branch snapping when it rolls off my desk and smacks the floor. Quinn is still humming, softer now.
I haven’t been this anxious in my life. Which is ridiculous, considering the last year, leaving college early to deal with mom.
I look up just as Quinn’s sing-song melody comes to a dead stop. She’s listening to the new conversation in the waiting room.
He’s here, growling his first words at June. “You ready for us yet, or what? Don’t want to keep her here any longer than I need to.”
“Sir, if you’ll just take a seat for five or ten, I’m sure our techs will be with you shortly.” I recognize June’s tone. It’s the same she uses with Doc Cartwright whenever he calls up in a panic over a lipid panel he forgot to order.
“You’re not listening. Look at her. My girl’s anxious. That’s not good for anybody. I want this fucking done now.”
Quinn and I share a look. Then we hear June sigh over the music. “You’re lucky I’m a sucker for kids and the clinic ain’t too busy. Hold on a sec.”
I hold my breath, waiting. She pokes her face around the corner, giving us both a knowing look. “We good, or should I tell Papa Bear to scarf a chill pill?”
Quinn’s eyes shift my way. “Sadie?”