Single mom Selina Sardi would do anything for her 6-year-old son. Eager to turn their new house into a real home for him, she's devastated when she discovers that the monster under his bed is not a figment of his imagination but the real deal.
Elia...
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"Scalpel ... Scalpel ... Selina? Scalpel, please!" Selina's preoccupied brain only registered the awkward silence that followed, not the actual words the surgeon had addressed to her.
Feeling the burn of all eyes on her instead of the patient, she nervously scanned the instrument cart and selected the tray he had most likely requested.
Agonizing moments, she held her breath till the surgeon picked the scalpel from the tray and set it to work, confirming that she'd guessed right.
Thank the nursing gods.
Also, thank the nursing gods that the cautery pencil would be next. Nothing like the smell of burned flesh to keep her brain in the moment, something she needed help with like never before.
Selina took pride in doing an excellent job.
Giving it one hundred percent of her focus wasn't something she needed reminding of, not usually, but this week ... this week, her mind couldn't be dragged from the attic room and its inhabitant. That she powered through the surgery without murdering the patient was nothing short of a miracle.
As soon as the doors to the operation quarter swung shut behind them, her colleague Anabel elbowed her ribcage. "What's up? You've been absent-minded all week. That's not like you. Anything the matter with Lowie?"
"He's staying with Keira for a few days. I miss him. You know how it is. That scalpel ... it won't happen again. It won't." It couldn't. She'd worked too damn hard to fuck up now.
Anabel picked up a clipboard from the nursing desk and started checking boxes. "I know how it is. That's not the reason."
Selina braced herself. Anabel's intuition and directness were notorious. Nothing went past her sharp observation skills. They'd been working together for about four years now, which also meant that Selina had some recollection of words to throw back at her. After all, wasn't it Anabel who had admonished her on more than one occasion not to be too hard on herself? "My mind drifted for a moment," she said, "Seems I'm human after all. I'd think you of all people should be relieved."
"I might be if I believed you. You're hiding something. Something with the new house? It's not built on a termite hill, is it?"
Selina grinned half-heartedly. If only that were it. "The house is great. Just needs a bit of work. It's going to be great."
"Have you been working on it day and night? I know you would."
"Sort of." That was not a complete lie.
"You should get out more. Meet someone. When was the last time since?" Anabel made an obscene gesture that prompted Selina to swing up her clipboard and hide her friend from public view.
