DESTINED AFFECTION

SIXTEEN

"Ally, would you give the guy in seven a tetanus shot and I'll call the lab for the results of the chem panel and coag profile?"

"Sure." Ally leaned both forearms on the counter and studied Lauren, who sat writing notes in a chart. Lauren had been oddly quiet all morning and almost seemed as if she was avoiding everyone, particularly Ally. "Something wrong?"

"Brown recluse bite."

Ally bit back a retort. "Besides the fact that you've got someone with a spider bite."

"Nope," Lauren said shortly, keeping her attention focused on the discharge summary for the college student who had decided it would be fun to sleep out in the park with his buddies the night before. Now all he had to show for his adventure was a hangover and an area of inflammation the size of a palm print on his thigh. With any luck, the spider bite would heal without permanent tissue damage.

"Where's Camila today?" Ally persisted. "Isn't she slated to work this shift?"

Lauren looked up, her eyes flashing with annoyance. "Is there some reason you think I should know where she is?"

"Uh...maybe because you're the ER chief, and you make up the schedules?"

"She'll be off for a few days." Lauren snapped the metal bifold chart closed and dropped it into a nearby rack marked Completed. "Who's next?"

Ally raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

"What?" Lauren said in exasperation, unable to ignore her friend's appraising gaze.

Silence.

"In case you haven't noticed," Lauren pointed out in an exaggerated tone of false patience, "we're up to our asses in patients around here. So maybe we could just concentrate on business for a while, okay?"

"Oh, absolutely. And if we had a surgeon to help us, we could probably get the boy in ten with the chin laceration taken care of and maybe even the little old lady in twelve who fell and most likely broke her hip."

Lauren gritted her teeth and mentally counted to ten. "I'll see the possible hip fracture right now. Have the senior resident take care of the laceration."

"Yes, Dr. Jauregui," Ally said sweetly.

"Thank you." Lauren slid the chart for twelve out of the rack and walked away.

She'd slept poorly, awoken tired, and now was agitated and out of sorts. As soon as she'd been able to get someone to answer the phone in the administrative offices, she'd set up an appointment to see the hospital malpractice attorney. Of course, the earliest opening she could get was the next morning. Which meant that the earliest she could even hope to have an answer for Camila would be the next afternoon.

Two days. Two days isn't very long. Hardly any time at all.

Despite the fact that Camila had only been working in the ER a short time, Lauren couldn't help feeling as if something vital was missing after only a few hours without her. That sense of absence was a low-level ache that kept Lauren edgy and distracted—and annoyed.

Stop making more out of it than it is. It's just a typical crazy Monday morning. No one wants to spend time in the ER on the weekend, but now all of a sudden every little ache and pain is an emergency. It has nothing to do with the fact that Camila isn't here. I certainly don't miss her. I mean, I miss her expertise. But I don't miss her.

Satisfied that nothing was truly amiss, Lauren pushed aside the curtain and stepped into the small cubicle with a smile. She glanced at the chart and then at the elderly woman in the bed. "Ms. Swift? I'm Dr. Jauregui. Can you tell me what happened this morning?"