The Nurse's One Night To Forever

“The one your mother gave you?”

Riley nodded, feeling bereft, as if she’d lost a part of her mother. Had she had it on the night before at the party? She couldn’t remember—couldn’t recall if she’d put it on after changing out of her scrubs at the hospital. Was it possible she’d lost it there?

She’d check at the hospital, call Cheyenne, see if anyone had found the necklace at either place. She hoped so. She’d hate never to wear the precious gift again. It had been the last thing her mother had given to her.

Or she might have lost it was while she was with Justin. Had she still had it on in his Jeep? At his condo?

In his bed?

Justin scrubbed for surgery. He had two hip replacements on his schedule today. One on a fifty-two-year-old male with severe arthritic changes, and another on a thirty-year-old who’d had high-dose steroids administered repetitively in primary care that had resulted in necrosis of the hip joint. Both were total replacements, and would be mentally and physically demanding.

And emotionally. Because both meant being in the operating room with the woman he’d thought about almost non-stop since she’d left him.

Riley frustrated him. He kept telling himself to forget her. Then he’d remind himself that he’d been telling himself that for months and it hadn’t worked. Had he really thought it would after Saturday night? After their sweet garden kiss and how much fun they’d had at the party? How much fun they’d had after the party?

Even the boys had commented that he wasn’t his usual upbeat self during their fishing trip yesterday afternoon.

It hadn’t been a fish he’d wanted to catch, but a woman he’d thought he’d hooked, but who’d gotten away.

He’d already gotten involved with one woman who hadn’t wanted the same things as he did. Obviously Riley didn’t either or she wouldn’t have left.

He seriously needed to move on.

Maybe telling himself that would work this time.

Knowing he’d way over-scrubbed, Justin made his way into the operating room where he’d spend the next few hours.

Good thing Bernie Jones’ hip would require all his attention.

Riley had been dreading this moment since she’d left Justin’s. The moment they came face-to-face.

Well, not face-to-face, since they both wore surgical masks and were covered from head-to-toe.

Still, their eyes were visible beneath their protective shields.

Justin’s eyes were expressive.

Usually.

Exactly as it should be—even if it did sting a little—he’d not bothered to look her way yet. He’d just entered the operating room and asked to start the check-in procedure.

What had she expected? For him to say something directly to her?

Hello, Riley, so how about Saturday night?

She didn’t want him to do that—would have been mortified if he had. So why the disappointment that he was ignoring her?

Maybe it was lack of sleep making her crazy. Certainly, despite knowing she’d made the right decision, she’d struggled to keep her mind off Justin.

And off her missing necklace.

Yeah, that was why, when she finally had slept, it had been after tears shed over her lost treasure and nothing to do with Justin.

She needed to ask him if he’d found her necklace. No one had found it at Cheyenne’s party or anywhere else. When she could get him alone, she’d ask.

Not that she wanted to be alone with him, but she couldn’t very well ask if he’d found her necklace at his condo without raising a few eyebrows. They’d already caused enough eyebrow-raising on Saturday night.

She was working as the nurse overseer that day. Her job was to make sure everyone had what they needed, that a sterile field was maintained, and that everything went the way it should and was recorded accurately.

An anesthesiologist, his assistant, a scrub tech, a circulator, and a scrub nurse were also in the room, along with their patient.

“Bernie Jones, age fifty-two. Controlled hypertension and no other known health conditions,” Riley informed the, starting the check-in while double-checking the patient’s ID bracelet. “No known drug allergies.”

“I will be performing a minimally invasive left hip arthroplasty,” Justin began, and then proceeded to give a one-minute synopsis of what the planned surgery entailed. Sometimes that changed, as unexpected issues arose, but for the most part the hip replacements performed at this hospital were uneventful.

The man was an excellent surgeon. The best she’d ever worked with. Many of the other orthopedic surgeons, although talented, were moody, sometimes socially awkward. Not Justin. Everyone on the unit loved working with him.

Always upbeat, he usually chatted while performing whatever procedure they had going. Thus far today, however, he’d been all business.

Which was fine. Only...

Oh, no—no onlys.

Justin needed his full focus on his job and so did she.

The scrub nurse had the patient properly positioned. The anesthesiologist had the patient completely unaware of what was happening to and around him. And, with the patient lying flat on his back, Justin made an eight-centimeter incision. Once he had the incision made, he placed soft tissue retractors in front of and behind the femoral neck, exposing the hip joint.

“Scalpel.”

The surgical tech handed Justin the cutting tool, which he took and released the capsule to expose the femoral head and the acetabulum. He studied the area a moment, made another tiny cut. When he was happy with what he’d done he used a protractor to work on the unhealthy acetabulum, removing bone spurs and diseased tissue.

Reminding herself that she was responsible for what every person in the room was doing, not just Justin, Riley pried her gaze away from his skilled hands and took in each member of the OR team. Anesthesia was closely monitoring vitals, and everyone else was attentively doing what they should be.

Her gaze went back to where Justin worked. He’d dislocated the hip and was inserting a large screw into the acetabulum. Once the screw was securely embedded in the bone he exposed the femoral head more fully and finished removing the capsule.

While the anesthesiologist chatted with his assistant about a recent sailing trip he had made, Justin painstakingly removed the femoral head with an oscillating saw, cleaned the acetabulum, then went about rebuilding the joint with prosthetics.

All in all, the surgery took just over two hours to complete.

When he was finished, Justin’s gaze lifted and sought Riley’s.

What she saw there had her stomach churning more than any bone-cutting surgical procedure she’d ever witnessed.

His eyes glittered with what she could only label as hurt because she’d pushed him away—although more likely that was just his wounded pride she was seeing. But there was also curiosity as to why she’d done so. And something more that she could only think of as warmth—not that that made any sense.

None of what she saw made sense except the curiosity. He probably wasn’t used to women walking away from him, so no doubt that did have him puzzled.

Leaving him had been her being proactive on preventing heartbreak. A pre-emptive strike. She’d left before he had.

Maybe if Justin hadn’t been quite so handsome, had been something more ordinary than an orthopedic surgeon, not quite so fabulous, she might have risked a relationship. Doubtful after what Johnny had done, but maybe.

Someone so good-looking, so successful, was destined to break her heart if she gave him the chance.

“Good job,” he praised the team, still holding her gaze.

Something flashed in the blue depths that suggested he saw more than she wanted him to see, that he knew she warred within. She wanted to look away, to mask her eyes from his. With each passing second her heart pounded harder.

Just as it reached the point of thundering in her ears, he broke contact and headed out of the operating suite.

“Wonder what was up with Dr. Brothers. He was quieter than usual,” the recorder said as soon as Justin was out of the room.

Riley stared down at the surgical tray.

“But he’s still a pleasure to work with. If only all orthopedic surgeons were as easy to be with in surgery as that man,” the assistant observed.

“If only all orthopedic surgeons were as easy on the eye as that man,” the surgical tech teased with a waggle of her brows.

Riley said nothing and prayed that Sheila, the scrub nurse, wouldn’t say anything either. Sheila and her husband had been at Cheyenne’s party.

“Looked like you were all cozy with him on Friday night, Riley,” said, Sheila giving her a knowing look. “I saw you leave together.”

Ugh. Of course Sheila had seen. And now she’d mentioned that. In front of the whole team.

“Really? Lucky you...” The surgical tech sighed.

Rather than answer Sheila, or acknowledge the surgical tech, who looked amazed that Justin had been with her, Riley shrugged and went about preparing the patient to be rolled to the recovery room.

What could she say?

Why, yes, that was me, all cozied up with Justin. And guess what? The man is pure genius between the sheets!

Yeah, that wasn’t happening.

Nor would she tell them that she’d left before he’d awakened and had the opportunity to tell her to leave.

Sheila was right, though. Justin had been particularly subdued. Normally he would have made chitchat, and most definitely would have said something directly to her. He’d have made small talk, teased her about Daisy and how she needed to get a real dog, or he would have lingered after surgery to chat for a few minutes.

He’d done none of those things.

As much as she hated to admit it, the fact that their Saturday night escapade had created this rift in their work relationship, leaving things awkward, stung.

Justin was used to one-night stands, so what had happened shouldn’t be a big deal. But the others were right. He hadn’t behaved normally. He’d been as tense as she had.

Was it because she’d been the one to leave? Or could she have misjudged how casually he saw sex and Saturday night hadn’t been quite as run-of-the mill for him as she’d thought?

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