The Stubborn Suitor, Book 1 (The Stubborn Suitor #1)(4)

What if Ken did get primary custody of Madison? What if he and Natalie raised her to be part of their perfect little cookie cutter family? What if she wasn’t able to tuck Madison in every night and tell her she loved her? What if Natalie was doing that instead?

Cami blinked tears out of her eyes yet again and tried to focus on administering the shot of morphine to the patient via the IV, but her hands were shaking so badly that she had to step back for a moment and take a deep breath. Once she’d calmed down a little, Cami realized that she’d almost forgotten to scan the patient’s wristband, so she moved towards the bed to do so before administering the drug. She scanned the band, then the morphine she was about to administer, only to receive a shrill beep from the machine. Something wasn’t right.

Looking down, Cami began to study the patient’s wristband, then his chart. Suddenly, her blood ran cold, heavy with a realization. This was not the patient she was supposed to administer the morphine to. She’d almost administered an extremely strong narcotic to the wrong person. This patient’s chart stated that he was already on a similar medication. A second dose could have been extremely dangerous.

Cami felt sick—even sicker than she had been after her conversation with Ken. This was a rookie mistake—one she’d never made before. In fact, not even rookies made this mistake. The entire point of scanning all patient wristbands and all meds was to make sure something like this never happened. And yet, she had been so preoccupied that she’d almost done so. Had her hands not been shaking so badly that she’d had to take a moment, she could have potentially killed a patient.

That thought sent her dashing to the employee restroom, where she began retching up the protein bar she’d eaten for lunch. After a few minutes, she finally took a few deep breaths. She reminded herself that it was the stress and anxiety that had almost caused her to make such a mistake, and that if she didn’t calm down now, there was a chance she might actually make such a mistake again.

Cami couldn’t help but wish that her best friend, Maggie Emerson, was working.

When Maggie had first started as an emergency room nurse last year, Cami hadn’t thought they’d get along. In fact, when she’d learned that Maggie’s father was on the hospital’s board of trustees, she’d assumed Maggie had only been given a position because of that fact. Maggie was from a wealthy family similar to Ken’s, and Cami had expected the woman to be just as irresponsible and self-involved as her ex-husband.

In the beginning, Cami had had trouble understanding why Maggie was even working as a nurse—with the money her family had, she probably didn’t have to work at all.


How wrong had she been. Cami quickly realized that her assumptions were completely unfounded. Maggie was the most warm, caring person she’d ever met. Despite not having to work for a living—or even simply being able to take up a position in her family’s company—Maggie had chosen to become a nurse because she wanted to help people.

She also had a wicked sense of humor—a trait that quickly endeared her to Cami. They took to spending their breaks together, then hanging out outside of work. Between marriage, work, and motherhood, Cami hadn’t had time to develop any close friendships in the last few years. Maggie quickly became her best friend. On weekends when Madison was with Ken, the two would go out on the town or simply chill at home with a bottle of wine, bitching about men, or the inability to find clothing that properly fit their voluptuous bodies.

Maggie had a way of understanding Cami like no one else ever had. She could always calm Cami down and make her laugh. But, unfortunately, she was off today—when Cami needed her the most.

Once she was no longer dry heaving, Cami headed into the locker room and texted Maggie to see if they could hang out later that evening. She really needed to see her best friend, but it wasn’t just that. With the Emerson family’s wealth and connections, perhaps she would be able to recommend a good (affordable) lawyer, or at least offer tips on how to work the system.

After Cami put her phone away, she spent a few minutes alone in the locker room, breathing deeply and trying to calm down. It wasn’t until she was completely focused and sure that she wouldn’t make any more mistakes that she headed back out to the ER—ready to administer morphine to the correct patient.





3





CAMI





Cami was disappointed when, after her shift, she was finally able to read the reply text from Maggie.

Sorry CamiBear, can’t tonight. Have some boring family dinner that I’m required to sit through. Call you after!





Cami cringed at the awful nickname. At least she’d convinced Maggie not to use it at work—the last thing she needed was the entire emergency room calling her CamiBear. Maggie started calling her that after she decided that Cami looked like a huggable teddy-bear. Cute? Yes. Professional? Not so much. Swallowing her disappointment, Cami carefully typed out a response.

No worries. Need to spend some time with the little monster anyway. Call me later. I have something I really need to talk to you about.





Cami wasn’t lying; she really did need to spend some quality time with Madison. After all of the fears that had been stampeding through her head all afternoon, she wanted nothing more than to hold her daughter, to kiss her and tell her how much she loved her.