A Time For Love (A Time For Love Series-Book 1)

Lenox Hill Hospital

LENA POV
April 1982

Grabbing two cups of coffee from my daily coffee cart on 77th Street, I was headed to my new job as a physical therapist at Lenox Hill hospital that I started three weeks ago. This job had surely been a dream come true for me, especially after having worked in a sports rehabilitation center in Brooklyn that I felt I had grown out of.

I mean it wasn't really my dream to work solely in sports related injuries, I more so really wanted to work in a hospital setting on various patients with different issues that I could address and help with. To me, that was always more of a challenge and a dream that right now I felt I was finally living. Plus, I would be able to work in pediatric cases as well, which was the icing on the cake.

It had taken me eight years to finish my degrees and get my doctorate. I had studied at NYU, then Columbia and had basically immersed myself to the point I had not been in a relationship since I started graduate school despite the fact that my friends were always trying to set me up on date. What they didn't know was that they were setting me up with the wrong gender because, well, I was gay.

Being that it's still somewhat of a stigma, I tend to keep that part of me VERY private. None of my friends know at all, and the few dates I did go on, obviously, they did not pan out. I'd eventually make myself so busy that the men who were interested stopped calling or making dates. Thankfully, because it could get rather exhausting, continuing to cancel and blow them off completely.

Right now, I wasn't very concerned with that aspect of my life because more than anything I wanted to finally get my career and life started. With this new job, my income doubled, and I was able to rent a small studio only a few blocks away. It was tiny, but it was mine and my first apartment to myself in an area I loved. The Upper West Side.

Holding my two cups of coffee it is freezing on this early April morning as the air starts to bite my nose. Pushing my back on the revolving doors of Lenox Hill Hospital, I head up the elevator to the eighth floor. There I'm greeted by my friend Duke, who worked the front desk as I handed him his coffee and he looked at me smiling.

"Morning there, Dr. Lena!" He grins wide as I slide the coffee over to him, a confused expression now forming on his young face. Duke was a sweet guy and was working hard on his nursing degree while he worked long hours at the front desk. Many times, we ate lunch together, for he had been so kind to me when I first started not too long ago, and we realized we had a good amount in common and had clicked instantly.

I learned through many of our conversations that his brother was sick with that new virus and that his entire family was in denial about it. But the truth was there no matter how hard he said it had been for him to accept, and I understood it fully, for my uncle was sick as well, and it was tearing my family apart.

Duke was a good soul, going on 25, and I felt as if we would be friends forever even if I was ten years older. But, I was grateful for his friendship. Big time because if I was honest, he was one of the few people that really understood me and what I was dealing with.

"Good morning Duke and I told you that you could call me Lena, silly, and yes, this coffee is for you. You know how we do!" I smile at him as he chuckles, standing up and grabbing the coffee. Taking a giant sip, I can only laugh at him.

"You know I love to call you doctor! You worked hard for that degree, and it's what I will call you! And you picked the right day because I was rushing this morning, and the coffee they made is pure trash this morning. Denise made it." He whispers rolling his eyes and taking a seat back down as I burst out laughing for Denise was the worst, and we hated when she was working the floor because she spent most of the time barking orders at us.

Unfortunately, she was the head nurse and really needed to retire because her attitude was just horrible towards everyone. The worst part I had to deal with her since she brought in two of my patients, and there was really no way around her bad attitude or her micromanaging.

"She reallllyyyy needs to retire." He whispers behind his hand as I snicker, pulling off my gloves and hat.

"We all know this. Lunch darling?"

"You KNOW IT! Thank you for the coffee, doctor! It will get me through until someone brews another pot. But YOU know how she likes to take over the coffee pot since we all seem to make it too strong for her little sensitive heart and stomach. Help me."

I laugh again as I wink at him and head to my little tiny office down the hallway for Duke was too much and if he could he'd have me talking all morning and I'd never get any work done.

Hanging my big coat up and fluffing my curly hair out, I really did love my little office that I shared with two other therapists. It worked out well because we all got along and had a nice window with a view of lower Manhattan which most of the staff didn't have and I loved to stare at the glimmering Twin Towers in the morning sunlight. I really felt lucky in that aspect as I took a seat and  smiled at the photo of my parents and of my uncle Alvin that I placed next to my typewriter.

Shaking the uncomfortable thoughts out of my head in regards to my family drama in terms of his illness, I turn the radio on, hoping to drown that noise out of my head. Those thoughts were a distraction from work as my younger coworker Callie walks in smiling.

"Hey L! Your best friend is on the floor today." She jokes as I roll my eyes, for she knows I hate Denise, and I can't help but laugh, for we always tease each other about her.

"You mean YOURRR best friend." I joke back quickly, scanning a patients file and quickly writing down a few goals I wanted to work on with them.

"Ohh noo, I already set her straight this morning thinking she's someone's mama. I don't answer to her." She sits admiring her long fingernails with designs on them as she takes a sip of her coffee. Callie made me crack up, and she had been really nice to me when I started, especially in regards to Denise. She looked rather innocent but was a tough girl for sure as she sported her giant hoop earrings, nose ring, and long slicked back braid.

The thing is, at 35, I knew how to stand my ground and was no stranger to telling someone off myself, but Callie had even less tolerance than I did, which I fully understood to a degree. However, she had way more years here than I did, and I just didn't want to risk my job over a spat with a bossy and controlling coworker. 

"I know you did. You do every day." I sip my coffee as she looks at me smiling and nodding her head.

"Sooo, are you good? Do you like it here and all L?"

"Yeah, it's good. Nice change in things, ya know?"

"Oh yeah, long way away from a rehab in Brooklyn for you. PLUS, you're in the big leagues now, and you got the added advantage that you work with kids too. Just don't let this place abuse you, though! Sometimes, they like to take advantage of the new people." She sips her coffee again as I nod my head, for I knew she was right, but I was eager and really wanted to help as many patients as I could.

"I'll be sure not to let them, but I don't have as much clout as you Callie." I smile as she shakes her head, putting her mug down and standing with her files.

"You will then you can tell them to piss off. Speaking of which one thing I forgot to tell you, um stay off floor five."

"Why?" I ask, confused as steps closer to me whispering and looks behind her, then back at me.

"Well, that new thing they have going around the city, they put all the patients on that floor and they are dropping like flies. It's scary as fuck L because they don't know what the hell to do with them and people just keep coming in. ER doesn't know either. So, it's just best not to go down there because it's like a morgue, and you can't risk catching whatever it is."

I nod my head knowing fully well what she is talking about as she heads out the room and I look back at the photo of my uncle Alvin hoping to god he won't succumb to this virus. But I couldn't think about that right now as I grab my own files and head to the PT room to start my day.