Birdie

13. Chili and Green Socks

A smile was plastered onto Carmen's face, and it stuck throughout most of her first day of work. She had missed her old colleagues and the patients. A few had died, and at first, Carmen thought that she was going to be okay with that, she had faced peaceful death more often than not at her old job, but she was no longer used to it. There was an allotted time during her lunch that she spent crying, and Carmen couldn't even bring herself to be embarrassed.

Ten patients had died while Carmen was in jail, and that had her heart heavy, but then, halfway through the day, Carmen had been pushing a cart containing Mrs. Smith's lunch when an elderly man by the name of Jordan was being wheeled away. She only knew who it was because she had asked, dumb mistake on her part, but then she remembered the sweet man. He'd been at the home for five years, and Carmen had just went to see him that morning.

He'd remembered her, and he'd let out a yelp of excitement, and pulled her into his embrace rougher than she would have thought possible. There wasn't anything wrong with the older man, he was ninety seven years old, and had outlived the rest of his family, save for a niece with five kids and a husband and no room for the older man. The niece had made sure her uncle had the best care, and visited him regularly. She had even picked out his head nurse, a woman by the name Patricia, who was even my re upset than Carmen when she told her that he had just not woken up from his mid-morning nap.

She and Chance had the same lunch break, and he'd called her at exactly one forty six, asking her about her day.

Carmen promptly burst into tears.

She just wasn't used to it anymore.

"When you get home we'll do something special, alright, sweetheart? Don't cry." He had cooed to her in that deep, calming voice of his like he had done the night before her release date when she had been so upset and nervous, and that voice calmed her down completely, "Use that weird cut off thing that you do. I don't want you going back in to work crying on your first day, okay?"

"O-Okay," Carmen had hiccupped, standing at the curb of the home, "I don't want to do anything special. I just want to come home and sit with you."

He had hung up after promising they'd do whatever she wanted to.

There were no more deaths after that, so Carmen's day went smoothly until it was time to go. She was standing outside the building, waiting for Chance with a coworker by the name of Elaina who did the same, waiting on her husband.

"I take it that you met with the BoN, huh?" She asked as she blew cigarette smoke towards the opposite side of Carmen.

"Yeah," Carmen sighed, running a hand over her head, "I met with Janelle Perry."

Elaina sucked in a harsh breath, and gave Carmen a sympathetic look. Everyone knew about Janelle Perry, it seemed. She was notorious for making things as difficult as possible for the nursing beneath her.

Chance pulled up before either of the women could say anything else, and the woman standing next to her let out a low whistle, "Car.Men. Who is that?"

Pride rang through her body just as jealousy did. As if the women didn't have a husband. Carmen had to remind herself of this, and that her co-workers had never seen her with a man. She was only curious.

"That's Chance," Carmen responded easily, hefting her purse back up onto her shoulder.

"Boyfriend?"

I wish.

"Nah. I'll see you tomorrow, Laina."

Chance was already out the truck and opening the door for Carmen, giving Elaina a gentlemanly smile, "Hi ma'am," The he turned to Carmen, who was already in the cab, "He baby girl. You feeling better?"