I dragged a hand down my mouth and swiveled to face the balcony. The Toilet King leered into my apartment.

If you can choose anger or empathy, always choose empathy.

I couldn’t. At this point anger was all I had.

I got up and closed the blinds.

CHAPTER 13 EMMA

I swear to God, I smell like rust,” Maddy whispered, sniffing her arm. “Do I smell like rust? That water at the cottage is so gross.”

We were walking through the halls of the surgical floor of Royaume Northwestern behind the charge nurse, Hector, assigned to give us a tour. We’d done paperwork, gotten our badges, trained on Royaume’s electronic medical record system. The tour was the last part of the day, then we’d get our schedules and go home. Our first real shift was tomorrow.

“I can’t tell if you smell like rust because I probably smell like it too,” I whispered.

“We need a third party to confirm. Do you think Justin would have told you if you smelled?”

I thought about it, and our new agreement to be brutally honest with each other. “Yeah, I actually do.” I sniffed the inside of my shirt. I couldn’t smell it, but maybe I was used to it? “We’re probably okay. Though I’m showering in the locker room whenever I can.”

“Ick. Same. Probably better to wash up in the lake.”

Hector’s shoes squeaked ahead of us. “Pyxis is in there, cafeteria’s on the ground floor. The chief of surgery is Dr. Rasmussen,” he said in a Mexican accent. “Stay out of his way, and hope to God he never notices you enough to make direct eye contact with you.”

Maddy gave me a face that meant to remind me she’d called this when we signed up for Med Surg.

“He’s that bad?” I asked.

He scoffed and looked over his shoulder at me. “There’s a reason we need travel nurses in this department, people quit left and right. He is craaaaanky. Super smart but he does not like anyone who doesn’t do their job, so don’t be messing anything up. He’s in a good mood today though. Maybe he won his game of golf yesterday.” He laughed at his own joke.

Maddy gave me a look.

“What’s your favorite thing from the cafeteria?” I asked, changing the subject.

“The chicken and wild rice soup,” he said. He glanced at us. “Where are you guys originally from anyway?”

“California,” Maddy said.

“Glendale,” I clarified.

“Hmmm. Nice. Warm. Not like here. A couple of months from now, that lake you’re stayin’ at will be so frozen you can walk across it.” He stopped talking and came to attention. “There he is,” he said, lowering his voice.

I peered past him at the doctor in the blue scrubs coming toward us. I sucked in a shock of air.

Maddy froze. “What in the seventh circle of hell is this?” she breathed.

Neil was making his way down the hall.

He saw us and his serious face broke into a grin. “Emma, Maddy, nice to see you again!”

We were both rendered mute. Even Hector’s jaw was open.

“How are you enjoying your first day at Royaume?” he asked, stopping in front of us.

I swallowed. “It’s… it’s great?”

“Good, good. Happy to see you ended up in my department. I wasn’t sure where they’d put you.”

“Did… did you know we were working here?” I asked, confused. I hadn’t mentioned I was a nurse. Maybe Mom did? But she didn’t know I was coming to Royaume either.

“Of course. I gave the agency the info for the cottage. Figured travel nurses would make good renters. If there’s anything the cottage needs, you two just let me know. I haven’t been out there in years—how’s the landscaping?”

I licked my lips. “Um… fine?”

“Just fine?” He crossed his arms. “What does the place need, tell me, don’t be shy.”

“Uh… some hostas might look nice?” I said cautiously. “Maybe around the sides of the house where it’s shady? You could put rock cress along the slopes by the stairs where there’s full sun? Pretty ground coverage, deer resistant.”

He looked pleasantly surprised. “You garden.”

I nodded. “Yeah. My mom taught me, actually. She’s got a green thumb.”

He shook his head with a grin. “Just when I thought that woman couldn’t impress me more. Any interest in doing it for me?”

“Sure?”

“Wonderful. Just get me receipts and I’ll take the cost off the rent.”

“Okay.”

He grinned back and forth between us. “Maybe we can get together for dinner later this week, once you’ve gotten settled in,” he said. “Amber and I would love to have you.”

Amber and I. Like they were an item.

I glanced at Maddy. “We can’t wait.”

He looked at his watch. “Perfect. Well, I’m off. See you at the house.”

He moved past us and was gone.

Maddy and I turned to each other, wide-eyed, and Hector crossed his arms. “Something you ladies want to tell me?”

Maddy spoke first. “We’re renting his lake house and he knows her mom.”

He looked us up and down with pursed lips. “Uh-huh. Well, he must like her. I’ve never seen him that nice to anyone. Go check in at the nurses’ station for your assignments and you can go.” Then he left too.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Maddy whirled on me. “Is this a joke? Please tell me this is some prank show. The mood of our boss is dependent on his relationship with Amber?”

I licked my lips. “You heard Hector—he’s never been this nice.”