NYC Angels: Tempting Nurse Scarlet by Wendy S. Marcus

start, if this is the job you want, don’t be so quick to give it up.”
    Layla reached out to take her hand. “Thank you.”
    They sat there in silence until Layla said, “He kissed me.” She ran her fingers over her bottom lip, again, mindlessly. “We had a bad break.” She looked at Scarlet. “How is it possible that one kiss can erase five years apart like they never happened? How can one kiss make me want a man who is totally wrong for me?”
    Scarlet had spent the night pondering the exact same thing. “You still care for him.”
    “I don’t want to,” Layla said quietly.
    Scarlet’s cell phone rang. She stood, “I’ve got to get back to work,” and held out her hand. “It was nice to meet you, Dr. Layla Woods.” When Layla shook her hand Scarlet added. “On behalf of the NICU staff, welcome to Angel’s. We’re happy to have you here.”
    Layla smiled. “Thank you.”
    Finally up on the NICU Scarlet retrieved her stack of messages and found her charge nurse, Deb, at the rear nurses’ station. “I’m here,” she said, pulling out a chair to sit beside her. “What can I do?”
    “Our transport team is en route to St. Vincent’s Hospital to pick up a twenty-six weeker. Estimated return at ten o’clock. Labor and delivery reported a mom at thirty-three weeks with severe pre-eclampsia is on herway to the OR for an emergency C-section. And we have another pre-term multiple birth scheduled for eleven o’clock. That’s five new admissions and we only have three incubators available.”
    “Contact discharge planning and find out where they’re at with the coordination of home care nursing visits and durable medical equipment for Simms in twenty-two and Berg in twelve,” Scarlet said. “We have two more scheduled for discharge today. I’ll see what I can do to move things along. Anything else I need to know?”
    Deb smiled. “I took care of baby Joey’s morning feeding, like you asked, and she took a few sucks on the nipple. She’s getting there.”
    Scarlet’s day brightened considerably.
    Deb looked around then leaned in and whispered, “Did you do it?”
    Scarlet nodded. So far, Deb and the social worker assigned to Joey’s case were the only people to know about Scarlet’s application to become a foster/adoptive parent.
    “She’s a lucky little girl,” Deb said.
    “If things work out, I’ll be the lucky one.” To finally have a daughter to take care of and love, after all these years of wanting, a chance to be a mom, and she’d help an abandoned infant in the process. God willing, someone had done the same for her daughter.
    “What are your chances?” Deb asked.
    “They’d be better if there was a Mr. Miller and I didn’t work such long hours,” Scarlet scanned through her messages to see if any were urgent. “But Joey will likely go home requiring some level of specialized care that I am more than qualified to provide. I put down I’d take a six week maternity leave, like any new momwould get, to stay at home to care for her. So if nothing else, they may give her to me for the six weeks during which time I will figure out a doable work schedule to convince the decision-makers that permanent placement with me is what’s in Joey’s best interest.” Exactly what Holly would have wanted. What Scarlet wanted.
    Deb shook her head.
    “What?”
    “Six weeks,” she said quietly. “I don’t know how we’ll survive without you.”
    “I’ve budgeted for an assistant head nurse but never filled the position because up until now I haven’t needed to.” She looked at Deb pointedly, hoping to relay the message she was the only person Scarlet would accept for the job. “Maybe it’s time I started taking applications.”
    Deb, quick on the uptake as usual, asked, “You think I’m ready?”
    More than ready. “Yes. Let’s see how things work out with Joey. Promise me you’ll think about it.”
    “Oh I will,” Deb said.
    With a “Thanks for holding things together