Read My Only - Alex & Jamie Online
Authors: Melanie Shawn
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Women's Fiction, #Romance, #Series
My Only - Alex & Jamie
My Only
by
Melanie Shawn
Cover Design by Hot Damn Designs
Published by Red Hot Reads Publishing
Copyright 2013 Melanie Shawn
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission in writing from Melanie Shawn. Exceptions are limited to reviewers who may use brief quotations in connection with reviews. No part of this book can be transmitted, scanned, reproduced, or distributed in any written or electronic form without written permission from Melanie Shawn.
This book is a work of fiction. Places, names, characters and events are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Table of Contents
Sneak Peek: My Everything - Seth & Amber
hapter One
Coffee. Food. Sleep. Sex.
Her body ached for all four of those things…not necessarily in that order.
Jamie Miller closed her eyes and leaned her head against the cold, stainless steel wall of the elevator. A ding sounded, penetrating through her foggy-headed state and indicating that she had arrived at her intended floor. The doors opened and Jamie stepped out onto the linoleum hallway. She walked briskly down the corridor towards the cafeteria.
Coffee and food. Those were going to be the only two things on her mental list of physical needs that she would be able to satisfy in the immediate future. Sleep…maybe later. She might be able to get in a few hours, before her first shift at The Grill tomorrow afternoon. Sex…not likely. She sighed to herself. She hadn’t been able to scratch that particular itch for so long, that it was too depressing to think about.
She inhaled deeply, breathing in through her nose. The smell of antiseptic hit her nostrils and she instantly felt more alert. Yes! She was four hours into her third consecutive sixteen-hour shift, or “double” as the hospital staff referred to them, and she needed all the help she could get to perk herself up.
Most people hated the smell of hospitals, but Jamie had always loved the distinctive aroma. To her, hospitals were clean and safe places where people were taken care of, and the fragrant odor of disinfectant represented that safety. Part of the reason she had always wanted to go into nursing was because she couldn’t think of any better place to spend her days than inside the safe, clean walls of a hospital.
As a teen she had volunteered as a candy striper at Grace Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She had only been required to spend twenty hours per week ‘on duty,’ but more weeks than not she was there closer to forty hours. She just loved helping people! Whether it was just being in the room to provide moral support while a patient nervously awaited surgery, distracting them with board games and chit-chat to keep their minds off of the pain they were in afterward. Even just silently keeping them company while they recovered from whatever illness had landed them there – Jamie didn't care, she loved it all.
Hospitals never depressed her or gave her the heebie-jeebies, as they did for some people. Nope, from the first time an asthma attack had sent her to the emergency room at four years old, she had felt more at home, and more safe, lying in that hospital bed in the E.R. than she ever had in the small one bedroom apartment she grew up in.
The automatic doors slid open and she stepped into the brightly-lit cafeteria. She glanced around the room to see if she recognized any of the staff that she had met over the last few days. She didn’t. She sighed as relief coursed through her. She wouldn’t want anyone to think she was rude, or intentionally ignoring them, but she could seriously use a few minutes to herself.
She had only been in Harper’s Crossing for a little over a week. Everyone she had met so far had been friendly, in that ‘small town’ kind of way. People here seemed to genuinely care about one another. This was
exactly
the kind of place Jamie had always dreamed of living in as a kid.
After securing the nursing position at Harper’s Crossing Community Hospital a little over a month ago, she had asked her Aunt Hazel if she might be able to pick up a few waitressing shifts at Gerard’s Diner. Jamie thought it was a no-brainer since Hazel had worked there for over two decades and was the manager. Initially, Aunt Hazel said it would be “no problem.”
But, a scant few weeks later when Jamie had arrived at Harper’s Crossing, her aunt had suggested she apply at The Grill, a restaurant and bar overlooking the Riverwalk. Jamie hadn’t questioned the about-face. Her feelings hadn't even been hurt. She had learned early on in her life that people rarely kept their word, and she never depended on anyone. Talk was cheap, actions were what counted – and selfless actions were rare in this world, so why get your hopes up?
It wasn't that she was bitter. Jamie was grateful for what kindnesses she received from others. It was just that she didn't expect people to come through if they said they would. If they did? Great. If not? Still fine. Jamie knew that, when it came to people she could depend on, she was best off if she kept that list
real
small. As in...one name. Her own.
So, instead of worrying about why her aunt had done the one-eighty, she’d just headed down to The Grill and applied. She had been immediately interviewed by the owner Jack. He’d hired her on the spot.
When Aunt Hazel had heard the news, she’d explained how happy she was because she thought Jamie would make a lot more money in tips at The Grill than she would at Gerard’s Diner.
But then she had blown her 'make-better-money' cover when she had added in a conspiratorial whisper, “Plus, a lot more people your age tend to go there. That’s where all the young men seem to be.”
Jamie had known then it was just another in a long line of well-meaning attempts to set her up. However, all of those attempts were destined to be in vain because Jamie simply was not interested in any kind of relationship. She shook her head, remembering the mischievous smile that had lit up her aunt's wrinkled face, and the way her eyes had twinkled as if she were 20 again. She hadn't had the heart to take the wind out of Hazel's sails when she was clearly having so much fun matchmaking, but it just
wasn't
going to happen.
I mean, sure. Was she lonely sometimes? Of course. Did she miss the feeling of being held in strong arms? Sure. Did she miss sex? Most definitely. Was it worth it to have to date random people (mostly losers) to find that one special person? Nope.
Her life was full. She did not have room - nor did she possess an overwhelming desire to
make
room - in her life for someone else. It wasn’t in the Ten Year Plan, and she
had
to stick to The Plan. The Plan was everything to her. And it had to work because, honestly, she didn’t have a plan B. Plan B did not exist! There was only The Plan: capital T, capital P. No room for failure. The stakes were simply too high.
After selecting a delicious-looking cream-filled pastry and filling up a disposable paper cup with steaming hot coffee she made her way to a small, secluded table nestled in the corner of the cheery room. She sat and sipped her coffee as she enjoyed her well-chosen tasty treat. She closed her eyes, reveling in the moment and blissfully zoning out the rest of the world.
A commotion on the opposite side of the room pulled her out of her near-comatose state. She turned and saw several women rushing from table to table, passionately and animatedly talking about something in hushed voices. Jamie couldn’t hear what they were saying, but whatever it was looked to be getting quite a response. Most of the time those seated at the tables would either get up and rush out the sliding doors, or remain seated, gasping and shaking their heads in shock.
Jamie was just about to get up and make sure everything was
OKAY, to see if anyone needed her help, when she felt her pager buzz on her hip. She looked down and saw that it was Vickey, the head nurse on her floor, paging her to get back upstairs ASAP.
Well, maybe Vickey would know what all the hubbub was about. In the few days Jamie had been working at the hospital, she had observed that Vickey seemed to know everything that happened - not only in the hospital, but around the town in general. Jamie’s new supervisor was probably close to sixty, but looked to be in her forties. She was all business and was definitely a ‘problem solver.’ In the short time Jamie had been on staff, she had seen Vickey calmly and efficiently put out more than one fire. Jamie liked her, quite a bit, and had no doubt that, with Vickey at the helm of whatever catastrophe might be befalling the hospital, they were, at the very least, in highly capable hands!
Jamie picked up her napkin and empty coffee cup and quickly disposed of them. She hurried out the door and made her way back down the corridor toward the elevators. She pushed the 'up' button but nothing immediately happened. None of the four elevators seemed to be on the floor. Dang. Normally, she wouldn't care about the wait, but this was a 911 page she was answering – she needed to make tracks, and quickly! She briefly thought about taking the stairs, but before she could make a decision, the doors to far left opened and she quickly hopped inside, pressing the button that would take her to the 4th floor.
Two attractive young nurses slipped into the elevator car just under the wire, right before the doors closed.
“Is it true? Is he here?” the blonde asked the redhead.
“Yes,” the redhead
affirmed her brown eyes as wide as saucers.
“He’s really here?” the blonde asked again, seemingly not satisfied with the previous confirmation.
“Yes, I saw him,” the redhead stated, her voice bathed in a reverence that would normally be reserved for the pope.
“Did he look bad?” the blonde asked nervously.
“I don’t know. The paramedics were blocking most of my view.” The redhead wrung her hands in front of her.
“Is he going to be okay?” The blonde’s clear green eyes suddenly filling with tears.
Hmm...Jamie thought to herself, I probably would have led with that question but…que sera sera.
“I don’t know.” The redhead joined her blonde friend in tearing up as she made that admission.
Jamie was beginning to wonder if maybe there was a celebrity here in the hospital. Who could it be, in this tiny little town? She thought about it but came up empty. She didn’t know of any movies that were filming there, or any sporting events or concerts that were being held in Harper’s Crossing.
When she had worked at Grace Memorial, there were several times that celebrities had been rushed to the emergency room and even been admitted for care. Some had been athletes with various injuries. There had been several actors and singers that had to be admitted for “exhaustion” or “dehydration.” She had met some of them, but she had never gotten star struck like some of the nurses and almost all of the other candy stripers had. Some of the staff there had even been rendered speechless.