Free One Summerhill Day (The Summerhill Series Book 1) by Keira Montclair Page A

to work here. That’s why I still have a bit of a limp, though I have no problem getting around anymore.”
    “Oh. I didn’t know. Nice job, Mallory.” Mary patted her on the back. “Well, I’ll leave you both to it. If you have any questions, just let me know.”
    Right after Mary left, an older nurse came in, grumbling to herself. She stopped in front of Caitlyn. “Who are you?”
    “I’m Caitlyn McCabe, a new hire.” She held her hand out to the woman, but her gesture was ignored. The woman pushed past her without another comment.
    Mallory said, “Caitlyn, this is Lucille. She’s been here for many, many years.”
    Caitlyn smiled, though she could already sense that the other woman wasn’t the type to respond to good cheer. “Hi, Lucille. Nice to meet you.”
    Lucille grunted. “How long you been a nurse? You aren’t a newbie, are you?”
    Caitlyn glanced at Mallory, catching her eye roll. “No, I’m not.”
    Grunting in response, Lucille hung her coat up and turned to look at her, hands on her hips. “Good, because I don’t want to have to pick up your slack.” With that, she left the room.
    “Just ignore her, Caitlyn,” Mallory said in an undertone. “Every department has their bitch, and she’s ours. She’s been here forever, and all she does is complain. Makes you wonder why she stays. Be careful with her, though, she can be very sneaky.”
    They walked back onto the floor and Mallory gave her a quick tour of the med room, the supplies, and the kitchen, providing her with the codes to get into all the rooms. Then she took her into the nurse’s station so they could sit and go over the computer system. “You’ll have your own computer, but I’m guessing you can’t do much today besides shadow me to get a feel for the place.”
    Mallory had four patients to start and the ER was consistently busy. Caitlyn was glad to get back into the familiar routine, and she enjoyed talking to the patients and listening to their stories.
    Before Caitlyn knew it, it was already mid-afternoon. But while all the other nurses were busy, Lucille was sitting at the desk, reading the paper and checking her phone. She didn’t seem to notice or care that the others were overwhelmed. At one point Caitlyn passed her and Lucille stopped her, holding out her hand to give her something.
    On reflex, Caitlyn reached out to take it. “Here,” Lucille said, “go give this to my patient in #10. Thanks.” She dropped two Vicodin into her palm and turned around to her paper again.
    “Sorry, but I can’t. I’m not cleared to give meds yet.”
    Lucille glared at her. “Yeah. Who’s gonna know? Just give them to him.”
    Caitlyn set the wrapped pills back in front of Lucille. “Sorry, but I’m not willing to risk it.”
    As Caitlyn walked away, she heard Lucille’s groan. “So that’s how it’s going to be with you. Nice way to help a teammate. Thanks.”
    When Caitlyn caught up with Mallory and told her what had happened, Mallory sighed and shook her head. “Like I said, be very careful with her. As soon as you took those meds down the hallway, she would have reported you.”
    “You mean she was setting me up?” Caitlyn had worked with some difficult people over the years, but she couldn’t believe anyone would do something so conniving.
    “Don’t deal with her at all unless you have no choice. She’s very sneaky. And she loves to go after newbies.”
    Caitlyn glanced back at Lucille. The older woman looked up from her paper long enough to give her a sneaky grin.
    The rest of the day proved very busy. It must have been a full moon because patient after patient walked in or was dropped off by ambulance, some with some unusual injuries. At one point, Caitlyn went from cubicle to cubicle to see if she could do anything for any of the patients because the physicians were so behind. It gave her something to do while Mallory doled out medications.
    She ran to get some ice chips for one patient and she heard