I Regret Loving You for Five Years novel · Chapter 11 of 32

Chapter 11: Midwinter

"Gwen. Listen to me. Over."

The static hissed while she pulled herself together.

"I'm listening. Over."

"Two years ago, the pharmacy sent the ER a voluntary return slip for those epinephrine lots. Somebody had to sign that the boxes left our med room. Over."

"Okay. Over."

"It was me. I was senior resident. I signed it on a night shift and forgot about it. It's in the green binder over the narcotics cabinet. Paper. Nobody ever scans that binder. Over."

There was a long silence.

Then, slowly, Gwen started to laugh.

"The ugly binder with the coffee stain shaped like Ohio. Over."

"That one. Get your union rep. Ask for it in front of witnesses. Over."

"Oh, I'll get my union rep," Gwen said. "I'll get every union rep in the state. Over."

***

She did.

The man in Tacoma passed on her report that Thursday.

Gwen had walked her union rep and two ER nurses into the med room at eight in the morning.

The green binder was exactly where I'd said.

My signature was on page forty, beside the lot numbers and the pharmacy's red RECALL stamp.

The union filed by noon.

***

Midwinter dinner was June twenty-first, the biggest night of the year at Pole.

Before dinner I sat on my bed and took off the chain I'd worn under my scrubs for five years.

The ring was warm from my skin.

I took it to the clinic and put it in the drawer, next to Amber's letter and the empty epinephrine in its plastic bag.

Then I went to dinner.

The galley had tablecloths, which I hadn't known we owned.

There was lobster that had been frozen since November and tasted like heaven.

Somebody had made the place cards in Morse code, so it took everyone ten minutes to find their seats.

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