Right in the elevator. Who knows?”
“Wait a minute.” Erin followed Carol onto the elevator. “I thought you said Mr. Cop was my Mr. Right.”
“He is,” Carol said. The elevator doors slid shut. “Just not Mr. Right Now.”
“Since when does the hospital pay for entertainment for the pediatric floor?” she asked as they exited the elevator and elbowed their way through the crowd.
“Since they can get two for the price of one,” Carol said. “That’s Jim Peters. Sanitation engineer by day. Clown on the side. He loves the kids. He used to come and entertain them after work. The parents and kids loved him so much that Dottie, in Personnel, told me they decided to throw him a couple of extra bucks to do it officially once a month.”
A white-faced clown with orange hair, a big nose, a red outlined mouth and a single black tear painted beneath his left eye scooted among the children. He pulled coins from behind their ears. He made tiny action figures mysteriously appear in the pockets of their pajamas.
The clown selected one child, sitting in a wheelchair, and crouched beside him. Pointing to the tear on his cheek, the clown pretended to be sad, bent down closer still, and squirted water at the boy from a flower on his lapel. The boy hit the clown with his balloon. Both child and clown laughed and the clown fell back on the floor. Within moments all the children jumped on the clown, hitting him with their balloons, laughing and rolling over his flattened body.
Erin joined in the laughter. “He is great with the kids.”
“I know. Amy and I found out about him accidentally. You know how hard it is to get a doctor on weekends. A couple of months ago, Amy had an ear infection. Robert Stone promised he’d take a look after his rounds if I brought her here. We discovered the clown while we were waiting.”
“That sounds like something Robert might do.”
Carol raised an eyebrow. “I thought it was over between the two of you.” She tilted her head. “It is, isn’t it?”
“Of course, it’s been over for ages.”
“That’s what I thought you told me. Why did you dump him, anyway?” Carol grinned. “He’s not a cop.”
Erin shook her head from side to side in mock exasperation at her friend’s teasing. “No, he’s not a cop. Truthfully, he’s really a nice guy.”
“I’m beginning to think nice guys don’t stand a chance with you, O’Malley.”
Erin ignored her.
“So? What did the nice guy do to get dumped?”
Erin shrugged. “I was looking for light and casual. He wasn’t. So, I broke it off. When I realized how much I hurt him, I decided to stop dating period. I’m not interested in a relationship with any man. I only dated him to get out and have a little fun with someone I liked and respected. It hadn’t dawned on me that it had the potential to turn into something deeper for the other person. I hated that I hurt him. I won’t do that again to somebody else.”
“Mama.”
Carol scooped three-year-old Amy up into her arms and hugged her tight.
Sue Branson followed closely on Amy’s heels, whispered a few words in Carol’s ear and stepped away.
“Don’t know what I’d do without Sue,” Carol said. “She babysat Amy for the last three Friday nights for me.”
Erin glanced at her friend. “Are you dating again? Why didn’t you tell me? I’d watch Amy for you. Who’s the lucky guy?”
Carol’s face flushed. Before she could reply, a male voice interrupted.
“I thought I saw the three of you over here.”
“Hello, Robert.” Erin smiled at the six-foot-tall man and watched in amusement as Amy reached out her arms to him. He lifted the child, held her in the crook of his arm and didn’t offer a word of protest as she tousled his hair with her hands, laughed and did it again, entertaining herself as if she had invented the game.
“Good to see you, Erin. How have you been?” he asked.
“Just fine, Robert, and you?”
“Good.” His eyes no longer held the traces of hurt and anger she had seen after their breakup. With a sense of relief, she realized something else, a sparkle, a genuine happiness seemed to reside there now.
“We’re watching the clown show,” Carol said. “Or, at least, we were.”
The show was over and the clown gone.
Erin glanced at her watch. “No wonder. Look at the time. I have to get back downstairs. It’s almost time for shift report. I want to get