I Used Her Words Against Them

Chapter 2

I clicked my tongue at the screen. Yeah, I had none. But I knew who did.

Mara: Sorry, Mrs. Cole. I'm off duty now. But Vivian is on shift. You can reach out to her.

The moment I tagged her, Vivian jumped into the patient group chat.

Vivian: Mrs. Cole, don't worry. I'm on call tonight. I'll swing by after I clock out.

My mom was in the kitchen, ladling soup into bowls. She glanced at my phone and frowned. "Aren't you worried about losing your position as head nurse if you keep brushing things off like this?"

I shook my head. After living through it all again, I'd finally learned one thing: if you're willing to take on extra work, there will always be more for you.

Two years ago, during Christmas, they said the ER was short-staffed and called me back.

Last year, on the Fourth of July, it was Ethan's father, he'd had too much to drink, fallen, and split his head open. They made me go to the hospital to change his dressings.

This year, it was even worse. After Ethan's appendectomy, his mother wanted me to go to their house to remove the stitches and change the wound dressing.

Every time I refused, Mrs. Cole would say, "We paid for the hospital stay and the nursing fees. So what if you're off duty? Nurses are supposed to be on call 24/7!"

And she wasn't the only one. They never thanked you. They just assumed their money was going straight into nurses' pockets and that we were their personal caregivers. They didn't even have basic respect.

I spread my hands. "Vivian's always pointing out that the head nurse gets a bigger differential. But what she and the families don't know is that I only make $100 more a month than the others."

And the head nurse's responsibilities and workload are several times heavier. That night, Mrs. Cole praised Vivian in the patient group chat.

She said Vivian had made the trip to their place after her shift, checked the wound, changed the dressing, and even organized the discharge summary and insurance paperwork.

Mrs. Cole: Vivian is an angel. As a first-time caregiver for a post-surgery patient, I was really lost and scared.

Mrs. Cole: She's beautiful and kind. The patients love her, and so do we, the families.

Vivian sent a playful emoji in the group chat.

Vivian: I'm used to taking care of my grandparents at home. I really understand how families feel. I just want to help wherever I can.

The group chat exploded again.

A: Actually, I've already told the nursing department—it doesn't matter how many certifications a nurse has. What really counts is whether they have a sense of responsibility...

B: Exactly... With nurses like Vivian, we families can finally feel at ease.

My mom was furious. "These families talk like it's nothing. They've never seen you stay behind after a night shift to organize patient records. With all your migraines and varicose veins, every penny of that differential went straight to physical therapy."

But I didn't care. In this life, I'd made my peace with it. Let Vivian do all the work she wanted.

A few days later, my colleague Zoe asked me if I'd seen Mrs. Sullivan's post.

I hadn't—until she showed me. Vivian had used her time off to go to the Sullivan home and help out.

Mia Sullivan was a pediatric blood disorder patient who'd been hospitalized long-term. After discharge, she needed regular PICC line maintenance. Vivian had been going over twice a week to clean and change the dressings.

Mrs. Sullivan had posted a photo of Vivian's back as she left, with the caption: If every nurse were as dedicated as Vivian, us families could finally breathe easy.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Isn't this just workplace drama? The hospital has a rule: Nurses are not allowed to provide private home care without authorization! And I've heard this isn't the first time. The way that mother phrased it? She's throwing shade at you.

"I heard there's a staffing change coming at the end of the year. You should probably step in before this gets out of hand."

Before I could respond, my phone buzzed with a voice call. On the other end, the Director of Nursing, Grant, was furious. "Mara, get back to the hospital right now. Complaint letters addressed to you have already piled up in the BON's inbox! The night-shift differential is gone, and you're still stirring up this kind of trouble. I've had it with you!"