Turn My World Around

Chapter 1-2

“Only twenty more minutes and we are done! Girl, give me a high five.”

Corinne Dawson slapped Malika Hobbs’s uplifted hand before returning to her patient charts. The next twenty minutes were all that stood between them and the completion of the clinical hours required for their nursing program. With finals finished, this was the last requirement for graduation. Thank God. The last two semesters of juggling online classes, clinical hours, and her job as a waitress at Dinner Belles had meant little sleep and even less time with her son. But the end was in sight.

“We should totally go out for drinks to celebrate. Or ice cream. A big ass banana split,” Malika continued. “And then a three hour nap.”

The idea of that nap almost made Corinne whimper. “I wish. I’ve still got a shift at the diner when I leave here.” Another eight hours on her feet after eight here at the hospital. She’d forgotten what it was like not to operate past the threshold of permanent exhaustion.

The younger woman stuck out her lip in a pout. “With clinicals done, when am I going to see you?”

It gave Corinne warm fuzzies that her classmate still wanted to see her. She hadn’t exactly been welcomed back to Wishful with open arms when she’d come slinking home, a divorced single mom, eighteen months before. Friends had been hard to come by.

“You could both apply for jobs here at the hospital.” Rosemary Newsome reached past them both to pluck a chart out of the rack.

Corinne looked at the charge nurse. “I didn’t think they were hiring.”

“They weren’t. But they will be. It’s a good gig. Hard work, but part of the job perks is that the hospital will pay for you to continue your education. You come in as LPNs, you can work your way up. Two years working here for every year of schooling.”

A means of furthering her education without going deeper into debt? With that kind of option, she could afford to finally move out of her mom’s house, get her own place and start paying off all the debts she’d accrued trying to get back on her feet since the divorce. “Where do I pick up an application?” Corinne asked.

“The posting will go up in a few weeks. You can swing by HR then, put in an application. They’ll have it online, but better to have your face seen. We’re old school around here. Then the board will interview candidates,” Rosemary said.

“The hospital board?” Corinne asked.

“That’d be the one.”

Damn it. Of the nine board members, Corinne knew at least three of them would turn her application down on the spot. She’d been back long enough to know nobody had forgotten high school and no one cared about giving her a chance to make up for her less than sterling behavior. But maybe it didn’t have to be a unanimous decision. She’d just have to make sure she was the best candidate for the job.

“I’m going to go check on Mr. Lennox in 104,” Malika announced.

As her friend hustled down the hall, Corinne turned to Rosemary. “I know clinical hours are over, but is there any chance I can continue volunteering?”

The older woman blinked. “You need to be studying for your NCLEX exam.”

“And I am. But I’m serious about going for that job.” She needed it to make a better life for her son. “It seems like going above and beyond would help set me apart from the crowd.”

“Your work should speak for itself. You’ve done a good job here, Corinne.”

She’d worked her tail off. But Corinne had her doubts about whether it would be enough. In all likelihood, she’d end up having to leave Wishful to start a new life for her and Kurt. As difficult as coming home had been, going somewhere entirely new was a mountain she wasn’t sure she had it in her to climb.

One step at a time, she reminded herself. It had been the mantra echoing through her head for a long time now. It had gotten her away from Lance, found her a job, gotten her back in school. It would get her a little bit further.

At the end of their shift, she and Malika walked out to the parking lot together.

“Oh! Oh! Final grades are posted!” Malika furiously punched at her smartphone. “Thank you, baby Jesus, I passed.”

“Could I borrow your phone to check?” Corinne held up her dumb phone. She hadn’t been able to afford anything with a data plan.

Malika handed over the iPhone. Nerves danced in Corinne’s belly as she logged into her own account on the student portal and scrolled to check her grades. Her breath wooshed out.

“All A’s.” She’d been terrified with all the extra hours she was pulling at the diner that she’d tank her classes.

“Damn, girl! You kickin’ my ass. Making my A’s and B’s look shabby.”

Corinne handed the phone back. “The important thing is we’re both officially graduating!”

The pair of them executed a little happy dance, ending with a hip bump and a tight hug.

“Come by the diner to see me, now, you hear?” Corinne ordered. “I’ll be there until I finish my test and find something else. We can get in some more study sessions for the NCLEX.”

“I will. See you on the flip side.”

With a wave, Malika slid into her little Nissan and headed out. Corinne took a long look at Wilton Memorial Hospital before climbing into her ancient Toyota and pointing toward downtown Wishful.

The town green was edging more toward brown in the late summer heat. Rather than parking behind the diner as usual, she took a space across from City Hall. She felt foolish as she made her way up the path to the huge fountain that was the town’s pride and joy. Over a hundred and fifty years old, the fountain was central to Wishful’s identity. People came from far and wide to toss a coin into the basin and make a wish. Fed by nearby Hope Springs, local legend had it that most of them came true—though not always the way the wisher expected.

Corinne had never been one for wishes. But under the circumstances, she didn’t think it could possibly hurt. Standing at the edge, she dug in her purse for a coin. The biggest one in the handful she pulled out was a nickel.

Well, nobody ever said denomination counted.

Holding the coin tight, she pressed her fist over her heart. I wish for the chance to be seen as who I am now, not who I used to be. Please don’t let my past mistakes negatively impact my son.

She tossed the nickel. It flipped end-over-end, flying through the air to ping off the central stone pedestal, before dropping into the water with a splash.

Well, that was that. She’d finished her LPN classes with a 4.0. She’d finished her clinical hours. And she’d made a wish of the Universe. The only thing left to do was study her butt off for her certification exam. With one last look at the fountain, she turned toward the diner with a bit more of a spring in her step.