CARA

I entered the restaurant.

I’m Bridgette. I’m Bridgette. I’m Bridgette.

“Really, if you want to make yourself believe you are me, you should start doing it in your mind. You don’t have to say it out loud.” It was Bridgette and I almost jumped when I heard her voice through the earphone.

“Shut up,” I whispered and smiled at the concierge. “Reservation for Ms. Natalie Higgins?”

The man with graying hair smiled. He spread his right hand out with palm wide open. “This way, please.”

I followed him across the room. There were only about three people in the restaurant and all of them were the only group eating there. They too were engrossed in their own meeting with their tablets in front of them and over their plates.

The man guided me to a corner table and I took the seat facing the façade window. I could see the café from this view. There were two empty chairs, the one across from me and the one to my right. I ordered wine and just as the waiter left, a blonde, tall woman in a blue dress that went down above her knee came trotting towards me and I immediately knew who she was.

“Stand up and grin as wide as you can,” I heard Bridgette say. I did and Natalie immediately skipped the rest of the steps to grab my hand and give me a peck.

“I’m so glad you were okay with this.” She took the seat to my right.

“That’s fine.”

“Did you bring the contract?”

“Yes,” I answered. Inside the green folder, at the back of the report was the contract.

“Good.” Bridgette’s happy voice said over the earphone. “She’s excited to start working with me. Just keep her happy. Begin the meeting before Quinn walks in.”

“Would you like to start now?” I said in a hurry. I didn’t want to meet Quinn if I could make Natalie sign the contract without him, better.

“Quinn’s outside parking the car. We’ll wait for him,” Natalie said with a smile. She looked at me, tilted her head to the left and pursed her lips. “There’s something different about you today, Bridgette.”

I felt the blood draining down my face. “I don’t feel anything new.”

“You feel different.” She shrugged and added, “Oh well. It must be the weather.”

“Yeah, that could be it. You look great yourself.”

“It must be the upcoming wedding!”

“Hi, sorry I took a while.” That voice sounded different, but mostly it was the same. It was very much Quinn Carter. I slowly turned my head to see the man I almost had.

BRIDGETTE

I was too nervous. The moment I heard Quinn’s voice, I knew Cara was stunned. This was the moment I was afraid for but she had to get back to her senses.

“Cara, Cara… Cara!” I hissed, bending my head down. I was attracting attention from the people in the coffee shop. “Get your head together. It’s just Quinn. It’s just Quinn. He’s forgotten about you already. He doesn’t even know it is you.”

I heard a small coughing sound. Oh God, what has she done? Then another coughing sound.

“I’m sorry,” I heard my voice say. I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, Cara had gotten out of her shock.

“What have I missed?” I heard Quinn ask.

Cara cleared her throat far too dramatic and I had to press the heel of my right hand on my forehead. “Don’t mess this up. Tell him about the plan. Give them the damn papers,” I ordered sternly.

“I,” then another coughing sound, then more clearing of throat. “I have the draft of the plans we discussed last week.”

“What happened to you?” I heard Quinn’s curious voice.

“Accident,” Cara answered quickly. Good. She was getting the hang of it. “As I was saying, I already have the draft of the plans we discussed last week. After we go through with it and after I present my proposal, we can discuss the contract.”

“What accident?” Quinn asked again. The guys just couldn’t keep his mouth shut like a week ago.

“Vehicular,” Cara answered.

“Good. Don’t give a lot of explanations,” I told her.

I heard papers being passed around.

“Oh, this looks nice,” I heard Natalie say. I rolled my eyes. Yes, the things she saw were nice but when put together, they would be a disaster.

“Just nod and smile,” I told Cara. “Make her say yes to the contract. That’s our goal.

“They are nice, yes. But to make them happen, we have to get to the contract.” Cara said it in a natural way. Well, she was doing good at it.

“Where?” It was Quinn again.

There was a long moment of silence. “Where what?” Cara asked, her voice now irritated. Obviously, I was not the only one who was getting pissed by Quinn’s interruptions.

“The accident.”

“Honey, I don’t think Bridgette wants to talk about the accident.” It was Natalie. Finally, the woman had something good to say.

“Yes, exactly, Mr. Carter. I don’t want to bore the two of you with the story of the accident. It was just a minor one. Nothing major happened.”

“Yeah, right. I just swapped bodies with someone else,” I said aloud.

“Now, I have prepared the contract for us to sign. You two can read it together while I go to the ladies room. If you have anything you want to be changed, that can be arranged.”

I heard Cara’s seat screech, then the familiar clicking sound of my heels. “Well done, Cara. Not the best start, but you’re doing fine.”

“I’ll be doing great if you just shut up,” she hissed. I heard a door close. “I need to pee. Do you have to listen to that too?”

“Just go with it. Now, if they have any changes to recommend, you tell them that your secretary will print a revised contract.”

“How about the payment?”

“They will not even discuss it. Have your forgotten how rich Quinn is?”

“His family is rich, not him.”

“You really lost track of events, have you? He’s a renowned architect. He had built the best buildings rising around the state right now and you have no idea? He’s rich. Believe me. And Natalie appears to be a woman who doesn’t want to be misinterpreted. She wouldn’t want you to think she can’t afford the wedding. Believe me, I can smell her. She stinks.”

“You judge her too easily.”

“I’m a good judge of character. Retouch your makeup, take your precious time and go back there. No more coffee!”

“Fine!”

CARA

I didn’t dare look at Quinn. The moment our eyes met earlier, I knew he was thinking about something. He had been looking at me the whole time and wouldn’t even let go of the topic of my accident. Was he like this with Bridgette a week ago? I couldn’t ask her that. It would only bring a lot of issues.

“So, I guess you have finished?”

Natalie looked at me while I took my seat. I could also feel Quinn’s intense gaze but I chose to ignore him. “We already signed them.”

I was shocked. “You did?”

“What the hell! She did?!” I heard Bridgette cry through my earphone and I almost cringed.

“Well, yeah.”

My eyes met Quinn’s accidentally and I sensed he there was something wrong. Was it me? Was it Natalie? Or was it him? Well, if he had any problem working with Bridgette, that was his problem, not mine. I was too ecstatic to even think about being near him though my heart wouldn’t stop pounding. Obviously, Bridgette was right. There were still wounds to heal on my part.

“The only signature lacking is yours,” Natalie uttered.

I paled. I panicked.

“Don’t panic. Just sign the damn paper with my name on it. That’s not a big problem,” Bridgette said.

“Cool!” I grabbed the papers, signed them ‘Bridgette Finn’ and sorted them inside the envelop. “I’m looking forward to working with the two of you,” I said, squaring my shoulders. I had to appear professional.

“Me too!” Natalie clasped her hands together, her eyes sparkling. She looked happy, really happy. I turned to Quinn. He didn’t seem to feel the same way and it must be because of me—or Bridgette. But if he knew it was me, Cara, he would have ran out that door and looked for another planner.

“I hope you’ll lose that collar anytime soon,” Natalie said as we stood up after I paid the bill as per Bridgette’s orders.

“Yeah,” I said, trying to nod but couldn’t. I almost stumbled through wooden floor of the restaurant but a hand firmly held my by the arm and pulled me back. It was Quinn. That familiar sensation that ran through me was back. Quinn immediately took his hand back and didn’t meet my gaze. He felt it too. “Thanks,” I muttered and looked at Natalie. “I’ll see you soon, okay? Just call if you need to cancel or anything. I’ll go ahead now. See you, Mr. Carter,” I said without looking at him and went on ahead.

“Take care, Bridgette!” I heard Natalie cry behind me.

I continued walking until I was out in the streets. I took a deep breath and walked across the street while praying another car would turn up and swap me back to my body because I just couldn’t handle another moment with Quinn Carter. There were too many memories I had long buried but were now being dug out.

BRIDGETTE

As Cara crossed the street, I saw my ‘sad’ and ‘hurt’ look. I didn’t realize I looked that horrible. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I felt for Cara. What happened ten years ago was something none of us wanted to go back to. I knew I did horrible things but I had never admitted that even to myself until now.

I saw Natalie and Quinn step out of the restaurant. Quinn was looking at Cara, his expression bewildered. His dark hair was almost brown out in the sunlight. As Natalie pulled him to turn to the opposite direction, he hesitated. That hesitation caused me to wonder. Had Quinn really forgotten what I had done to him ten years ago? Would he ever learn to forgive me?

As Cara pulled the door of the coffee shop open, I tried my best to look myself. Well, technically I was not myself but I had to wear my ‘Bridgette’ face—strong, non-caring and selfish. “Well, you did good. I’m so proud of you.”

“I don’t want to do it again,” she uttered. I knew she was trying not to cry so I ignored it. It was better if we not talk about Quinn Carter and focus on the job at hand.

“Let me see the papers,” I said, pulling the folder out of her firm grasp. “We don’t have to change my signature. As long as people see the ‘me’ signing, no one would ever think it’s forged.”

Cara wasn’t listening. I didn’t know what to do or say. We sat there in silence for a long time. Both of us knew what was going on inside each other’s mind. We had known each other a long time ten years ago and the instinct of two friends—however they ended up—was still there.

“Why don’t we go over what I should do tomorrow at the hospital? We’ll talk about our next steps with Natalie and Quinn the day after that,” I suggested.

She looked at me squarely. “You don’t think we’re going to go back, do you?”

“I’m trying to be realistic here, Cara. I believe we’ll go back but I think we have to deal with this situation the best way we can. You said that yourself just this morning.”

She slowly nodded.

“Now, tell me about this Dr. Newman.”

CARA

Dr. Newman was my enemy. Well, not really. He just happened to always point out my mistakes when there was none. He never looked at me with respect. Not that he was always respectable towards his fellow doctors and the nurses. He was the best at his job, but he was never great with people—even patients.

I told Bridgette everything she had to do during the night shift which was not a lot. She just had to receive endorsement, check the patients assigned to me, take their vitals, give them their medications, check on them from time to time and wait for the hours to come by.

Of course Bridgette didn’t like the idea of herself inside the hospital but after what I just did for her, she had to do it. She just had to pray Dr. Newman wouldn’t be on duty that night.

“What should we do now?” I asked after our talk. I honestly wanted to be by myself that moment.

“We should go home and rest. I have to program myself as a damn nurse.”

“I want to go back to my apartment.”

“Me too. Should we call it a day?”

I nodded. “I’ll get my car tomorrow. You get yours and we switch.”

Bridgette nodded in agreement. We stood up, left the coffee shop and went our separate ways.

BRIDGETTE

I wanted to tell Cara I wasn’t feeling well but that would be a big lie. Her body was freaking too healthy to start with and I spent the whole day lying on my own bed. Cara was the one who decided we should lose our c-collars. She didn’t want to miss another day at work. She asked me to call her supervisor to go back to work.

“I thought you said taking off the collar would be dangerous?” I had asked, hoping she would realize it was a big mistake to go back to work.

“That’s okay. Our MRI’s and X-ray’s didn’t show any signs of serious injuries. I just want to get back to work. I have rent to pay and I’m saving up for something.”

“What’s that?”

“Not your business to know,” she had answered.

When I finally realized there was no escaping it, I tried to learn the basic duties and responsibilities of nurses with the help of Google and Wikipedia and I must say it was not as easy as I had thought. There were a lot of terminologies I didn’t understand and I had to search them one by one. By the end of the day and by the time Cara arrived in my place to switch cars, I already had mine parked in the parking lot. I was also well-versed with the basics of nursing. It was the best thing about me. If I were challenged, I would make sure I would win. The thought of making myself stupid in front of others was just unbearable.

“Are you ready? I brought my uniform.” Cara handed me the bag.

“What if this Dr. Newman will be on duty tonight?”

“Just make sure he doesn’t see you making mistakes. If you are handling a patient under his care, call me right away. We’ll do the same thing we did yesterday. I’ll be on the line while you are working.”

I nodded. I opened her bag and frowned. “This is your uniform? Really?”

She shrugged. “It’s comfortable.”

I took the magenta scrub suit out and hung it before my eyes. It had no shape, no drama. It was just plain cloth sewed together. Well, at least the color was appealing.

“These are my shoes for work.”

“They’re running shoes,” I noted.

“They work well with my feet. You will appreciate it at the end of the day I promise.”

I sighed, grabbed the rest of the clothes and put them back in the bag.

“This is the layout of the hospital. Climb the stairs to the fourth floor—”

“What? No elevators?”

“You’ll have to wait a long line. Trust me, you’ll be late if you ride that thing.”

“Go to the left,” she continued, pointing at the map she made for me. “You’ll see a glass door at the end of the corridor and that’s my unit. I drew a more specific layout of the unit.”

I had an amazing pictographic memory so that was not a problem.

“You know my routine?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “You go straight to the dressing room, change into your uniform, get a cup of coffee for the night, check on medications to prepare while waiting for your shift, get endorsement, make rounds, start on your charting, etcetera.”

Cara looked amazed. “Great. I was afraid you wouldn’t remember.”

I rolled my eyes. It is easy.

We switched cars after I changed into my most comfortable clothes. We had to fight over the shoes I chose to wear from my own collection and she insisted that I wore the ones she brought.

We drove to the hospital with me tailing behind her. Cara owned a great black truck and I wondered why. The thing was not made for single women because single women owned yellow, shiny cars like mine.

“Just don’t act yourself and you’ll be fine,” Cara told me after I parked the car.

“Yeah, yeah,” I answered.

After we setup our phones, I went inside the hospital with my shoulders squared and my mind ready for battle.

There were some people who greeted me and I greeted back with a smile. I knew Cara knew them but I didn’t so I just had to pretend that I did.

I didn’t like the smell of the place the longer I stayed there. It smelled too clean and the constant sound of people calling names over the speaker was irritating. I felt like I was in a different world. Everything was alien to me.

When I arrived in the Cardiovascular unit where Cara worked, people gushed like crazy.

“Are you okay? I thought you had an accident!” a tall woman with brown hair asked.

I nodded and smiled. “I’m okay.”

“That’s Amy. Just smile and go straight to my locker,” I heard Cara say through the earphone plugged in my right ear.

I did as she said but Amy followed, asking different questions at once.

“Amy, I’m really okay. No blood was spilled,” I answered. Just my freaking soul!

Before Amy could open her mouth, a voice boomed behind us. “I thought you were in an accident?”

Slowly, I turned around and my jaw almost dropped at what I saw.

“Good evening, Dr. Newman.”

This guy was Dr. Newman?

“Oh my God, this is what I feared,” Cara was talking in my ear but I didn’t hear any of it.

 She didn’t tell me she was enemy with the hottest doctor in town!

***Hi, guys! I made sure I update after the wedding so here it is! ComVo all you want! ;))