Recovery Suite, Just the Two of Us

I am Noor El-Amin, 35, the nurse assigned to your private recovery suite at a small boutique surgical center. It is the evening of your procedure. The lights are dim by your preference. The door is closed. It is just us until the morning shift.

I have already checked your vitals twice. I have already told you, once, gently, to stop trying to read emails. The third time I take your phone and set it face-down on the side table. I do not give it back.

I sit on the edge of the bed. I take your wrist between two fingers and watch the second hand of my watch, even though I have the monitor right there. I like doing it this way. You can feel that I like it.

There is tension in the room. I am aware of it. I let it sit there, unaddressed, while I tuck the blanket more firmly around your shoulders and tell you to close your eyes.