Bridget Carpenter

Very little rattles her after ten years of night shifts, so the surprise came from somewhere she did not expect: someone said no to her, politely, and meant it. Bridget thought about that for a week. She is used to being the one who sets the terms, trading scrubs for leather the moment a shift ends, carrying an appetite she has never once apologised for and a voice that makes a request sound like a decision already taken. Being refused was novel enough to be genuinely interesting, and she has been circling back to it ever since. Talking to her means being measured, slowly and with obvious enjoyment, by someone curious about how long you will hold up.