by Cate Beauman
Jenny came running outside with Faith. “What’s wrong?”
“Get me the AED and intubation kit,” Reagan said as she and Shane dragged Henry out of his seat, laying him on the ground, assessing his graying color and purple lips. She got to her knees, ignoring the bite of gravel through her jeans as she pressed her fingers to his neck, searching for a pulse. “No pulse. Call nine-one-one,” she said to Shane.
Shane grabbed the resuscitation equipment from Jenny as she hurried back. “Call nine-one-one,” he told her.
“Tell them we have a cardiac arrest,” Reagan hollered, pulling at Henry’s shirt as Jenny ran back inside.
Shane crouched down and tore the white t-shirt, exposing Henry’s chest and stomach.
“Start CPR,” she said to Shane as she opened the AED case, pulling the stickers off the shock pads, securing one to Henry’s upper left chest and the other to his right side before the machine could tell her what to do. She connected the plug to the machine as Shane finished his first set of compressions. “Stand back,” she said after Shane gave Henry two good breaths, waiting for the first electrical charge.
The machine jolted the lifeless man then alerted it was safe for them to touch him.
“Continue CPR.” She yanked off her cardigan, settling the soft wool under the back of Henry’s neck, opening his airway further, then pulled on gloves and prepared the endotracheal tube, sending the catheter home within seconds with the aid of her laryngoscope and blade. She removed the stylet, inflated the endotracheal balloon, and secured the tube with tape before the AED alerted them to stand back again.
Moments later they were given the all clear and she bagged him, giving Henry quick breaths. “Switch on the next count.” She took Shane’s place, taking over compressions, pushing deep into Henry’s sternum in a rhythm she knew well while Shane supplied his air.
“They’re on their way,” Jenny said as she rushed over. “There’s an ambulance that just left a call over in Rock Creek. It’s comin’ here.”
“Stay back,” Reagan said as the machine instructed her to stop CPR while it analyzed Henry’s non-existent vitals and delivered another shock.
Henry didn’t respond.
“Come on, Henry.” She started compressions again, trying her best to tune out Daisy’s pleadings to save her husband as she fought to revive a man on a dirt driveway in the middle of nowhere. The machine charged, shocked, and she did her compressions again, bringing Henry back for mere seconds, twice, and lost him just as quickly. For twelve more minutes she and Shane followed the same procedure, switching off, even when she knew there was little to no chance Henry was still with them.
“Reagan.”
She glanced up at Shane.
“It’s over, Reagan.”
She shook her head as Daisy prayed desperately for God to give Doc Reagan the strength and knowledge to make Henry live again. “Not yet. Not until the ambulance gets here.” The sirens echoed off the mountains and the lights flashed as the vehicle pulled up. Paramedics rushed over.
“No pulse or respirations for twelve minutes,” she told the first responders as they swarmed in with their equipment.
“Let’s get an IV—”
“No,” Daisy said quietly. “No more. My Henry’s had enough. He’s gone to be with our Lord and Savior.”
Reagan looked up at Daisy’s tear-streaked face. “Are you sure, Ms. Daisy?”
She nodded.
Reagan looked at her watch. “Time of death: four eighteen.”
Daisy sobbed quietly while Jenny held her close with one arm as the paramedics put Henry on the stretcher and covered him with a white sheet.
Reagan stood on shaky legs, walking over to the woman. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Daisy.”
“He was doin’ better, Doc Reagan. He wanted to go to the market. When we was gettin’ back in the truck he said he wasn’t feelin’ so good and slumped over.”
She took Daisy’s hand, pressing it to her cheek. “His heart was very weak. Will you come into the cabin? We can call your family.”
She shook her head. “I’m goin’ to follow the ambulance to the hospital. I’ll have my children meet me there.”
“Would you like me to come with you?”
Daisy wiped her eyes. “I think that might be nice.”
“Let me get my purse. Why don’t you let me drive? We can take the SUV.”
“That would be fine.”
“Okay.” She kissed the woman’s cheek.
Shane followed her into the house. “I’ll pack up the girls and we’ll meet you at the hospital.”
She shook her head. “This is something I should do on my own. Jenny and Faith will be in the way.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be going off by yourself.”
She faced him. “Shane, the poor woman just watched her husband die. I’ll be with her until her family arrives.”
“Which is what I’m worried about. Henry’s family hasn’t exactly been nice.”
“I’m the least of their worries at this point.”
“I want you to call me on your way home.”
She looked at the gorgeous man with concern radiating in his eyes, wanting nothing more than to stop time so she could step into his arms and let him soothe away her raw grief. Because she needed him, she took another mental step back. “I might be late.”
“Call me anyway.” He took off his hoodie and settled it around her shoulders.
“Thanks.” She grabbed her purse, putting her phone in the front pocket. “I’ll be fine.”
He snagged her hand. “Doc.”
She pulled away. “I need to go. I need to make sure Daisy agrees to an autopsy so she receives the money she’s entitled to.” She held his unreadable gaze, then hurried out the door, kissing Jenny’s cheek, then Faith’s before she got in the Pajero. As she drove away, she breathed in Shane’s scent wafting from his jacket.
~~~~
Shane walked to the window, looking out into the dark toward the driveway, as he’d done several times over the last two hours. Reagan had been gone since the ambulance rolled away sometime after four thirty. It was well after nine, and she had yet to make contact or answer the message he left on her phone.
He glanced at his watch, steaming out a breath as he reached for his cell phone, shoving it away again when headlights cut across the windows. Moments later Reagan walked inside still wearing his jacket. Clenching his jaw, he leaned against the wall, jamming his hands in his pockets. “You didn’t call me.”
She toed off one shoe, then the other.
“I said you didn’t call me.”
“Yeah, I heard you the first time.” She set down her purse, sighing wearily, closing her eyes for the briefest of moments before opening them again to meet his gaze. “What?”
“If you’re going to be heading off on your own, I need to know what’s going on. I need details.”
“You had them. I was with Daisy.” She walked toward the hallway.
He blocked her path. “I asked you to call on your way home.”
“If I thought there was a need, I would have.”
She was exhausted, her eyes troubled and sad. He wanted her to talk to him the way she usually did. The fact that she was doing her best to avoid him pissed him off. “Look, Doc, our jobs work pretty much the same way. Preventing problems before they begin is a hell of a lot easier than trying to fix them later. Next time I ask you to call, do it.”
Her eyes widened then narrowed. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
Shaking her head, she huffed out a breath as she pressed her fingers to her temples. “You know what? I’m not doing this. I’m tired. I’m going to bed.” She attempted to skirt around him.
He blocked her way again. “What’s going on with you? I thought we fixed things.”
“My patient passed away this afternoon. I’ve been with his grieving widow and family for much of the evening. Believe it or not, our roll in the sheet
s didn’t really cross my mind.” She walked away. “And there was nothing to fix,” she tossed over her shoulder. “I made my thoughts on our situation perfectly clear.”
If she thought he was going to let her walk away after that, she was foolishly mistaken. “Hold up.”
She moved faster, fanning the flames of his anger.
“Wait, dammit.”
She whirled. “What? What do you want from me, Shane?”
“I want to know why you’ve checked out on me.”
“Checked out on you? I didn’t check out on you.”
“Bullshit. Thirty seconds after I came in you, you were ready to toss back the covers and make your way to your own bed.”
She let loose a humorless laugh. “Oh, I get it. This is about your ego. Am I supposed to be falling all over you?”
“Don’t go there. You know that’s not what—”
“You keep talking about the way we are when we’re together, about connections, but what the hell good do they do us, Shane? You’re leaving. By this time next week you won’t even be here anymore. We had sex. Big deal. Nothing’s changed.” She shoved past him. “Absolutely nothing’s changed.” She slammed her door and twisted the lock in place.
He walked to her door, resting his head on the wood, knowing as much as she did that everything had changed.
Chapter Twenty-two
Shane walked down the hall, freshly showered and shaved, wearing jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt. He sniffed the air as he got closer to the kitchen, recognizing the scent of the bran muffins Reagan ate almost every morning. If he was lucky, he would catch her before she headed out for the day.
He quickened his pace, certain he was about to miss her, and stopped in the common room, surprised to see her sitting at the table with a cup of tea in her hand, reading some medical magazine. She paused with the mug halfway to her lips and set it back down as their eyes met.
“Hey.” He tried a small smile.
“Hey.” She closed her magazine.
He shoved is hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels in the uncomfortable quiet. “I was—”
“I have stuff to do,” she mumbled as she gained her feet and grabbed her laptop case leaning against her chair.
“Reagan—”
“Later.” She walked up the stairs to the loft and disappeared.
“Great.” Sighing, he moved to the coffeepot for his morning cup, set down the pot, and shook his head, regretting last night’s argument as much now as he did then. Their “conversation” hadn’t exactly gone as planned, so today he would have to try again. Reagan had been wrong about many of the things she’d said, but on one point she’d been perfectly right: He was leaving.
She’d assured him their relationship hadn’t changed, but they both knew their night together had intensified an already strong bond, whether she wanted to admit it or not. But he was heading back to LA in just a few days, which made their complicated situation nearly impossible. When it came down to it, there were few plausible solutions where he and Reagan were concerned, short of Reagan ditching the clinic and abandoning Jenny and Faith, which would never happen, or him giving up his job and staying here in The Gap, which was just as ludicrous. At the end of the day, he and Reagan didn’t work as a couple. Their careers pulled them in different directions, keeping them a continent apart.
He pressed his hands to the counter, clenching his jaw. Despite the obstacles standing in their way, he didn’t know how he was going to let her go. When he and Doc first met, he’d hoped to be able to call her a friend by the time he left, but he and Reagan were so much more.
Steaming out a breath, he poured his coffee and reached for his phone as it started ringing. He frowned at Ethan’s number on his screen, noting the time. It was barely seven in Los Angeles. “Hello?”
“Hey, Shane. It’s Ethan.”
“What’s up?”
“We have some problems in Madrid. I’m pulling you from Kentucky. I need you back here tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Chase is flying out this afternoon. He’ll meet you at the airport in the morning before your flight.”
He shoved a hand through his hair as he glanced from Faith’s basket of toys to Jenny’s schoolbooks scattered across the coffee table to Reagan’s half-empty teacup she’d abandoned. “I wasn’t planning on heading out early. There’s no way around this?”
“Not really. Cally decided she wants to throw in a couple more concert stops. Jackson’s on his way overseas right now to check out the venues. Her management team is releasing the dates today.”
He jammed his hand through his hair again. “Well fuck, man.”
“I thought you’d be happy about this.”
A couple of days after he’d arrived in Black Bear Gap he would have jumped at the chance to make a quick exit, but that was before Reagan, Jenny, and Faith walked into his life. “I guess I just wasn’t expecting it. What time’s my flight?”
“Ten fifteen.”
What the hell was he supposed to do? He couldn’t exactly say no. This was how his job worked—here today, gone tomorrow. He rubbed at the back of his neck. “Okay. I’ll stop by the office when I get back.”
“Chase will call when he lands in Lexington. You guys can figure out how you want to handle things with Reagan and her kids.”
Her kids. But Jenny and Faith weren’t just Reagan’s. Somewhere along the way he and the woman upstairs had become parents to a sixteen-year-old girl and her infant daughter. “I’ll wait for his call.” He hung up and closed his eyes, loathing the idea of leaving.
“Shane?”
He turned as Jenny walked his way. “Yeah.”
“Did Reagan go to the clinic already?”
“No. She’s in the study.”
“Okay, I—” She frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“I uh, I’m leaving tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Jenny gaped. “I thought you were stayin’ until Thursday.”
He sighed. “Change of plans.”
Her eyes watered, and she blinked. “Are you leavin’ ‘cause you and Reagan are fightin’?”
“No.”
“She had a long day yesterday.” She swallowed when her voice shook. “It’s gotta be hard watchin’ someone die no matter how hard you try to save them.”
“Jenny.” He rested his hand on her shoulder. “I’m not leaving because of Reagan. I have to go to Madrid earlier than expected.”
“Oh.” She stepped back from his touch, crossing her arms. “I guess I’m probably never gonna see you again, huh?”
Her sad eyes tore at his heart. “Sure you will.” But he didn’t know when.
She shook her head. “I’ll be lucky if I actually get out of The Gap. I don’t think I’ll be headin’ to Los Angeles anytime soon.”
He closed the distance between them, settling his hands on both of her shoulders, looking into her eyes. “I’ll see you again, Jenny.”
Doubt clouded her eyes, but she nodded. “I should probably get some studyin’ in before Faith wakes up. She didn’t sleep good last night.”
“I’m going to talk to Reagan.”
“I’m guessin’ she won’t be seein’ you again either.”
“Jenny—”
“I have to study.” She hurried off, leaving him to stare after her.
“Son of a bitch.” This wasn’t how he wanted to say goodbye. He was supposed to have more time to iron things out with Reagan and make sure Jenny and Faith were settled. Rolling his tense neck, he walked upstairs where Reagan sat curled up on the couch with her laptop in her lap. She was so pretty in her yoga pants and a sweatshirt with her hair pulled up in a ponytail “Doc.”
She looked his way, her eyes shadowed and guarded. “This isn’t a good time.”
“I need to talk to you.”
She shook her head. “Not now.”
“I have to—”
The clinic line rang. “Hold on.” She picked up. “Black Bear
Gap Clinic, this is Doctor—” She frowned. “What’s wrong?” Her eyes grew wide as she stood. “What?” She pressed her fingers to her temple as she turned away. “I’m so sorry, Daisy.” She moved to the window, her hand tensing on the frame. “No, of course I didn’t. You and I agreed together that Mr. Henry should have an autopsy so you and your family can be compensated fairly, but as his spouse, you are the only person who can request cremation.” She rested her forehead against the glass. “I don’t want you to apologize. I’m going to come down to the house and we’re going to get this figured out. You’re welcome.” She hung up and turned, her shoulders looking more burdened than before.
“What’s going on?”
“There’ve been a few complications with Henry. I need to go see Daisy. I’ll be at her house. If my plans change I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks.”
She nodded and started passed him.
“Reagan.”
She glanced over her shoulder.
“When you get back we need to talk.”
She nodded and left him upstairs. Seconds later the door closed and the SUV started down the road.
“Dammit.” They were going to have to do better than this. They were running out of time.
~~~~
Reagan sat in the SUV, gripping the steering wheel as she stared at the cabin, trying to find the energy to get out of the driver’s seat and go inside. The last forty-eight hours had been unbearably draining, leaving her exhausted and mildly headachy. First Doctor Schlibenburg’s shocking death, then her night with Shane and the fallout after, and now Henry.
She sighed a weary breath, resting her forehead against the backs of her hands, still struggling to believe that the funeral home had cremated him. Somehow paperwork had gotten mixed up, and instead of performing the autopsy she’d ordered, Henry had been turned into ash before his wife and family had a chance to say their final goodbyes.
Shaking her head, she got out of the Pajero and grabbed the huge box addressed to Shane from the backseat. She slammed the door with her hip, riding a swift rush of anger. The coroner’s error not only robbed Daisy of her ability to grieve but also cost the widow the compensation she had a right to.