Mac pulled into the hospital car park and walked in the main entrance. She got directions to the main conference room and headed on up to begin the meetings. One by one the heads of the various sections rolled into the meeting room, including Sarah. Mac and Sarah only had time to smile and nod at each other across the room before everyone was present and the meeting got under way. Mac started off with a brief presentation and slide show of what she hoped to achieve with their help and how she proposed going about it. She had handouts for each section, outlining the things that she particularly wanted to check in their areas, and then she invited comments, questions, and suggestions for things that they would like to see covered in the inspections.
The meeting went smoothly, with positive exchanges of banter and ideas, finishing up a bit before eleven, so she was running a bit ahead of her schedule. She looked at her watch. She had time for a quick bathroom break before the inspections started.
Mac was standing in front of the mirror straightening her collar and tie when the door opened and Sarah walked in. Was Sarah following her?
Sarah casually leaned on the wall. “That was a nice presentation.”
Mac washed her hands and dried them on a piece of paper towel. She blew out a nervous big breath. “Thanks. I was chewing on butterflies for the first little while. I wasn’t sure how it would go. But I think it went okay.” Mac was worrying the towel.
Sarah smiled. “You might have been nervous, but you looked like a natural.”
Mac smiled shyly at the compliment. “Thank you.”
“I was impressed how you showed them what you hoped to achieve with their help and then asked them for ideas. You made them feel involved. Usually it’s a dry process and just something we all have to stomach for the sake of a workplace health and safety accreditation check.”
Mac nodded and filed that information away.
Sarah came over and washed her hands next to Mac and leaned sideways to offer a stage whisper. “Besides, you’re much nicer than the other fella we usually have. He’s okay, but a bit old fashioned and dry, and not nearly so good looking.”
Mac didn’t need to look up and see her face in the mirror to know that she was blushing. She could feel the heat rising up her throat, to pool and settle in her cheeks.
Sarah laughed. “You still okay for coffee afterwards?”
“Sure.” Mac looked at her watch. “Oops, I’d better get a wriggle on. I’ll see you about four?”
Sarah winked at her. “Four it is. Good luck.”
“Thanks. You have a great morning.”
“Okay, bye then.”
The mornings inspections went well. Mac found a couple of things that could be done a little differently and used the opportunity to talk over the options with the various heads. She had one or two things she needed to follow up and promised to bring back some more information when she came back the following week for the first of the staff fire and safety education sessions.
She managed to grab a quick bite to eat from the cafeteria and kept going on through the sections until at last she reached Emergency at two minutes before four. Sarah was busy with a patient, so Mac told the nurse on duty that she would start outside with the ambulance bays and progress through to the waiting room. Outside, Mac noticed one of the exit night lights had been smashed, so she made a note to put it in her report. She might even be able to mention it to the maintenance staff tomorrow, if they didn’t already know about it, and it could be easily fixed and sorted. It would look good on paper if they could get it fixed; it would show that the hospital was alert and responsive to safety changes and measures. Mac figured it never hurt to rack up brownie points when it came to red tape.
The waiting room checked out as fine and the nurses’ station similarly had no issues. Sarah was still busy, so Mac completed her other inspections and returned to the waiting room…to wait. It was now nearly five and Sarah was still with her patient. Mac passed the time by grabbing a water from the drinks machine, writing up some notes, and marking maps where points of interest had been identified. Mac heard the heavy plastic doors swing open. Lifting her head from her notes, she watched as a bed with a number of staff and frightened-looking parents came through. On the bed was a small girl, aged around four or five, flushed in the face and twitching uncontrollably. She was on a ventilator and had IV tubes and monitors galore surrounding her tiny body. Sarah pointed the team to the lift. “I’ll be up in a minute.”
Sarah broke away and came over to sit next to Mac. “Hey, sorry I’m late.”
Mac smiled gently. “That’s okay. Looks like a tough day at the office.”
Sarah closed her eyes briefly and nodded. “Little girl with febrile convulsions. There’s an infection of some sort, but we’re struggling to pin point it at the minute. We’re just taking her up now to the paeds ICU. I’ll probably be about another hour. Is that too late? I can do it tomorrow if that’s easier.”
Mac looked at Sarah. She looked tired and strained around the eyes. “I can wait. Tell you what—how about I get one of the staff to show me in there. I’ll take some notes and I can run it past you when you’re finished, so then you can knock off and go home. You look beat.”
“You sure that’s okay?”
“That’s fine. You go on up and I’ll see you when you’re done.”
Sarah stood up, leaned over, and kissed Mac on the cheek. “Thanks, Mac.” Sarah turned and quickly headed over to the stairwell, taking them two at a time and swiftly disappearing.
Mac realized she was sitting there with her mouth open and quickly shut her mouth, suddenly self-conscious, turning her head to see if anyone was looking. She was alone and was able to take a few minutes to settle herself. Holy smokes. She sure knows how to rattle my chain.
Mac walked over to the nurses’ station to see if someone was free to help her finish the last bit of her inspections. She was introduced to Don, who was second in charge behind Sarah, and he took Mac through the last couple of rooms. Half an hour later, she was done. Mac knew of a great mobile café van service that she sometimes used when she and the crew were on a late call-out. She phoned in an order of a dozen coffees and a mixed platter of chocolates, doughnuts, and sandwiches to be delivered to the ambulance bay. She asked them to put it on her tab.
Mac had seen the faces of the hospital staff as the little girl was wheeled through. Even though they were professionals and saw this stuff all the time, Mac figured that they were probably like fireys—two things they hated the most were burns and sick or injured kids. Mac knew the coffee and food weren’t much, but it might act as a bit of a pleasant distraction.
One by one, the staff who went upstairs came down and resumed their normal duties. Forty minutes later Mac’s phone went off. It was the mobile food van at the ambulance bay door. Mac went over to the nurses’ station.
The nurse on duty looked up. “Can I help you?”
“Can I ask a quick favour?”
The nurse looked at Mac and must have figured she was okay. “Sure, shoot.”
“Can I leave my notes here at the desk for a minute and borrow that trolley over near the door? I’ll be two minutes—I just need to collect something from the ambulance bay and bring it in.”
The nurse shrugged her shoulders and held out her hands for the reports. “Sure, go right ahead.”
Mac threw her a smile. “Thanks.” She grabbed the trolley and headed to the bay.
Mario, the van’s owner, greeted her. He hugged her and kissed her on both cheeks. “Miss Mac—look at you, sharp uniform. You’re so lucky I’m a happily married man.”
Mac laughed and gave him a return hug. “Hey, you’re lucky you are a happily married man, because Theresa might kill you if she heard you talking like that. How have you been? And how is Theresa after her hip operation?”
“All good, all good. I am too fit and too stupid to fall over, which is just as well, huh? Theresa is good and almost back to her old self again. Soon, she’ll be as good as new
.”
“That’s great news.”
Together they loaded the trolley up.
“I’ve put in some of those pastries you like.”
“You spoil me, Mario, thank you so much.”
“You are very welcome. Have a good night, my dear.”
She kissed Mario on the cheek. “You too, and give my love to Theresa.”
“I will do that. Ciao, Mac.”
“Ciao, Mario.”
Mac wheeled the trolley into the bay and through to the staff area. The nurses saw her first and their eyes lit up.
“Who’s that for?” the nurse watching Mac’s notes asked.
Mac pushed the trolley into the staff area and started to unload the goodies. “It looks like you guys have had a tough day of it and I thought you might like a pick-me-up.”
One of the male nurses came over. “Are you serious?”
Mac nodded and smiled. With a big grin, he strode over to Mac and planted a big wet kiss right on the side of her face before grabbing a handful of the pastries, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Mac laughed.
Mario had in fact outdone himself and had provided far more coffees and edibles than Mac had ordered. Mac also knew he wouldn’t charge her any extra for them, as Mac was one of his favourite customers. She quickly rescued two coffees, a couple of chocolates, and some of Mario’s fabulous pastries and put them aside in a bag.
Word got around about the food pretty quickly, and staff came and went at a brisk pace. Mac turned to see Sarah, arms folded, leaning on the doorjamb of the staff room. “I wondered where my staff had disappeared to.”
A couple of stragglers grabbed their coffees and what was left of the goodies, muttered, “Sorry, boss,” and scuttled sheepishly out of the staff room and back to work.
“I heard what you did. That was really nice of you. Thank you.”
Mac shrugged her shoulders. “You all looked like it had been a tough day. Food and coffee doesn’t change that, but sometimes it makes for a nice reprieve.”
“It does indeed.”
Mac held up the coffees and a bag. “I saved you some. Coffee should still be hot if you’re interested.”
Sarah pushed herself off the door frame and came to sit next to Mac on the couch. “I’d love some, thanks.”
Both sat and just enjoyed the coffee and pastries.
“How’s the little girl doing?”
Sarah rubbed at tired eyes. “She’s holding her own at the minute. We might know a bit more tomorrow when some more test results come back.”
Mac nodded.
“How did you go with the inspections? I’m really sorry that I got tied up.”
“That’s no drama. I’ve finished them. Don showed me round the last part while you were upstairs. I’ve written some notes up. Basically it all went well. There’s a couple of things we can either fix or replace, but essentially it’s all good.”
Sarah nodded. “That’s good to hear.”
Mac could see Sarah fading. “What time do you get off tonight?”
Sarah looked at her watch. “I was officially off three hours ago.”
Mac stood up and took Sarah’s empty coffee cup and napkin. “Why don’t we meet up tomorrow for a coffee, and we can go through the report then?”
Sarah looked up. “Would you mind? I’m really sorry, but I don’t think I would take much of it in if we did it tonight, to be honest.”
“That’s fine. We’ll rain check for tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Mac. Thanks for waiting and for the treats. That was really lovely.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll push off and see you tomorrow, then.”
“See you tomorrow.”
*
Sarah went to her office, checked her mail, and wrote up some notes on the cases from the day. She also caught up with Don on the day’s happenings and the inspections. There was nothing more Sarah could do other than to go home.
As she drove, she reflected on the day. She ran over the cases in her head, but mostly she just thought about Mac. She thought how gorgeous she looked in her tailored outfit in front of everyone. Mac had said that she was nervous, but Sarah had been honest when she’d told Mac she was a natural. Sarah also hadn’t been lying when she’d hinted that part of the reason the mostly male room was mesmerized was because Mac was gorgeous to look at. The morning’s session was particularly good—Sarah had a chance to really look at Mac, without being caught staring. Sarah was the first to admit, she liked what she saw.
Mac wasn’t overly tall, but she was beautifully proportioned. She had great shoulders and graceful arms that hinted at their tone, even through her dress coat. When Mac took her coat off halfway through the presentation, Sarah could have sworn the temperature in the room rose a couple of degrees. Mac’s navy slacks were beautifully cut and sat perfectly snug, accentuating Mac’s curves and toned bottom and legs. Mac moved with the fluid confidence of someone who was confident in their own skin. She made a point of working the room with her eyes as she addressed each and every person. There was no escaping her intense blue gaze. At one point, when Mac looked directly at her, Sarah broke out in goosebumps. Sarah smiled to herself. Mac could have given her talk in Swahili and she still would have held the attention of the room.
When Sarah caught up with Colleen after the presentation, Colleen had noticed Sarah staring at Mac and teased her without mercy. Colleen pointed at Mac with her chin. “Isn’t that the firefighter from last week who brought the pregnant woman in from the MVA?”
Sarah was watching Mac as people came up to ask her questions. She nodded. “Uh-huh.”
She’d realized she had been staring at Mac and turned back to Colleen, only to see her smiling at her. Sarah frowned “What?”
Colleen chuckled quietly. “You do realize you’re staring at her, don’t you?”
“Don’t be absurd. I’m just interested in what she was saying.”
“Uh-huh, sure you are.”
“Really.” Sarah looked at Colleen and knew she was not convincing.
Colleen was shaking her head at her. “Are you just going to window-shop, or are you going to ask her out?”
“What? No! Colleen, I hardly know her.”
“Well then, ask her out and get to know her, Sare. When was the last time you lived a little, huh? You know what they say, all work and no play makes for a dull doctor.”
Colleen was right. Mac fascinated her. A lot. She really did want to know more about Mac. “We’re getting together for coffee later this afternoon, after the inspections.”
“Well, that’s a good start.”
Sarah had just nodded.
Pulling into her driveway, Sarah turned off the engine, then took a moment to just sit in the darkness of the car. She and Mac had managed a brief coffee, but it didn’t work out the way Sarah had planned. Still, there was always tomorrow, and on that note, Sarah pushed herself out of the car and headed inside.
Chapter Twelve
Mac had the plans and notes ready for the second day’s set of inspections at the hospital.
She started with the kitchen, followed by the morgue, then onto pathology, ending with the laundry. Despite her initial misgivings when the chief gave her the job of undertaking inspections, Mac found each section fascinating, with the staff who were showing Mac around only too happy to explain how things worked and how the various facility services fit into the overall scheme of things, helping to keep the hospital running smoothly.
It was getting on lunchtime and Mac’s next meeting was in an hour’s time with the facilities maintenance section. This meeting would take a couple of hours, so Mac reasoned it would be best to grab a bite to eat while she could.
Mac had no sooner sat down at a table in the cafeteria when she heard a throat being cleared.
“Mind if I join you?”
Mac looked up into Sarah’s smiling face. Mac mirrored the smile and extended her arm to the seat opposite her. “Please.”
Sarah opened her salad c
ontainer. “How’s your morning been?”
Mac toyed with her yoghurt. “Really good. Most things went pretty smoothly. Everybody’s been really helpful and receptive. I’ve learned heaps and really enjoyed it. How about yours?”
“Well, touch wood, it’s been fairly uneventful so far, which has been good. Means I can catch up on some much-neglected paperwork.”
“Have you heard how that little girl is, from yesterday?”
Sarah shook her head. “They’re still doing tests. They’ve managed to get her temperature down and the seizures have eased off, but they’re still struggling to identify the cause.”
They both ate in silence for a while. Sarah finished her salad and pushed the container to the side. “I want to thank you again for the weekend and for yesterday’s feeding of the staff. It seems you have a fan club developing.”
Mac, who was sipping a juice, sputtered when she miscued the swallow.
Sarah laughed and handed her a napkin. “My staff want to know if we can offer you a job, and Thomas hasn’t stopped talking about the animals and the concrete path from the weekend. He wants to know if you’re building more paths next weekend.”
Mac grinned. “I’m pleased that Thomas had a good time. He seems like a nice kid.”
“He is. It’s funny, Thomas is normally quite shy, but on the weekend, it was like he had known you all forever. It was wonderful.”
“I’m glad.” Mac stirred her juice with her straw.
“How long have you been signing?”
Mac stopped stirring. She knew Sarah was watching her face and could probably read the mix of emotions roiling just below the surface.
Sarah waited.
Mac looked down at her juice and took a deep breath. “My brother David was born deaf. Once we had it confirmed, we all learned how to sign. I think I was four when I started.” She started stirring again.
“Since you were four? Wow. That’s impressive. How many in your family?”
“Just the four of us, Mum, Dad, David, and me.”
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