by Molly Evans
“Actually, I had a question for Dr. Montgomery about a new patient.” Emily spoke to Liz, but looked at Chase. Professional. Cool. Fine.
“Sure. What’s up?” He could do it, too. Really. He leaned back in the desk chair and raised his hands over his head, waiting for her to speak.
“I’ll catch you later,” Liz said, and moved away.
Emily filled him in on the background of the patient in question. “This is a twenty-five-year-old male who is accustomed to being in the outdoors, hunting, fishing and camping. He’s complaining of joint pain, fatigue, and general malaise. I’m going to put in a lab request for the usual workup, but I was wondering if we should test for Lyme disease as well.”
Chase frowned as he thought about the details of the case and processed the facts. Concise, important symptoms, and a little detective work to boot. Smart, beautiful and still sexy as hell. Dammit. “Is he running a fever?”
“On and off for a few weeks, since his last camping trip in western Maryland.” She didn’t face him but stood beside him, facing the computer. “He also noticed a classic bull’s-eye rash on his leg and got worried when it didn’t resolve right away.”
“That’s ground zero for Lyme exposure.” He nodded. “Go ahead and add the panel, but explain to him it’s a two-part test and it will be a week before we get results.”
“I will. Thank you, Doctor.” She nodded, keeping her eyes downcast as she walked away.
So it was going to be the cool doctor-nurse relationship between them. He could do that, too. He watched as she walked away. Her body had changed since back then. There was something different about the way she walked, more confident, more sure of herself, and her posture was definitely more upright. She actually appeared to be a little taller than her five-foot-five, petite frame, which had fit him perfectly. Now he’d have to reconsider that. Not that there was going to be an opportunity for her to fit to his body anymore. Ever.
An hour later she approached again. He was still in the same position at the computer console, having gotten no further in his documentation. “Can you see this patient now? The possible Lyme guy?”
“Sure. Are labs back?”
“Yes. Chest X-ray, too.”
“Let me have a look at them first.” He clicked a few times, certain he was following the right pathway to the test results, but there was no X-ray. “It’s not here. Are you sure you ordered the right tests on this patient?” Irritation crept into his voice, despite his desire to not react to her at all. “Being timely is important around here, Emily. We don’t sit around—”
“Yes. I’m sure. I printed them up if you’d like to look at them the old-fashioned way.” She gave a tight smile. “Might be easier for you.”
“No.” Focusing on the screen, he gave an irritated sigh, then clicked and clicked again, with no better results. “Dammit.”
With a sigh, Emily leaned over his shoulder and took the mouse from his right hand. “Let me see. Oh, you’ve got the wrong patient up, that’s all.” She masterfully clicked here and there and in seconds had the proper patient with the labs and X-ray reports side by side on the screen. “There you go. Easy.”
He cast a baleful eye at her and really wanted to feel irritated, but the fact was he hated this computer system and had refused to spend the time to learn it properly. As soon as he did that, it would be changed to something else, so why bother?
“Show-off.” The second he turned to glare at her he knew it was a mistake, making him grit his teeth again. The fragrance he’d never been able to get out of his mind filled his senses and images of her in his arms hit him like a ton of bricks. The memories came over him hard and fast. The body wash she loved to use in the shower, her long hair slicked back from her pretty face, the water sluicing down her body, over the curves of her breasts and hips. Jeez, his thoughts were inappropriate. So much for being a professional.
His gaze dropped to her mouth, as lush and full as he remembered it. The smile on her face froze as she met his gaze full on. Her pupils dilated, and he knew she was thinking the same thing. Would there be anything, any spark between them again? Could there be? Then she straightened and took a step back.
“Yes. Well. There they are, Doctor. I’ve used this system a few times at other hospitals. Pretty simple once you get to know it.” She dropped her gaze and blew out a quick breath.
“I see.” Clearly, she was not unaffected by his presence and not as cool as she pretended to be. But that was not his problem.
Nothing Emily Hoover did was his problem. Ever again.
CHAPTER THREE
THE SOUND OF raised voices generally got some attention, even in an ER full of chaos. This one was in relation to Emily’s last patient of the day, who had come in thirty minutes ago. A woman, in her midforties, had said she’d tripped over her cat and hit her cheek on a doorknob. Emily had seen plenty of trips and falls and doorknob injuries, but this was not one of them. The woman had warned Emily her husband was going to be making an intoxicated appearance. He stumbled his way through the automatic doors right on cue.
“I don’t care who you are—I’m going in there to see my wife.” The man was a belligerent one, not used to a woman who had her own power and didn’t care one whit about his. He was used to getting his way by bullying and it wasn’t working, which only made his color go from pink to a florid red.
“Sir, your wife doesn’t want to see you right now. You’re drunk and—”
“The hell you say.” Unable to stand up without swaying only added proof to her statement. Emily kept him in full view of the security camera so there would be plenty of evidence if needed later.
“I don’t say. She says, and what she says goes. Got it?” Emily stood her ground, facing the large man dressed in hunting camo. This wasn’t the first time she’d had to handle an upset family member, so she called on her years of ER experience to remain calm and keep the upper hand. She cast a glance at one of the staff members and nodded. It was a silent signal to notify Security they were needed in the ER immediately. Her job was to keep him distracted until they arrived.
“Get out of my way, bitch.” The man reached out to grab Emily by the shoulder, obviously intending to shove her out of the way.
Emily had good reflexes and jumped back so he couldn’t touch her, but Chase hurried over to her, putting himself between her and the drunk. The man was huge, and towered over Chase by a foot.
“Don’t touch her.” He spoke forcefully to the man and tried to calm his nerves at the sight of him reaching for Emily. “Don’t touch any of our staff, or you’ll be looking at assault charges.” Chase didn’t know if the words were penetrating the man’s whiskey-soaked brain cells but he had to try.
“Like I care.” He glared at Chase, but didn’t move to touch him.
“Sir, I said your wife doesn’t want to see you right now, and if you continue to resist, you’ll be hauled out of here by Security.” Emily spoke from beside Chase. She’d moved forward to stand beside him, providing a unified front with him. Other staff members eased closer. If the man lunged for Emily again, they could jump him without anyone getting hurt.
“You got no reason to keep me from my wife.” The man was sweating, his face was red and he stunk to high heaven.
“Actually, we can. You can’t be in here drunk. Security’s on the way, and they’re going to call the police to haul you off to jail.” Chase experienced significant satisfaction that the situation was going to end without incident. Having Emily assaulted in front of him would not have been good. Just thinking about it brought back all sorts of horrid images he’d buried. Or so he’d thought.
“What? You can’t have me arrested.” The man started toward Emily again and tried to kick her, but she avoided his inaccurate jabs. Chase held his hands out to the sides and jumped to block him from getting any closer.
Two muscled security team members, dressed in black, arrived and joined Chase. “We’ll take it from here.”
“He’s all yours. I have patients to wrap up before the end of shift,” Emily said, and stepped around the man, but he took a swipe at her and missed. Again. Nerves calming, Chase watched as Emily easily avoided the man’s giant hand and wondered what she’d been doing to gain such reflexes.
“You little bitch. I’m gonna get you for this.”
“Is that a threat? Are you threatening her?” Chase stepped forward, all amusement gone. “I think you’ve just threatened a staff member here. In front of witnesses and on security cameras. We’ll add that to the trespassing charges already on the list.”
“Oh, man.” He began to whine and snivel. “I just wanna see my wife.” Stomping his foot, he looked like a petulant toddler held between the security guards.
Chase approached and put his face as close to the drunk as was tolerable given the fumes emanating off him. Fortunately, it was a no-smoking hospital or they could have gone up in flames. “I believe you’re the reason she’s in the ER in the first place, are you not?”
Pause. “Yes.”
“Did you drive here?” Chase asked.
“If it’s any of your business, yes.” He tried to spit at Chase, who moved deftly out of range.
“Fellows, let the police know to add impaired driving to the list.”
“Got it.” They hauled the man out of the ER to await the police.
“Are you okay? Really?” Despite himself, Chase moved toward Emily, concerned that the threat might trigger memories of her assault again, the way they were starting to in him. No matter what he felt for her now, he didn’t want to see her hurt by anyone. This time he’d been able to help out, even though it had been a small effort.
“Nah, I’m good. I have new ninja reflexes. He didn’t even get close.” Demonstrating her technique, she jumped around in front of him looking quite like a ninja in scrubs.
She gave that grin again and his heart now seemed to have no immunity against it. “I see.” He cleared his throat and clamped down his anxiety for her safety.
That reflex hadn’t gone away just because they weren’t a couple anymore. Of course, he probably would have reacted the same no matter what staff member had been involved in the kerfuffle. At least, that was what he told himself.
Turning away from the scene, Emily rolled her shoulders a few times then picked up her clipboard. “Okay. Dr. Montgomery, can you see this patient now?”
“Uh, sure.” He stepped closer, more comfortable with the doctor-nurse role. “Is this the wife?”
“Yes. Superficially, she looks roughed up a bit, nothing serious, other than needing to get away from her husband.” Emily shook her head. “Can’t say I blame her.”
“You think he beat her up?” Anger flashed hot and fast inside him. Women and children were precious, and were to be protected, not used as punching bags by drunken men who couldn’t control their tempers.
“She won’t cop to it, says she tripped, fell into a door. It’s mostly the face. Black eye on the right, swollen shut, cheek bruised and swollen. Not sure if it’s fractured, but it won’t hurt to have an X-ray of it.”
He followed her without comment to the patient room and when Emily held the curtain back, Chase’s stomach clenched. The image of the woman before him sickened him. She was in her midforties. Her face was so swollen she looked as if she had been in a car accident and it instantly reminded him of the night he’d seen Emily in a similar condition. Trying to remain in that professional space, he took a quick breath and stepped close to the gurney. Emily was right. He didn’t even need the X-rays to know she’d been beaten up. In their line of work they’d become unfortunate experts on the topic.
“Mrs. Billings? I’m Dr. Montgomery. Nurse Hoover has made some recommendations for your treatment, and I’m inclined to agree with her.” He trusted her nursing experience, if nothing else.
“Like what?” She turned a defeated gaze to him. The sound of her voice was slow and thick. She’d probably bitten her tongue during the assault.
“Facial X-rays, possibly a CAT scan of your head to look for fractures in the sinuses and the left side of your face.” He moved closer, and she jumped. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” More carefully, he approached her and focused on keeping everything slow, his voice soft. She’d obviously been conditioned to watch out for any sudden movements her husband made.
“Go ahead.” She closed her eyes, as if trying to shut out the world. “I don’t care.”
“Are you in pain?”
She nodded and tears began to overflow. “Don’t be nice to me, Doc. I can’t take it.” She sniffed. “I don’t know what it’s like.”
“Then I’ll try harder to be mean,” he said, and received a crooked smile.
“Thanks.”
He looked at Emily, who looked pale and a little wide-eyed. “I’ll get right on those orders, Doctor.” Then she turned back to the patient and the moment was gone, if it had been there at all. Maybe he’d only imagined the haunted look on her face as she’d watched her patient.
Avoiding Chase and the look on his face was her goal. Seeing this woman had brought back memories for both of them that neither of them cared to have. Caring for this woman was her job, and she would do it well, but making eye contact with Chase would be her undoing. She had to avoid it. Like her patient, she couldn’t deal with his compassion for her pain. What she needed to do was keep busy and focused on her work. The rest would eventually go away. It always did. Situations like this brought everything back to slam her right in the gut when she wasn’t looking.
Trying to stop the trembling in her hands, she prepared the lab tubes and labeled them appropriately, but her mind was elsewhere.
Night, being alone in the dark, was the toughest. Night was when the shadows darkened in her mind and the whispers of her attacker infiltrated her barriers. Bitch. I’m gonna get you, bitch. Sometimes all it took was hearing that word bitch to send her all the way back to that dark awful night.
She applied the tourniquet to Mrs. Billings’s arm and inserted the needle into the vein. Emily swallowed hard against the sudden dryness in her mouth. She filled each tube the way she was supposed to and applied a small dressing to the tiny puncture site of the left arm. Focused. Clinical.
Emily placed the tubes filled with blood for testing into a zippered lab bag for transport. After setting them in the lab pick-up rack, she realized her heart hadn’t settled down and the tightness in her chest hadn’t eased. Was it Chase? Was it the husband? Was it this patient? Maybe all of it combined in such a short time worked together to rob her of her strength.
Making her way to the supply room, she checked to make sure she was alone then removed her lab coat, placed a towel on the floor, sat cross-legged on it and closed her eyes.
There was a place she liked to go mentally when stressed and it was a place from her past where she’d been happy, walking alone on the sand at Virginia Beach, feeling the warmth of the sun on her skin, the salt on the breeze and the coarse sand on her feet.
This was the place where she let go of stress, released it to the ocean waves and found some peace.
Until Chase walked into the supply room.
“What are you doing?” He stopped short just inside the doorway.
Startled, she opened her eyes. The serenity that had been on her face vanished and it was his fault. Dammit. She’d looked so peaceful for a second, and he’d ruined it.
“I was meditating.” Sh
e blinked a few times, as if coming back to herself from wherever she had been.
“Now? In the middle of the shift?”
“Yes. I’m entitled to breaks. Several, in fact, over the course of twelve hours. What I do with them is my business.” Closing her eyes again, she tried to ignore him, but it was impossible.
“Yes, that’s true.” He squatted down beside her, too close for her senses. “You never used to meditate.” Obvious irritation showed in the frown between her delicate eyebrows and the downward turn of her mouth. Not that he blamed her.
“I never used to do a lot of things.” She looked up at him, held his gaze, almost challenging him. “I’ve acquired some new skills.”
“Like your new ninja reflexes? Are you taking karate or something?” He’d never seen her move so fast. That had impressed him.
“Not karate. If I had used karate I’d have taken out his knee first, but you got in front of me.”
“Judo?” He really didn’t know about martial arts and had just exhausted his knowledge.
“Hardly. In judo, I would have—”
“Whatever. Clearly, you’re an expert now.” And he’d had no clue.
“No. Just determined.” There was an aura of steel about her now. And, yes, determination showed in her eyes. That was the difference he’d been sensing in her.
“To what?” He really wanted to know the answer to that. Genuine curiosity had been roused in him and for the first time today he could set aside the pain.
Without answering the question, she unfolded her legs and stood. “Did you come in here for something or just to annoy me?”
“I saw you come in here and after the day’s events I thought you looked a little off.” That was okay. Looking after a coworker?
“Off? No. I’m fine.” Turning away from him, she began to scan the shelves as if looking for something. “Gauze, suture materials, IV supplies over here. Good to know.” She took a step to the next shelving unit. “GI supplies over here—oh, look, enemas. Never know when you need to get rid of some—”