Irregular Heartbeat

by Chris Zett

  “No, she’s handling it all on her own.” Courtney grimaced. “She’s taken over and is giving all the orders.”

  Emily noted the hint of accusation. Was Courtney complaining about Diana rescuing her patient or about doing it without supervision? “And why are you here instead of helping her?”

  “You needed to know.”

  From whining to defensive in five seconds. Courtney needed to grow up. Emily refrained from commenting on it as they had reached the treatment room. This wasn’t the right time.

  A quick scan of the scene provided Emily with almost everything she needed to know. No chaos, only busy and efficient movement of the team.

  A couple of nurses administered medication and cleaned up the mess of sterile packages that littered the room, and the respiratory assistant adjusted some settings. The patient was intubated and connected to the respirator; a central line was delivering fluids, and the monitor displayed marginally stable parameters. His massively swollen legs with coarse, red skin suggested chronic heart failure, probably with an acute pulmonary edema as a cause for his problems. Courtney should have told her that instead of saying he was short of breath.

  Diana worked at the computer terminal at the far wall, typing her notes. As the tech pushed the portable X-ray machine past her into the next room, Diana said something that made him chuckle.

  The tension drained from Emily, and she had to lean against the doorway. Diana had everything under control, and she could hang back and wait to see if she would be needed.

  “What have you got?” The question came from the Dr. Riley, the cardiologist. She squeezed past Emily, forcing her to step aside to make room for her baby bump. Wow, she really had grown over the last couple of weeks and looked ready to burst anytime soon.

  Diana quickly recited the patient’s history, vital signs, and her working diagnosis. She handed her the EKG and answered the few questions Dr. Riley fired at her.

  Last week Emily would have stormed into the room and asked the same questions. The urge to take over itched like a barely healed scratch, but she made a conscious effort to stay on the fringe of the scene.

  “I give a rat’s ass about your fucking opinion! I want plain facts, and I want them now.” Dr. Riley had never been known for patience, and the pregnancy had obviously not calmed her down.

  Emily stepped forward to intervene. Nobody talked to her residents like that.

  Neither Diana nor Dr. Riley seemed to notice her, staring at each other.

  Diana didn’t let the cardiologist’s temper faze her. She replied without even raising her voice so that Emily didn’t get her answer. Whatever it was, it seemed to placate Dr. Riley, who abruptly turned and stomped off the way she’d come. As she passed Emily, she mumbled, “Stupid resident,” but a tiny smile played around her lips.

  The queasiness from before was replaced by a warmth spreading in her middle. Emily admired Diana for de-escalating the situation. No one who observed her today would think of a rebellious rock star. Her gaze tracked Diana’s hands as she completed her notes. The strength she had developed in years of drumming was obvious in the subtle play of muscles and tendons under her skin.

  “Shouldn’t she ask you first?” Courtney’s question startled Emily, and she tore her gaze from Diana.

  “She’s done everything right. She’s not a first-year anymore; she knows when to call for help.” Unlike you. The need to defend Diana confused Emily. Courtney was obviously jealous and tried to subtly direct her to criticize Diana. This maneuvering for a better position in the virtual ranking of her residents irked her. Weren’t they supposed to stick together? “Don’t you have other patients?”

  “But he’s one of mine. Shouldn’t I stay here?” There was the whining again.

  “Dr. Petrell had to do your job, and you’ve decided to run to tell me instead of staying, helping, and learning. That makes him her patient. The next time you need me to come, call or send a nurse.” Emily decided to end the conversation before she told her resident what she really thought: Courtney needed to get her game together, fast, or she wouldn’t be able to finish her residency.

  With a pointed look at Courtney, Emily called into the room: “Diana, good job! I could see that you’ve had everything under control here.”

  Diana jerked her head around, wide-eyed. Was she surprised at the compliment, or hadn’t she been aware of Emily‘s presence? Emily couldn’t tell. But the radiant smile Diana sent her way caused an answering rising of her own lips and warmth spreading from her stomach.

  Who would’ve thought that complimenting someone evoked such a good feeling? When Diana continued to smile, the warmth threatened to turn into a blush, and Emily hastened to leave before anyone could pick up on it. She needed to stop this ridiculousness before it got out of hand. Diana was her resident, not the drummer at the beach.

  The sour stench of urine, vomit, and unwashed human mixed with something sweet wafted past the drawn curtains of the exam bay. Emily struggled to keep her expression professional and took shallow breaths through her mouth.

  Going by the greenish tinge of her complexion, Diana had the same problem. “I found the reason for her unconsciousness. She’s septic, and the most likely cause are the multiple scratches and bites all over her body. She has some really nasty infected ones. They look like animal bites, maybe cats. The worst is on her left breast.” She shook her head and shuddered. “I don’t even want to know how an animal got there. I hope we can save the breast. Should I call regular surgery or plastics?”

  Emily had a suspicion who that patient was, and a quick look behind the curtain confirmed it. “Call surgery. Just tell them Cat-Cat’s here. They already know her.”

  “Cat-Cat?” Diana raised her eyebrows.

  “She’s a regular. Lives on the street and has half a dozen cats. She sometimes sleeps with them underneath her clothes, whether the cats want to or not. But she’s harmless.”

  “Are you making fun of me? I can’t tell right now.” The corners of Diana’s mouth twitched.

  Emily laughed and shook her head. “No, seriously, she’s known here.”

  “Okay.” Diana drawled the word. “If you say so.”

  She’s adorable. Wait. What? Emily squashed the thought immediately.

  “Take swabs of the wounds and call surgery.” Anger at the slip of her own thoughts made Emily’s voice gruff.

  Diana’s mouth stopped its motion mid-smile. “Sure.” She stepped behind the curtain.

  Now she had done it again. Emily wanted to kick herself. Just because Diana unbalanced her was no reason to react harshly. The right thing would be to tell her what she really thought, that she’d done a good job. Most residents wouldn’t have done a complete physical, so they might have missed the serious wound.

  “Ugh, what’s that smell? That’s gross. People like that shouldn’t be allowed in here.” Courtney moved to the far side of the corridor to pass Emily.

  A glare stopped her in her tracks. “Do you think these curtains are soundproof?”

  “Um, no, but…” Courtney looked from Emily to the curtain and back and pinched her nose closed with thumb and finger.

  Emily stepped closer to the resident and lowered her voice. “You need to learn to think before you open your mouth.”

  “Sorry.” The apology was barely audible.

  Emily kept up the glare for a moment, then nodded and turned around. As she opened the curtain, she heard Courtney gag and then fast steps retreated.

  The difference between the two residents was striking. Diana talked in a soothing voice and held the patient’s hand to keep her from interfering with Madison, the nurse who pressed a cotton swab into the wound. Only the faint lines around Diana’s eyes gave away her discomfort. She acknowledged Emily’s presence with a nod but kept her focus on the patient until the procedure was finished.

  When the wom
an relaxed, Diana released her hand. “Thank you, Madison. Please let me know when surgery is here for the consult.” She turned to Emily. “Anything else I can do?”

  To Emily’s surprise, the tone of the question was neither provocative nor offended.

  “No, no. You’re doing fine.” Apologizing for her tone would be weird right now. “Just… You’re doing fine.”

  Emily ducked out of the exam bay and hastened down the corridor. She could almost feel the confused stares of Diana and Madison piercing through the curtain like arrows, hitting her right between the shoulder blades.

  Emily lingered in the staff lounge, checking charts she had checked twice before. Diana would be taking her break any minute now. Not that she waited for her to show up or anything. But the last few days they had met on their break by accident and talked. Only small talk, just checking in. That’s what you did as a mentor, right?

  Her personal phone vibrated in her scrub pocket, and she looked at the screen before answering. “Hi, Jen.”

  “Hey, best friend, did you miss me? Do you have five minutes?” The greeting was typical of Jen. They hadn’t talked since the night at the club when she had met Diana, only texted.

  “Yes to both. And did you miss me?” Initially, Emily had avoided a real conversation because she had been afraid Jen would want to talk about Dee Dragon, but now she enjoyed hearing her best friend’s voice again. She closed her laptop and leaned back against the couch.

  “Eh, no.” Jen laughed. “Well, okay, maybe a little bit.”

  “How’s work? Did you get some good stories?” Emily wanted to know how much Jen had found out. She was sure Jen wouldn’t keep the secret from her if she knew that Dee Dragon worked as a doctor now, but she was reluctant to ask directly about her.

  “Fantastic. The new contact I made the night of our last club adventure really helps a lot. She knows basically everyone in the scene. I’ve been texting and talking daily with her. I’ll meet her later. For more stories.”

  The enthusiastic tone was familiar to Emily: Jen was falling for someone, either professionally or personally. Probably both.

  It couldn’t be Diana, could it? Jealousy flared like a torch dipped in gasoline, temporarily blinding her. This was ridiculous. She was no overemotional teenager; she was in full control of her emotions. Pushing the feeling behind a wall of ice, Emily fought to keep it from her voice. “Who is it?”

  “Mel. Melinda Burton, the guitar player.”

  Emily exhaled slowly. “Okay.”

  Jen gushed about all the amazing bands Mel had played with so far, all the records she was on, and all the friends she had. Emily only listened with one ear, relieved it wasn’t Diana, or rather Dee, Jen had set her sights on.

  As if conjured up by her thoughts, Diana chose that moment to enter the room and wave to Emily.

  Emily sat up straighter and held up her phone to show that she couldn’t talk. She should probably go to her office for privacy, but she couldn’t tear her gaze from Diana. She tracked her movement from the coffee urn to the fridge and then to the table and nearly missed that Jen mentioned Dee’s name.

  “Did you meet her that night, backstage?” Emily had no idea what Jen had said, but she wanted to keep her talking about Diana.

  “Who, Dee Dragon?”

  “Yeah. You wanted to talk to her, didn’t you?” Feigning nonchalance was hard. She hoped it worked.

  “No. She didn’t stay long at the party. Mel is reluctant to talk about her, and her manager is blocking her completely.”

  Emily slumped into the couch, too weak to care about her posture. Diana hadn’t fallen prey to Jen’s charm. She hadn’t even admitted to herself that this fear had kept her from talking to Jen. They had never competed over a woman before, and she didn’t want to risk their friendship because of it. Wait, where had that come from? We’re not competing, because I’m not interested! Oh no, am I?

  “…I’m sure I’ll have Mel spilling all her secrets soon.”

  “What? What secrets?” Emily had missed part of Jen’s plan.

  “The secret of Dee’s absence from the music scene, for example.” A voice in the background seemed to capture Jen’s attention. “I need to go. Call you soon, okay?”

  “Take care.”

  Emily’s mind was whirling. She glanced at Diana, who was sitting at the table, eating her yogurt and looking relaxed and carefree. Should she go and end Diana’s break with the news of a snooping journalist? Or maybe Jen was wrong, and Mel wouldn’t tell her anything. But Jen was nothing if not convincing. Emily sighed. She walked to the table.

  Diana looked up and smiled.

  Emily couldn’t help smiling back.

  “Are you okay? You sounded a bit upset on the phone just now.” Diana put down her yogurt and reached for Emily’s arm.

  The touch was short and barely noticeable, but Emily’s arm warmed immediately.

  She sat down next to Diana and shrugged. “I don’t know if I should be worried. Do you remember Jen? My best friend, the journalist.”

  “Ah, yes. How could I forget? What’s with her?”

  “I think she is after your…after Dee’s story. She met your friend Mel at the party after the concert.”

  Diana nodded. “Yeah, Mel told me. Why?”

  “How much does Mel know?”

  “Everything,” Diana answered without hesitation.

  “Would she…? Would she tell Jen? Not Jen, the journalist, but Jen, the cute girlfriend?”

  “She wouldn’t tell her without my permission.” Again no hesitation. “But is your friend working that way? Entering a relationship to get information?”

  “No! Maybe. I don’t know.” Emily was reluctant to admit that Jen would go that far, but it was a possibility. “She seems to really like Mel, but sometimes she loses sight of the boundaries between her private and professional lives.”

  “That doesn’t sound very ethical. But Mel’s a grown woman. She can keep secrets.” Diana’s voice conveyed no judgment, but Emily couldn’t hold her gaze.

  She had never understood Jen’s lack of professional boundaries. Rules, even unwritten lines, usually existed for a reason. In the ED, living by the rules had never steered her wrong.

  Just as Emily wanted to answer, Courtney burst into the room, threw her stethoscope on the table, and let herself fall onto the couch with a theatrical sigh. After a few seconds came another, louder sigh.

  Emily looked at Diana, and they both had to bite their lips to keep from laughing.

  Courtney heaved herself up with another sigh and poured herself some coffee.

  Diana leaned closer and whispered directly into Emily’s ear. “Do you want to ask her what’s wrong, or should I?”

  The warm breath tickled Emily, and that sensation slowly traveled down her neck toward her spine. She had to suppress a sigh of her own and decided she had to attempt an organized retreat as long as she was still able to walk.

  “That’s the privilege of an attending. We have the residents do all the dirty work for us.” Emily gathered her laptop and left Diana to the complaints of her fellow resident. Just as the door was closing behind her, Courtney started to whine. She grinned. Poor Diana.

  “You owe me.” Four hours later, Emily had all but forgotten Courtney’s performance when Diana entered the locker room just as she had been about to leave.

  Emily laughed. “Was it that bad?”

  Diana growled and changed out of her scrubs into jeans and T-shirt.

  As no one was with them, she didn’t hide her tattoos, and Emily got a full show of the dragon. The lean muscles of Diana’s back made its skin move as she bent to pick up something that had fallen from her pocket. The metallic sheen on the green scales mesmerized her, and she wanted to reach out and touch it. All those years ago the image had burned itself into her memory, and the obsession h
ad carried her through med school and residency. Diana had been literally the woman of her dreams for years.

  Emily swallowed. Twice. This crush had to stop, right here, right now. Rules, remember? She had to get out, away from her. But other parts of her mind seemed to have a different idea. “Do you want to go grab something to eat?” What? Why did you say that?

  “Sure.” Diana tied her shoes and picked up her backpack.

  “Just an apology for the,” she lowered her voice, “Courtney incident.” Just two colleagues and potential friends going for a quick bite, she reminded herself. Nothing more.

  The evening was unseasonably warm for May, so they decided to meet at a casual restaurant with nice outside seating halfway between their homes and the hospital.

  Just two colleagues. Emily repeated the mantra all the way to the restaurant and nearly missed the entrance.

  Diana was already sitting on the large back patio when Emily arrived. Tables with place mats in any color of the rainbow and mismatched chairs were scattered between a handful of trees. A chain of lights enclosed the outside, but they hadn’t been turned on yet. She had chosen a table in the middle, relaxing with her head tilted upward to catch the sunshine. Her eyes opened as Emily approached, and Diana greeted her with a wide grin.

  Emily hesitated before sitting down and peeked at the sun to calculate its course. How long would it take until it dipped behind the roof?

  Diana looked at her questioningly. “Is this table okay?”

  “Actually, no.” Emily hated to cause a scene. “I’m sorry. Would you mind sitting over there?” She pointed at a table that was shaded by a large tree. Dappled sunlight and shadows from leaves painted an intricate pattern on the table and chairs.

  “No, sure.” Diana moved her jacket from the back of the chair and followed Emily to the new table.

  Their waitress came with the menus, introduced herself, and took their drink order, saving Emily from explaining her choice of tables.