Chapter Three
T here was cold—and then there was melted-snow-in-thin-leather-booties cold. Hells bells, Lee would never get warm again. She checked the car’s GPS—another four miles to Yukon Valley. The bottled water and disinfecting gel had dried the heck out of her hands, but at least she’d removed the blood that had seeped through her glove.
As she approached town, more snow-covered roads exiting the highway began to appear, along with a smattering of homes and mailboxes. The evidence of civilization after driving for several hours through Arctic tundra released the tight muscles around her neck and shoulders. Five minutes later, she spied a Yukon Valley Warmly Welcomes You sign. Lee snickered as she peered through the windshield at snowy, bare hills on one side of town and mountains rising up from the other side of what might be the ice-covered Yukon River.
She squinted at small figures on the ice. Oh gosh, were there people on snowmobiles out there? Lordie, was it safe? Must be. They took sled dogs on frozen rivers, right? Snowmobiles weren’t much different. She imagined ice cracking beneath her feet if she were to stand out there.
She drove slowly, head on a swivel. Where was the actual town?
A broad one-story log-cabin-style building appeared. Next to it, neon fuel prices glowed brightly on a marquee above the pumps. Three vehicles idled outside the store, constant puffs of exhaust vapor emitting from the tailpipes. Red lettering on white background above the store’s main entrance read Three Bears Alaska , and to the side of the door were several smaller signs identifying grocery, pharmacy, delicatessen, bait and tackle, automotive, office supplies, and sporting goods. Welp. All bases covered.
Lee shivered. She should stop back later for better winter gear.
Another half mile farther, Lee turned right at the ice-flocked, battered blue H sign, traveling a residential block off the highway to reach Yukon Valley Hospital. Putting the car into park on the snow-covered gravel lot, where the front row of spaces each contained a strange white box on a three-foot pole, she studied the scene in front of her. She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but this modest compact building with river stone entryway surrounded by ten-foot-high mounds of snow wasn’t it. On the end of the building was another sliding door with a bright red emergency sign lit overhead. This facility was nothing like the high-rise Atlanta hospitals or even the roomy hospital campus in Dahlonega where she’d practiced before.
Before her life and career had imploded.
She hurried toward the hospital, pulling up the hood of her coat. No bloody gloves—talk about a bad impression. Instead, she shoved her hands into her pockets as her boots squeaked on a few inches of fluffy snow that hadn’t yet been plowed.
The slate blue and earth tones of the interior and gust of warm air welcomed her right along with the balding middle-aged man at the front desk.
“Can I help you?” he said with a smile.
“Dr. Tipton here to meet… um…” Dang it, she had left her printed itinerary in the car. She glanced over her shoulder, dreading another walk outside.
“Deirdre, the chief nursing officer.”
“Yes! How—”
“Psychic!” Another grin as he punched in a number on the phone. “We don’t get many new faces here, and she let me know our new doctor was coming in for orientation.”
She protested, “I’m only a temporary—”
He lifted his hand in a gentle gesture to wait. “Hi, Deirdre, this is Billy. Dr. Tipton is here.” Putting down the phone, he said, “She’ll be right out. How was your drive? Do you need anything? Restroom? Water?” He tilted his head, one eyebrow raised, and pulled a face. “Stiff drink?”
A laugh burst from her as she gave him her coat when he offered. “Restroom, thanks.” Lee ducked in and cleaned her hands once again. A stiff drink wouldn’t hurt. One to shore up her nerves for this massive dive into the unknown. When she was thirteen, she had jumped off a friend’s dock on Lake Windward, thinking the warm water was only a few feet deep. Instead, Lee went down, down, down until she finally touched the muddy, debris-strewn bottom of the lake ten feet below. Took an eternity to float back up through the warm greenish haze.
This hospital assignment had a lot of similarities to that no-air, too-deep type of situation. Lee sucked in a big breath, dried her hands, smoothed her work clothes, and pasted on what she hoped was a professional yet pleasant expression.
A woman who appeared around Lee’s age with bright blue eyes, a bob of chestnut hair, gray business slacks, and a casual blazer approached from the desk, hand already out. “Hello, Dr. Tipton. Deirdre Steen, so nice to meet you.”
Steen? Like the paramedic? What were the chances? “Ah, you, too,” Lee stammered, shaking her hand.
“We’re so glad you’re here.” She beamed. “Our two remaining doctors are pretty tired. We were short-staffed before, but now? Phew.”
Right, because Lee was covering for the third doctor who was out on maternity leave. “Happy to help.”
“Well. Ready for the grand tour?”
“Hope you like it here, Dr. Tipton.” Billy waved, then answered the ringing phone, “Yukon Valley Hospital, how can I direct your call?”
Deirdre handed Lee a badge and pager with a sheepish expression. “Cell phones aren’t always reliable. Good to have a backup means of communication. Though if you’re out in the bush, neither will work. Plan your call days accordingly.” She motioned. “Let’s start in the ED.” They badged through automatic double doors.
The buzz of light bustling activity greeted them.
At the nurses’ station, Lee asked, “Is Bruce here?”
The ED nurse frowned at Deirdre.
“I stopped to help him when his truck flipped on the highway,” Lee explained.
“Oh, that was you ?” The nurse’s brows rose. “Mav said some cheechako was climbing all over Bruce’s truck.”
Deirdre’s head whipped around with a hiss, and the nurse clamped her mouth shut.
“Sorry,” the woman said.
Mav? Chee -what?
An EMT with familiar broad shoulders who had brown hair peeking out from under his beanie was pulling an empty ambulance gurney out of a trauma bay. “Hi, Dee,” he called, glancing back. Then his big smile dropped into a frown as he turned to Lee. “What are you doing here?”
Her cheeks heated. Had all the various monitors stopped beeping in the ED? No one moved.
Deirdre motioned. “Dr. Tipton, Maverick Steen, my little brother and Yukon Valley’s head EMT. And sometime troublemaker.” She poked him in the ribs, and he yelped, swatting at her.
“We already met over Bruce.” Lee chuckled.
Mav opened and closed his mouth. “Doctor?”
Deirdre crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “What? You’ve never seen one of them, Mav?”
“No. I have. Here. Of course. Lots of other places. It’s just… but out there, I didn’t—”
Hmm. Someone had gotten too big for his britches.
Lee turned a laugh into a polite cough. “I was incognito, and I didn’t give my credentials.” Mostly because he didn’t let her get a word in edgewise, but whatever. She had way bigger fish to fry today.
“ Oof . My bad, Doc.” He grimaced, somehow making him appear handsome and approachable. “As Sis will tell you, it’s par for the course.”
“Maverick Steen.” Deirdre clapped. “Always tactful and calm under pressure.”
“Hey now, Dee. I was only doing my job.”
“A simple nice to meet you, Dr. Tipton will be the best way out of the hole you’ve dug.”
Lee chuckled as Deirdre skewered her brother with her eyes. Love to see it.
He nodded and stuck out his hand with a brief warm press of their palms that made her arm tingle and heart flutter. “Nice to meet you, Doctor. Enjoy the time you have in Yukon Valley.”
Lee pulled her chin back. He spoke like she couldn’t hack it here. As if he didn’t expect her to stick around.
In truth, she had no plans to do so. This temporary job was designed for emotional distance and a financial reset until she could carry on with her life and career.
“Hopefully, I don’t see you again,” Lee said.
“What?” Mav frowned, brow-furrowed suspicion mixed with hurt puppy.
Almost like he cared what she thought.
Swallowing the foreign sensation of a flutter in her throat, she added, “You know, because I have to cover the ER and hospital? If I don’t see you, that means you’re not bringing in sick patients for me to work on or transferring critically ill patients to Fairbanks.” When he didn’t move, she cleared her throat, her mouth suddenly dry. “I’m not above invoking good karma, Murphy’s Law, and every other superstition I can think of.”
“Uh. Yeah. Me, too, then. Hope not to see you. Around. I guess. Or not. Because of no patients.” With a whoosh of air, he turned toward the gurney his EMS partner, Louise, now stood behind with a bemused smile, then looked at the nursing station and then his sister. “Gotta go. Sis. Doc. Geez.” He rotated stiffly and pulled the gurney away.
Deirdre made a flourish. “My brother, folks.”
The ER nurse smiled. “At least he’s cute.” She winked at Lee. “And eligible.”
Lee’s heart rate did a tachycardic flutter then a bradycardic dip. Tempting, sure. But that particular delicious treat came with two scoops of nope with some when-hell-freezes-over sprinkles on top. She was still licking her wounds from the divorce. She’d trusted a good-looking guy once. See how that turned out? Clearly, her partner picker was broken.
Even if the awkwardly handsome man in question made her toes tingle.
The toe tingling was probably frostbite.
Deirdre rescued Lee from responding. “Let’s head to radiology, med-surg floor, OR, and then to labor and delivery. We’ll finish up in the clinic so you can meet everyone there. Dr. Burmeister is seeing that ER patient, so we’ll circle back when he’s free. Hope you’re ready to hit the ground running. Your first twenty-four-hour call starts tomorrow.”