Chapter Six
M av wiped down the EMS gurney and straps after delivering Bruce back to the emergency department late that Friday afternoon. Aggie had insisted that Bruce come back in after he suddenly became short of breath after shoveling snow. Initial telemetry and vital signs on the ambulance were normal. Better to be on the safe side and do further testing.
If Mav had thought Bruce hated going to the hospital earlier this week when he wrecked the truck, the older man really didn’t appreciate his wife forcing him to get checked out today, as the constant lines of muttered curses attested.
At the end of the day, though, Bruce was more scared of Aggie than he was of the hospital.
Mav glanced up at the waiting room doors. Aggie should be here by now. He’d stop by and reassure her that Bruce was stable and being evaluated.
Louise had run over to the hospital cafeteria to visit with her best friend who worked in the food services department. Barring any emergency calls for the ambulance, Mav had time to kill.
He looked around the department but didn’t see a flash of golden hair. Instead, he spied the health unit coordinator, or HUC, typing away with a bowed head, likely registering Bruce’s admission. Two ED nurses on shift were busy getting updated vitals and performing their initial assessments.
Brown hair fluttered as his sister hurried toward him.
“Hi, Dee. How’s it going?” he called.
“Good. It’s been busy on med/surg. Phew. Helping to tuck in admits for the weekend. Quality improvement meetings. Typical Friday.” She paused. “Are you ready for guests in a few weeks?”
The lodge they co-owned had been their parents’ dream property for the past ten years. His parents had unknowingly bought it out from under another buyer, which had apparently created waves. Fair’s fair—their bid was higher, and they were quicker to offer. They had happily picked up the property and enjoyed developing it, right up until they died in the bush plane crash several years ago.
Mav and Deirdre couldn’t bear to let the property go, despite the mortgage. They’d even turned down increasingly insistent offers to purchase the lodge and acreage. Why here, in Yukon Valley? As long as Mav and Dee didn’t default on the mortgage, the property and the business would stay in the family.
“I need to freshen up the cabin they’ll use and fix a few loose boards on the steps to their front door. I’ll prep extra lodge rooms in case there are more people in the party or they want additional space. Not like we’re busy this time of year.”
Truth. They were very much not-busy, and lack of business income led to lack of mortgage payments. It was a big problem he and his sister continued to grapple with.
She pressed her mouth into an unhappy line and avoided the obvious topic of lack of reservations. “The babies?”
His motley crew of retired sled dogs didn’t know how to go for a leisurely walk without enthusiastically towing him through the woods. Although nowadays, some of the team preferred lounging by the fireplace.
“What about them?” He refastened the gurney straps so they wouldn’t drag on the floor.
“They won’t get in the way or bother the guests? We need happy customers.” The corners of her mouth dipped. “We need repeat customers. Stat.”
“The team is family. That’s nonnegotiable. You’re doing that micromanaging thing again, Dee.”
“Some people don’t like dogs.”
His sister always had a vision of the property that landed closer to a Four Seasons than the humble but welcoming lodge home that included a wing of several modest guest rooms and collection of three cozy hewn-log cabins.
“People who don’t like dogs are not the people I want in my life. Income or not, I’m not removing the dogs to suit our guests.”
Those dogs had dragged his sorry butt through the Coldfoot 550 six years ago. When a blizzard hit, the team had saved his life, pulling hard despite the whiteout and somehow staying on the trail. The five dogs remaining from that team were family members, plain and simple. They deserved all the treats and belly rubs and as many naps in retirement that they wanted.
Deirdre raised her hands. “Suit yourself. But we’re underwater. Occupancy was down during last fall’s hunting season. Repairs are piling up and getting more expensive as time goes on. I don’t want to do anything to dissuade repeat business or good reviews.”
“You know my criteria. Must like dogs.”
She sighed. “Is that for guests or for anyone in your life?”
“It’s a general philosophy. I don’t need anyone in my life.”
“You sure about that, Mav?” Pinning him with a blue-eyed stare, she raised an eyebrow. “When are you going to start dating again? It’s been more than two years since Skylar.”
What a disaster. He had invested time and emotional energy, and for what? Hard lessons had been learned. He flicked his thumb along the edge of the gurney pad. “Dee, you seem busy at work. How do you have enough time to dissect my nonexistent love life? What about your relationship future?”
His sister crossed her arms and bristled. Uh-oh. Watching her wrath was like standing under a spring snow cornice. One good gust of wind to dislodge it, and he’d be pulverized and buried.
He started to sweat under the uniform layers, topped by the windproof EMS coat. His brother-in-law’s death five years ago still stung. Dee had coped by throwing herself into her work. Head down, keep busy , as their parents often said.
Unbidden, an image of a certain person with sun-kissed cheeks and golden hair flashed in his mind’s eye. Was he missing an opportunity by keeping his head down and staying busy?
Yet, he’d been burned more than once. This latest time with Skylar hurt. They had done the long-distance online dating thing. They got along. She was witty and nice. Adventurous. Outdoorsy. She thought she had wanted the Alaska experience with Mav and dove in feet-first.
The isolation and challenges that came with this stark landscape quickly drove a wedge of resentment between them. Mav had tried to provide her with as many amenities as he could afford, and some he couldn’t afford. Still, he had done his best to make her comfortable. She didn’t last more than a few months into winter before she fled back to Nevada. On her way out, she tore emotional strips out of him when she criticized the crappy location, the failing lodge business, Maverick’s all-consuming EMT work that took him away from her side, and—worst of all—the smelly dogs.
“There’s no one on the horizon, sis.”
“You sure?”
He rubbed his chin as murmurs from the nurses and Bruce drifted back to him. He did not want to have this conversation. Not now and not here. He would bet twenty bucks that the middle-aged HUC’s typing was completely random so she could eavesdrop on the conversation. “Why are you pushing?”
“It wouldn’t be the worst thing for you to get out and see someone again. Be a normal human instead of burying yourself in EMS duties and running the lodge.”
“That lodge isn’t going to fail. I’ll make sure of it.”
“If you find the right partner.”
“What?”
“Pick someone who brings something to the table, Mav. Who can help.”
Was she suggesting being with someone because of money? No way. That was a cynical recommendation, even for Dee. “Come on. That’s not how I roll.”
“Two birds, one stone is all I’m saying.”
“No way. Besides—” Before he could close his stupid mouth, he said, “Who do you suggest in this small town? There’s not a lot of options, and certainly no one that can ‘bring something to the table’ in the way you’re suggesting. Or should I try again with someone from the outside who can hack living out here?”
“I know exactly who I’d suggest. Might do you some good to get back in the game.” She inhaled sharply. “Never m—”
“Sorry, but not going to happen. Not with her . Can you even imagine that delicate genius handling even a mild Alaska storm, much less being able to survive for any length of time out here? She’d probably break a nail deicing her car and then go running back to the lower forty-eight.”
“Mav.”
“That woman’s idea of roughing it is setting the winter thermostat to sixty-four degrees. I know because I helped her shop for warm clothes, so she won’t die out here.”
“ Mav ,” Deirdre hissed.
He shook his head. “Listen. Some people aren’t cut out for this place or this kind of work. She’ll be gone by mud season, if not sooner. If not, she’s probably using the time to look for an Alaskan husband, like on the shows.” That last bit came straight out of personal experience, damn it. He stopped talking.
Dee’s eyes went round.
He froze.
Aw, hell no. Not again .
He turned around.
His gaze slammed into narrowed brown eyes that glittered. If Lee could shoot lasers by blinking, he’d be cut into a million pieces by now.
“I mean…” Glancing back at his ashen sister, he asked Deirdre, “Would it kill you to warn me that she’s right there?”
Lee tapped the toe of her leather bootie on the floor and lifted her hands near her face. “ She can hear you, and besides, you shouldn’t be saying those things behind her back.”
Mav opened his mouth, but no words came out.
The HUC watched with an avid expression, dropping all pretense of doing work. Mav had an audience. More grist for the rumor mill.
Deirdre moved into his direct line of sight. “Nice move there, bud.” She smirked as she slinked away with a wave.
With a swallow, he turned to Lee. “I didn’t mean what you think I—”
“You meant whatever you meant.”
A pulse jumped in her neck, visible above the dark green shirt with a maroon stethoscope draped around the collar. For a split second, he wanted to rest his fingertips against the smooth skin visible above the subtle V-neck. What would her skin smell like, right there? Would it taste tart and sweet, like her scent?
Then she threw virtual ice water on him. “Your opinion of my staying power doesn’t matter. For the record, you have no idea what I’m capable of surviving.” She pointed, her finger trembling.
Damn. That statement, combined with a flash of pain in her eyes, made for an interesting tidbit he wanted to explore. If she ever spoke to him again.
He managed to unstick his tongue. “What are you doing here?”
She waved a hand in a one-hundred-eighty-degree arc with a dry laugh. “Literally, I work here. You brought in a patient. I’m on call for the ED. Here I am. In the ED. To do my job, which you can bet your booty is not to seek a husband.” Her features twisted into another brief rictus of anger that knocked the air out of him for a second. She clenched and unclenched her hands, then stepped forward. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to do my job.” Her nostrils flared as she glared up at him. “Which makes one of us. You’d best go do yours instead of jawing.”
Oh crap.
The time had come to eat crow yet again. This apologizing had become a bad habit. “Dr. Tipton. Lee. Hey, I was… way out of line.” Out of the corner of his eye, Mav spied the HUC tilting her head.
That lady watched them like a wolf tracking prey. This story was going to make the rounds before Mav returned the EMS rig to the garage on the other side of the hospital parking lot.
“Out of line? You think?”
Geez. She didn’t have to rub it in. Why did every interaction with this woman begin with him stepping in a pile of moose droppings and end by her chopping him down to size?
“My sister ribbed me, that’s all. About me being a dumb bachelor and all.”
“Didn’t seem that you were the target of ribbing.”
“That’s not fair.”
“That’s what I heard.”
He peeled off the beanie, ran a hand through sweat-dampened hair, paused, and crammed the beanie back on. “We’ve really gotten off on the wrong foot, Lee.”
“Dr. Tipton.”
He swore that the HUC gasped.
Hell. “Can I make it up to you? Take you out to dinner”—the next few words flew from his head and straight out of the hole in his face before he could stop himself—“since you don’t know anyone here.”
She took that moment to smile, turn, and greet by name the two ED nurses leaving Bruce’s room and wave at the HUC. “You were saying?”
Shoving his hands into coat pockets, he heaved a big lungful of air. “I mean, it’s neighborly of me to invite you for a meal.”
A snort escaped her. “Now you’re the Welcome Wagon?”
“Would it help me get out of this grave I dug myself?”
A faint smile curved her lips as she studied him. A blush climbed her neck and washed onto her cheeks. The world tilted, and he couldn’t catch his balance. He stood up straighter and tried to appear unassumingly dashing or handsomely friendly, whatever that entailed. With Mav’s luck, he’d appear constipated.
Lee blinked, breaking whatever spell she had on him. “Okay. I’m not doing this back-and-forth stupidity. I have a patient to see, and you surely have an ambulance to drive.” She turned on her heel and clomped about ten feet before grabbing a dollop of antiseptic foam as she entered the trauma bay and greeted Bruce.
Mav shook his head. So, she hadn’t said no to dinner. Right?
The HUC glanced up with a wink as she typed. Probably taking notes on Mav’s inability to have a normal human conversation and documenting the smoking ashes of his pride.
Shift would be over soon. Mav couldn’t wait to sit by the fire with his old sled dogs. At least those relationships were simple.