Chapter Four
“I think we’ve been intubating people too soon,” Norah said eagerly. “These patients who get high-flow oxygen only actually seem to have better outcomes.”
“You’re right. It seems so backward, but you’re right. The numbers are there. I say we recommend a formal memo from the director to all the hospitals and…”
It all happened so fast Norah hadn’t even had time to think.
At the edge of her vision, a blur of neon orange came whizzing by, and just as quickly, she was on the soft, grassy ground, flat on her back, Chase’s body covering her own.
Chase’s hands were splayed out past Norah’s shoulders, and her strong legs were straddling Norah’s hips.
Her chest was pinned under the weight of Chase’s torso with the pressure of a weighted blanket.
Their faces were mere inches apart, and Chase’s eyes were wide and fixed on Norah’s.
Norah lay there in shock for a second, still not entirely sure what had happened.
And then, her body responded involuntarily, the urge to take Chase around the neck and kiss her so strong she wondered that if they hadn’t been in the middle of a crowd of colleagues, she would have.
Her body had gone into autopilot, recognizing that she’d been in this very position a million times in the past and wanting what it had always wanted.
She thanked God, or whoever was up there, that Chase couldn’t read her mind.
“Are you okay?” Chase was still staring at her with the same intensity, her face just as close, but she was laughing now.
“What the hell just happened?”
“Those guys almost took you out.”
“You do realize I’m trained in combat, don’t you?”
Chase grinned sheepishly and sat up straight, rolling off Norah with a hint of reluctance.
“I’m so sorry, Captain! Are you okay?” One of the young guys who’d been throwing the football came sprinting over, his face painted in sheer panic.
“I’m fine.”
Norah looked at Chase again, who was now sitting next to her with her knees drawn up to her chest.
“It’s a Styrofoam ball. I think I’ll make a full recovery.”
“It was just a reaction,” Chase said, still looking embarrassed. “I know you are fully capable of taking care of yourself.” She looked at the ground. “And me, probably,” she mumbled.
“Well, thank you for trying to save my life.” Norah made sure to keep her tone soft and teasing, but she had yet to forget the feeling of Chase’s body perched on hers.
There was nothing logical about chemistry, a fact Norah had to remind herself of in that moment. She could acknowledge they still had that much. It didn’t need to be anything more.
Norah could do only so much from her desk.
She needed to see what H7J1 did firsthand.
Early the next morning, she found John sitting at one of the CDC folding tables, drinking a cup of coffee and scrolling through his tablet.
Although John had left Norah and Chase in charge of the scene, they both felt the need to run everything by him, his paternal presence seeming to trump any official rankings.
“You’re getting an early start,” he said as Norah entered the tent.
“I think I should go to the hospital. I need to see what this virus is doing to people.”
“That’s a wonderful idea. Take Chase with you.” It wasn’t a suggestion.
“I’d rather do this on my own, thanks.” Norah reached back and tightened the already taut ponytail she’d fastened, enjoying the distracting pressure on her scalp that seemed to take some of the edge off the swimming sensation in her head she experienced every time she thought about being near Chase again.
John sat down next to her and leaned in closely, whispering as if anyone nearby was paying even the slightest bit of attention to them.
“Norah. I know this isn’t your first rodeo, but it is Chase’s. She needs to see it all.”
Not that she really had much say in the matter, but John did have a point.
Chase should have the same experience Norah was getting, if they were going to be working together.
But the idea of being stuck a couple of feet away from her in some sweaty jeep for the hour drive to the city made Norah’s heart falter and her stomach contract.
She’d done a fantastic job the first few days of their deployment keeping things with Chase extremely public.
When they met, which was multiple times a day, it was in the big, open courtyard by the CDC barracks, where the crew had set up some picnic tables and a temporary awning to keep the sun off.
John was usually there, as was Jamie, or a couple of the dingbat privates who spent the majority of their time tossing a football by the bayou or hunting for alligators.
They were useless, but they were also harmless, so Norah let them be.
During the first seventy-two hours, she and Chase had even managed to come up with a rough timeline for the disease’s progression, which was already helping the epidemiology nerds trace an incubation period and start to figure out who was at risk and when.
As long as they were in public, Norah was fine working with Chase.
They were cordial, friendly even. Once in a while Chase would dip a toe over the line and say something bordering on flirtatious, but Norah was always quick to shut her down with a scalding glare.
They had no opportunity to talk about feelings, just the facts.
But now they would be alone, and she was all but certain Chase would insist on talking.
“Fine. She can come. But I’m taking Jamie too.” Chase couldn’t possibly bring up the past with Jamie sitting in the backseat.
“No can do. She’s helping me map out some of these demographics.
I never was very good with all this spreadsheet crap, you know.
” John winked at her, and Norah was briefly sure he had some sort of idea what he was doing, trying to sequester her with Chase for them to work through their adolescent drama.
“One of the boys then.”
“They’re headed down the road to help assemble the med tent.”
Norah squinted at him, her annoyance escalating by the second.
“Already? Isn’t that a little premature?”
“We’re up to a reported 1,200 cases. And those are just the ones who’ve already sought medical attention.
At this rate, our R0 is more like 4 instead of 3.
The local hospitals are already overrun, and the city hospitals are about to be.
What exactly do you propose we do with the newly infected people?
Let them prance around New Orleans and cough all over everyone?
” John crossed his arms and squared his shoulders. He was annoying, but he was also right.
“Point taken. I guess Dr. Durgin and I are taking a trip to the big city then.”
John stood, smiling, his victory clear on his creased face.
“I guess you are.”
It wasn’t a secret that Norah had been avoiding Chase since they’d arrived in Louisiana.
Whenever Chase found her sitting alone, eating an army-issue TV dinner, Norah would flag down one of the other soldiers, a CDC nobody, basically anyone she could to join them.
When that didn’t work, she had some conveniently timed phone calls from her boss back in Atlanta to answer.
Their near-hourly meetings were always well attended, never leaving space for Chase to speak privately with her for even a second.
Once or twice, Chase had thought about going to Norah’s tent again, but the move felt too invasive.
Clearly, Norah was keeping her distance for a reason.
And she’d clearly meant it when she said she just didn’t want to talk about their past. Norah’s coldness was evident, but Chase was also sure she could still feel the chemistry between them buried deep in there, glowing like a smoldering fire. Or it was just wishful thinking.
“Come on. We’re going to New Orleans.” Chase was just sitting down with her morning coffee, the heat already beating through the threadbare T-shirt she wore, when Norah found her.
“Now?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we could wait until a few more people get sick?
Up to you.” Norah kept the table where Chase sat between them, not bothering to join her.
She wore a hunter-green tank top that edged out the hues of her irises just enough, the golden tint of the skin of her toned arms radiant in the sunlight.
Chase felt a vague warmth emerging low in her belly as a quiet corner in the back of her mind resurrected an image of Norah naked, wrapped in a bed sheet, smiling down at Chase in their tiny apartment.
The picture was foggy, distorted, like a faded Polaroid that had been sitting in a box for years.
But the feelings it brought with it were anything but.
“Right. No. That would be stupid.” She stood quickly, wiping her palms on the front of her shorts and praying Norah couldn’t tell just how turned on she’d been.
Norah shrugged and raised her eyebrows expectantly. Chase recognized the gesture as so classically Norah Bishop, her heart joined the game of reminiscence her libido was already playing.
Their gazes met, and Chase must have lingered longer than she meant to.
Her face was notorious for giving everything away, and she was pretty sure Norah knew exactly what was going through her head.
Still, that realization didn’t cause her to break the stare.
Chase licked her lips and pushed some of the hair off her forehead.
Norah had never appeared more beautiful, more unobtainable, more… everything.
“I don’t like the way you’re looking at me right now. We better go,” Norah said, her tone clipped.
“Huh? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Chase was grinning now, noting how Norah had held her stare just as long.
“So then, let’s go.” Norah pouted in what was so clearly feigned annoyance at Chase’s subtle advances. But before Chase could respond, Norah was already clomping off toward God only knew where.