CHAPTER 50
Phoebe
We hover above the plowed helicopter pad on the medical center’s roof as steam rises from the brick building’s many chimneys. Immediately, I wonder what it’s been like over the last few days, here in my home-away-from-home.
How many staff members got stuck here when the blizzard hit? What kind of storm-related casualties have they been dealing with? Patient transport couldn’t have been operating in this much snow, which means that illnesses and injuries have gone untreated during the storm.
Evander and I aren’t the only people who’ve had a dramatic few days. But I suspect we're the only ones with our own private rescue service.
I look in his direction but find him looking out the window. I wish I had a chance to ask him what’s going on in his head. He’s bothered by Rick being here—I’m bothered by Rick being here!
Ugh! What the hell?
We touch down, and I see four people running out to greet us. One of them is Ginny, my nursing supervisor. She looks frantic.
The helicopter door opens, and Evander hops out, then reaches for me and guides me safely to my feet. He bends me over and runs with me until we’re clear of the rotors. He gives Declan the thumbs up. Special K waves to us and slams the door shut.
I watch the helicopter rise and bank off in the direction of the airpark. Declan says he needs to stop there first before he heads to Travis Ranch.
Only then do I notice that Evander’s hand is clutched around mine. I look up at him, not sure what to expect. But I see only affection and concern in those violet eyes.
In front of everyone, he bends down and lays a kiss right on my lips.
“Phoebe!” Ginny runs toward me then squeezes me in a hug. Her eyes give me a quick scan. “Are you injured?”
“Minor laceration that’s already stitched up. Nothing else.” I gesture to Evander. “He has a second-degree burn to his left anterior compartment which has only had first aid treatment. It’s about eighteen hours old and infection is a concern.”
Ginny nods quickly and calls for the two patient care assistants to bring out the wheelchairs.
“Thanks, but I’ll walk,” Evander says.
“That’s not possible.” Ginny points to the chair. You’re on hospital property and you must be escorted inside.”
I grin at him. “There’s a simple chain of command around here, Evander. She’s in charge.”
He raises one dark eyebrow at me, but he sits. He even allows the patient care assistant to prop his boots on the flip-up footrests.
I have to laugh. They brought out a standard-size wheelchair for Evander, and he reminds me of an adult on a kid’s tricycle.
My heart twists. I’m crazy for this man. I love him with everything in me. And yes, I heard what he said in the igloo, and I believe him, but something’s telling me to keep my optimism in check.
We’re back.
This is real life—work, families, obligations.
His real life and mine.
And I’m having a hard time picturing those two lives intertwined and in balance with one another. It’s possible it can happen, and I hope I’m wrong, but it already feels different.
Well, of course it does. We’re no longer trapped in a hidey-hole or a smoky, snow-buried surveyor’s shack in the middle of nowhere, with nothing and no one to distract us from one another.
We’re out here in the unforgiving light of day, literally. And it’s entirely possible that Evander may decide he no longer likes what he sees in me.
We’re wheeled into the patient elevator.
“I’ll ask the kitchen to make a tray. We’ve got chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese on the menu—does that sound okay?”
“That sounds fantastic,” Evander says.
Fantastic might be overstating it, but I think the man is starving if he’s enthusiastic about that many carbs. I’m pretty enthusiastic too, and I know exactly what those menu items taste like. Not great.
But a Sweetbriar Medical Center lunch will be served on a tray, on clean plates and in clean bowls, with clean silverware and napkins, and I’m really looking forward to it.
We’re brought down to the first floor and taken into emergency triage, where we’re separated. Evander goes with a nurse practitioner and Ginny takes me into a nearby exam room. She yanks the curtain closed, spins around, and gapes at me.
“I know,” I say. “I should be dead.”
“We thought you were dead! Your brother kept calling to see if you’d been brought in, or if the medical evac helicopter could search for you. But nobody could go anywhere—not the state police, not private search and rescue. Nobody!”
“I’m sorry I put everyone through that.”
Ginny comes over and gives me a big hug, then walks me to the gurney. “You smell like a bonfire, honey. Strip down and we’ll take a look at your sutures. Where’s your cut?”
“My right buttock.”
Ginny tips her head and squints. “I know you’re a first-rate nurse, but how in heaven’s name did you manage to sew up your own ass?”
I start laughing.
“Nooooo. Are you kidding me?” She heads for the curtain and steps out, then pokes her head back in. “Give me five. I want all the deets.” She waggles her eyebrows.
About a half hour later, I’ve finished my lunch and can barely keep my eyes open. But that’s when the medical resident who’s been doing her rotation in rural hospital care comes in to see me. She says she was set to drive back to Las Vegas when the storm hit, and she’s been here ever since.
The doctor examines me for frostbite and any other injuries and tells me everything is normal.
Then she takes care of my sutures. With Ginny standing by, she cleans the wound and injects my lower hip with a solution of 125 mg of ceftriaxone to fend off a bacterial infection.
Then she covers my stitches in a waterproof gel bandage that can be left on for several days.
I thank her for that, since the first chance I get, I’m enjoying a long, hot shower.
Maybe the longest and hottest of my life.
“By the way, that’s some beautiful suturing you’ve got,” she says.
Ginny giggles.
“I’ll let Evander know you’re a fan.”
She laughs. “I’m a fan all right.” The doctor grins, then says she wants both of us to stay overnight for observation. She assures me that Evander’s burn will be fine.
And then she informs me that it will be a month before I can soak in a jacuzzi or hot tub, and that she’ll call in a new script for my birth control to the hospital pharmacy, since I’ve gone three days without taking it.
“Remember, no unprotected sex for another seven days, unless you’re trying to become pregnant.”
Before she leaves, she smiles at me again. “You got very lucky, Miss Travis. Seems you picked the exact right person to spend a once-in-a-lifetime disaster with.”
Ginny stares at me for a full ten seconds after the doctor leaves, saying nothing. “Are you okay, honey?” she finally asks.
I nod, but in all honesty, I’m not sure. I’m in a daze.
About fifteen minutes later, I’m in a patient room on the med-surg floor. I don’t know where they’ve put Evander, but he’s got to be somewhere nearby. It’s a small hospital.
I already miss him.
Once inside the bathroom, I find that Ginny has retrieved my toiletries and sweatshirt from my nurse’s locker as I’d asked.
The sweatshirt is folded on a wall rack along with a set of clean scrubs and hospital gripper socks for me to change into.
The toiletries are lined up on the sink.
She’s folded a set of clean scrubs for me to change into.
I spend a long time brushing my teeth, then step into the spray of hot water. I stand still for a long moment, feeling myself breathe, feeling the heat seep into my bones.
It occurs to me that I’ve not had much alone time since I nearly died in the icy water. Because in the days since, I’ve been drowning in the intoxicating sexual and emotional vortex that is Evander MacLaine.
I realize I’m crying. Exhaustion and stress are the reasons, no doubt. And I’m coming down from one hell of an adrenaline rush. The psychological and physical strain of the last few days has been like nothing I’ve ever experienced.
The recovery from hypothermia. The questions. The discovery. The pleasure.
And all the things I so desperately want to keep now that I’ve found them.
Then there’s the creeping sense of dread…
Rick is here!
And I know damn well he’ll try to go all Dr. McDreamy in front of my family. My family! Mama and all five of my brothers are on their way!
This isn’t just about Evander and me anymore.
I press the washcloth to my face to catch the sound of my sobs.
It takes a few minutes, but I manage to pull myself together. I let the water cascade over me and remind myself of how incredibly lucky I am to be alive.
To be loved by Evander MacLaine.
And how everything is about to get very, very complicated.
I scream into the washcloth.
“Fuuuuuuuuccccckkkkkk!